ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art has named scholar Valerie Cassel Oliver as the 2011 recipient of The David C. Driskell Prize. Named for the renowned African American artist and art scholar, the Driskell Prize is an annual award that recognizes a scholar or artist in the beginning or middle of his or her career whose work makes an original and important contribution to the field of African American art or art history. As the seventh Driskell Prize recipient, Cassel Oliver will be honored at the Driskell Prize Dinner in Atlanta on Saturday, April 16, 2011. “Valerie Cassel Oliver represents the new generation of innovation and influence in the field of African Diaspora and African American art,” said Michael E. Shapiro, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr. Director of the High. “Her work as a curator, writer and lecturer qualifies her as an important voice in this group and makes her an exemplary recipient of the 201