I discovered a new blog at the Massachusetts Cultural Council called ArtSake. I've already discovered two great items: weekend passes for the CRAFTBOSTON show will be available at 200 public libraries AND the heartening news of a grant for women artists over 35.
Thanks to a very generous donation by CRAFTBOSTON, 200 public libraries throughout Massachusetts will have 10 weekend passes available for their members to attend the CRAFTBOSTON event March 28-30, 2008 at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center. CRAFTBOSTON is sponsored by The Society of Arts and Crafts.
Link to Pass Out on ArtSake
I am proud to report that one of our commonwealth’s very own, Jill Slosberg-Ackerman (Drawing Fellow ‘06), has been awarded a prestigious grant from the foundation Anonymous Was a Woman.
If you are not familiar with the foundation, its name refers to a line in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. As the name implies, the nominators and those associated with the program are un-named, and artists are unaware that they are being considered for the award. The program was started in response to elimination of National Endowment for the Arts grants to individual artists. Awards are $25,000 each and recognize the work of women artists over the age of 35.
This year’s other winners include Miriam Beerman, Lois Conner, Petah Coyne, Agnes Denes, Diane Edison, Paula Hayes, Joan Semmel, Leslie Thorton, and Carrie Mae Weems. 121 such awards have been made over the past 12 years.
Link to Who Are You on ArtSake
I think it's awesome that CRAFTBOSTON is making free passes available through public libraries. If you want to find out which Massachusetts public libraries have the passes go to CRAFTBOSTON's website and sniff around the News Room page. The list is part of a press release. I will say that the BPL is well-represented--shout out to Main Branch and West End--and passes are available at the Brookline Public Library. You have to be a member of the library to check out the passes. If you're not an official member already, bring a picture i.d. and some mail with your address to the relevant branch. 1-2-3, presto! You should be hooked up for an awesome day of crafts browsing (sorry, Etsy, sometimes you just gotta see and touch it in person). A birdy told me this year the Society of Arts & Crafts will provide a way for people to identify immediately the affordable items at a vendor's stall. Start stuffing the cookie jar for a springtime splurge, y'all.
I love that there's a stealth grant exists for women artists over 35. Like the flying finger of fate, BOOM!, twenty-five grand lands in your lap to get you to the next stage of your artistic growth. It's very hush-hush because I couldn't even find a website for it. Foundation members' identities are secret, and the artists don't know they're being nominated or considered until they get word about the check coming their way.
I only found two web articles via Google about the foundation--no serious search using my super-powered e-databases at my college library. If you want to search for yourself, keep the verb tense correct: 'was,' not 'is.' If you use the present tense, you're bound to find a personal blog and whatnot. One of the articles, found cached on absolutearts.com, uses the grant recipients' own words to illustrate how necessary and wonderful this grant is for women artists.
Another previous recipient explained, “For a woman things don’t get easier as one gets older, they get harder…[I]n my experience, the backlash becomes stronger and stronger against those women who have chosen or fallen outside of societal norms in terms of career, marriage and family. I’ve never felt the weight of society’s judgment more since I turned forty...
The other article provides some background information about the grant and can be found by clicking this link. (I didn't link the absolutearts.com article because I think Google has cached it and therefore pulling it up can be sticky, but not impossible.) Both articles are from before 2005, and I find it fascinating that there's nothing more recent about the award and the recipients. Let's get out there and promote these women artists! Why? Because one of them, Petah Coyne, is a favorite of mine.
I discovered Coyne at the Chicago Culture Center. She was on the top floor gallery in a splendid Beaux-Arts ballroom. Her accumulative sculptures entranced me as I wandered among them. They were familiar to me on some level--awake or asleep, I don't know. A woman came up to me, and very sweetly informed me she recognized them from nightmares. She was a complete stranger, but shared this personal information with me anyway. [I was compelled to take a vocational test sometime during high school. According to the test, the two careers for which I'm best suited are advertising account executive and priest.] I replied with wide eyes and pleasant sounds. To me, that's a successful gallery experience.
Congratulations to all the recipients of this year's award from Anonymous Was a Woman! I will soon be looking for you on the web and in the library.
Dates and Hours
Friday March 28, 2008 10am - 6pm
Saturday March 29, 2008 10am - 6pm
Sunday March 30, 2008 11am - 5pm
Location
200 Seaport Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02210
The Seaport World Trade Center is wheelchair accessible.
Admission Prices
- General Admission $15
- Senior Citizens and SAC Members $12
- Children, 12 years and under Free
Admission tickets valid for readmission throughout the weekend.
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