Hannah Smith with the Nice Art Grant

This year, we offered our second annual Nice Art Grant, a no-strings-attached $500 stipend to go toward selected artists’ creative practices. With over 300 applicants, it was difficult to narrow it down to only two artists. this year’s jurors were epiphany and tim (MNA cofounders) and last year’s grant winners, emma mckay ryan and josh johnson. there was one artist that stuck with all of us during our contemplation, hannah smith.

I intend to use my Midwest Nice grant to offset the cost of material expenses for a new body of work and travel for upcoming exhibitions at the Every Woman Biennial in NYC March 7th - April 11th, a solo exhibition at the Living Arts and Science Center in Lexington, KY June 1st - July 28th, and a solo exhibition at One Off Exhibitions in Milwaukee August 14th - September 26, 2026. 

Hannah Smith‍ is an interdisciplinary artist and a Lecturer at the University of Kentucky in digital design and 3D fabrication. Through recognizable imagery and unconventional materials, Smith’s playful artistic practice offers a vision of society in which blue-collar aesthetics embody political and social ideologies of discontent. Over the past few years, they have been awarded a UK Sustainability Council grant to conduct non-toxic material research, a Future Art Award from Mozaik Philanthropy, and an artist grant from the Great Meadows Foundation. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Polish Sculpture Center, Oronsko, Poland (2025); QRTC, Athens, Greece (2022); The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft Triennial, Louisville, KY (2022); Sculptors Alliance, New York, NY (2021); 48-Stunden Neukölln Biennale, Berlin, Germany (2020); and the CICA Museum Seoul, South Korea (2019) among others. 

congrats, Hannah!