Phyllis Lambert, Arem Duplessis, and Mickalene Thomas are the 2022 Pratt Legends honorees

Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute has named Phyllis Lambert, Arem Duplessis, and Mickalene Thomas as its three next Legends honorees in recognition of their work’s ability to resonate with the pillars of “creativity, innovation, and leadership” that have guided the school’s educational mission since first being founded in 1887. 

The program is also a vehicle by which Pratt raises funds for the student body, of which the institution says 80 percent receive some form of financial aid. Past winners of the now 23-year-old award include architects David Adjaye, David Rockwell, and the late Helmut Jahn. 

Pratt alumni Thomas and Duplessis were both honored for contributing to their respective disciplines as the current Group Creative Director of Apple and award-winning artist known for her explorations of gender, identity, and femininity in portraiture, photography, and video installations that have featured prominently in the permanent collections of the Whitney, MoMA, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Thomas is also the 2009 winner of Pratt’s Alumni Achievement Award and founder of Pratt>FORWARD, an innovative new mentoring program that pairs emerging artists with other leading practitioners in their field.

Lambert, a 1990 Honorary Graduate of the institution, was recognized as the founder of the influential Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. Her work as an architect, philanthropist, educator, and critic has garnered numerous award recognitions, including the 2016 Arthur Brunner W. Memorial Prize and 2014 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale. She is also widely known for her role in commissioning Mies van der Rohe’s landmark Seagram Building in 1958. 

The trio will be presented during a special ceremony gala to be held in Brooklyn’s Weylin event space at 7 PM on November 15th. Ticketing information can be found here. The institution noted that this year marks a return to in-person festivities for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.