The Gish Prize Goes To...

Laurie Anderson has bagged this year's $300,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, given to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life." Anderson is best known for her performance art — a piece for the '70s involved her standing on a block of ice wearing ice skates and playing the violin until the block melted — but she's also released records on the Warner Bros. label, published a book of drawings titled Night Life, and served as NASA's first artist-in-residence.

This is the second year in a row that the Gish, established in 1994, has gone to an artist — Shirin Neshat received the prize in 2006. Past recipients have also included architect Frank Gehry, author Isabel Allende, and dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones.

Anderson's website is here and a video segment she taped for PBS' Art:21 series here.