Sonya Clark is a master in the use of beads, combs, thread, textiles and hair.

She regularly is showered with critical praise while winning recognition as a top contemporary artist.

Eat your heart out, New York. This extraordinary creator lives and works right here in Richmond.

This year, Ms. Clark has added a trio of awards that have put her in the spotlight and elevated Richmond’s status as an art center.

“Shock, awe and gratitude” is her reaction to her latest success.

Ms. Clark is the co-winner of the 2014 ArtPrize, an international juried competition based in Grand Rapids, Mich.

She won for “The Hair Craft Project,” a series of artistic designs crafted in hair in which she worked with hairdressers, whom she calls “my heroes” and “central to my work as an artist and educator” for their ability “to map a head with a comb and manipulate the fiber we grow.” The award came with a $200,000 grand prize that she shared with the other recipient.

Ms. Clark’s ArtPrize award came just a few weeks after she was named the first female winner of another prestigious award, Society 1858’s Prize for Contemporary Southern Art. The Charleston, S.C., group selected her from 260 competitors for the $10,000 grand prize as the artist whose work “contributes to a new understanding of art in the South.”

And later this month, Richmond Magazine will present her with the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts — another tribute to her talent and unique perspective.

Her work is beautiful and eclectic, ranging from meticulously crafted beaded headdresses to an 11-foot-tall portrait of Madam C.J. Walker, who was a pioneer in hair care products, made out of 3,000 black combs. Another of her works, “Afro Abe,” is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln with an embroidered afro on a $5 bill.

A bubbly, energetic woman, Ms. Clark appears to have art in her blood.

When she was young, a teacher told her parents that their daughter was “a bit strange. She may be an artist.”

Now 47, Ms. Clark credits her grandmother with teaching her skills that have enabled her to transform the materials she uses into attention-grabbing pieces.

“My grandmother was a tailor,” Ms. Clark says. “She was wonderfully strong — a little woman with a soprano voice and a shock of white hair. As long as I would sit and stitch with her, she would tell me stories about her life growing up in Jamaica.”

Her interest in hair began with her own personal experience. “As a black woman growing up in the 1970s, doing your hair was just something you did.”

She says beads, hair and textiles became her creative media as a result of the art teachers she studied with at Amherst College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.

Ms. Clark is well known for her reflections on the materials she uses.

Her insight into beads is a prime example: “Beads are all about the holes. Without them, beads cannot be strung or stitched together,” she writes. “The holes are like the orifices we use to communicate. Beads are strung in the same way that, from mouth to ear, sound waves connect us. Beads have been with us for 75,000 years; they remind us of our ancestors and genetic pool. I measure time, transfix gestures, celebrate cultural memory and explore metaphors through the medium of beads.”

Along with teaching, she frequently travels for exhibitions of her work. She has had 35 solo shows and participated in 300 other exhibitions worldwide. “I’ve had art in shows on every continent except Antarctica,” she says. “I want my artwork to be in the world.”

Ms. Clark joined the VCU School of the Arts eight years ago. Her husband, Dr. Darryl Harper, chairs the VCU Music Department.

She delights in the “amazingly talented community of artists in my department and in my studio. When there is joy, respect and support in a community of creative people, wonderful things happen.”

Meet this award-winning and influential artist, Sonya Clark:

Occupation: Professor and chair of the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Latest accomplishment: Recipient of the Society 1858’s Prize for Contemporary Southern Art, the 17th Annual Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts and co-winner of the 2014 ArtPrize.

Date and place of birth: March 23 in Washington, D.C.

Current home: Richmond.

Alma mater: Bachelor’s degree, Amherst College; bachelor of fine arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and master of fine arts degree, Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Family: Husband, Dr. Darryl Harper, chair of the music department at VCU. One of the smartest things I ever did was marry my best friend. He is a beautiful soul and gentle man, and, next to my mother, probably my biggest advocate. His humor and quiet intelligence keep me on point.

Reaction to winning awards: It’s all a bit overwhelming and humbling, but it also is a responsibility. Opportunity is always a responsibility. Other artists and mentors lit the torch for me, so it is my responsibility to use this opportunity to do the same. One of the jurors for ArtPrize was Susan Sollins, Director of Art21. She died suddenly a few days after the award announcement. She was an amazing advocate for many artists. I will do my part to honor her legacy.

How I got the news: I received an email about the Society 1858 Prize while I was traveling and doing research in South Africa in August. But I had to keep the news quiet until the official announcement in September. As for ArtPrize, I missed the award ceremony in Michigan because I was in New York on business. Texts, phone messages and emails congratulating me started pouring in.

I decided to enter these competitions because: The Society 1858 Prize is for artists living in or from the South. Also it seemed fitting given the content of a lot of my work. As for ArtPrize, a curator from Grand Rapids invited me to participate. The Hair Craft Project had received such great attention here in Richmond, I wanted to see how it would be received in a completely different venue.

What these awards mean to me: The recognition is encouraging, It shines the spotlight on the talents of the deeply rich traditions of hairstylists. It’s encouragement to keep doing what I do. And because there are monetary awards, they yield capacity for me to keep at it.

Why art turns me on: It’s a language that can touch us deeply, change opinions and challenge ideas.

When I was introduced to art: Art is in us. It’s not a separate thing from us. It’s a perspective. I think most children are artful. Luckily, I still have a bit of that child in me. That quality gets reinvigorated each day because I am surrounded by other artists. We bring it out in each other.

Why textiles: Textiles have a deep cultural global history. They also have a deep personal history. We are surrounded by cloth and almost always in contact with it. That intimacy makes it a perfect language to use practically and metaphorically.

Favorite materials to use: My go-to materials are combs, human hair and thread. I will use another material if it is better suited for the concept.

Teaching, for me, is: A way to stay educated and engaged. I have experience in the classroom, but ultimately, the learning experience is a shared one.

Why I became a teacher: My first teaching memory was tutoring my mom’s friend’s son in math. Ironically, that friend was a hairdresser. I was about 12 and good at math. He was 8. I love remembering how I learned something and helping someone else find their own ways of learning and seeing. Also, when he did well in math the next year in school, we shared in that pride together.

Teaching philosophy: If you are not learning anything, you’re probably not teaching anything either.

Favorite artists: Many of the hairdressers I worked with on The Hair Craft Project and my former teacher from the Art Institute of Chicago and mentor Nick Cave. Also, J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, the late Nigerian photographer, whose photographs of hairstyles have inspired me for years. I plan to do a project dedicated to his legacy.

Reason: I respect tenacity and drive, improvisation and skill. The artists that I hold dear almost always have these qualities.

When I get restless, I: Find a way to travel to another place. It always gives me perspective when I travel.

Guilty pleasure: I have two. Well, two that I’ll admit to publicly: Chocolate, single origin and the darker the better, and any cocktail made with bourbon by Matthias or Tim at Heritage restaurant.

How I unwind: Sharing a home-cooked meal with good friends, hanging out on my roof looking at the Richmond sky and yoga.

What people think when they first meet me: I’m no mind reader, but often people comment on my hair if recently have been in the chair of one of Richmond’s finest hairstylists. There is so much talent in this town.

The one thing that I can’t stand: Unkindness and unnecessary rudeness. (Sometimes rudeness is called for, but rarely.)

The book that influenced me the most: Two that I read back to back in the early 1990s — “Race Matters” by Cornel West and “Multiple Intelligences” by Howard E. Gardner. Also, “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World” by Lewis Hyde.

What I’m reading now: The book I read and then re-read most recently was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah.”

My next goal: I’m always working on multiple projects. In all of them, I’ll continue to use hair and textiles as metaphor, method and material to help us see one another better.