The National Sculpture Society (NSS) presents the 2026 Sculpture House Annual Award to Alicia N. Ponzio. The award recognizes those who support figurative sculpture.

Alicia’s artistic path led her to the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, where she completed the sculpture program in 2008. She continued as director of the Academy’s artistic anatomy and écorché sculpture programs. In 2011, she returned to the United States and set up her studio in San Francisco, California. Today, she balances her studio practice with teaching, offering private classes and regular instruction at Rome Art Workshops, Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Brookgreen Gardens, Pixar Studios, the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, and Scottsdale Artists’ School. Her work has earned recognition from the Art Renewal Center, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, the Portrait Society of America, and the California Art Club. In 2016, the National Sculpture Society honored her with the Alex J. Ettl Grant for outstanding ability in sculpture. Alicia’s philosophy is rooted in art’s power to connect: “Good art is when something’s transmitted—when you feel something, when you are arrested by it, and there’s meaning: either a story or a feeling. There’s some substance that you can take from it because it’s communicating effectively” (Summer 2025, Sculpture Quarterly). Through this sense of meaning and connection, Alicia’s work resonates with fellow sculptors and the public alike.

In 2002, Bruner F. Barrie, past owner of Sculpture House, along with Jack North, former president of Chavant and Marc Fields, president of The Compleat Sculptor, established the Sculpture House Annual Award. The award consists of a $1000 cash prize and a certificate. Previous recipients of the award include foundry owner Robert J. Spring; Rebecca Reynolds, Executive Director of Manship Artists Residency and stone sculptor Fred X Brownstein.

In 1893, leading U.S. sculptors and architects founded the National Sculpture Society to “spread the knowledge of good sculpture.” Programs include Sculpture Quarterly magazine, grants, exhibitions and a clay modeling competition. For more information about Alicia N. Ponzio or the Society, please contact the office at news@nationalsculpture.org or 212-764-5645 ext. 102.