On October 8, internationally renowned Chinese-American artist Maya Lin was announced the winner of the 21st Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. 

On Sep 9, the Honolulu Biennial Foundation (HBF) announced the appointment of Fumio Nanjo as the curatorial director for the first Honolulu Biennial, slated to open fall 2016.

On July 10, the passing of On Kawara, a Japanese-born painter and conceptual artist, was confirmed by David Zwirner, the gallery which represented the artist since 1999, with an announcement posted on its website. He was 81 years old.

On July 9, the Whitney Museum of American Art announced the appointment of Christopher Y. Lew as its new associate curator. Assuming the role this summer, Lew will contribute to the Whitney’s contemporary program.

Melissa Chiu, current Director and Senior Vice President for Global Arts and Cultural Programs at Asia Society Museum in New York, has been named as director of The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, after museum’s previous director, Richard Koshalek, announced his resignation over a funding controversy one year ago.

Following the highly praised co-curated Whitney biennial of 2012, for the 2014 edition, which commences in March, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York will bring in not two but three curators, to further diversify the Biennial’s range and scope. Stuart Comer, chief curator of media and performance art at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Anthony Elms, associate curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and artist and professor in the painting and drawing department at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, Michelle Grabner will channel their collective experiences to give the Biennial a “bold new form.”

In 2010, the United States Census counted around 3.4 million Filipino-Americans nationwide—the largest Filipino population outside the Philippines and the second-largest Asian-American population behind Chinese-Americans. Given that at least 17,500 museums currently exist in the United States, according to the American Alliance of Museums, the conspicuous absence of a museum engaging the interests of a considerably large demographic makes the recent launch of the Filipino American Museum (FAM) all the more significant.

Ruth Aiko Asawa, a modernist sculptor and arts education advocate, known for weaving wire into intricate, abstract sculptures, died on August 6 at the age of 87.

Last week, The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) and Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) jointly launched the 2013–14 edition of The Sydney International Art Series (SIAS) with a “double header” that will bring a Yoko Ono show and a comprehensive survey of 200 years of American art to the two galleries this November.