by Kimberly Stevens
Featuring the works of women
artists on PaintingsDirect.com. |
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Ever fantasize about winning the Publishers Clearing House Sweeps? That's probably what it feels like for artists who receive a letter in the mail from the “Anonymous Was a Woman” Foundation.
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"Winter Bouquet"
Elizabeth Wolfson |
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"Descanso"
Gladys Barbot Desmangles
"Refraction"
Jan Velayas |
In an effort to make up for the elimination of grants for individual artists from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995, a donor who prefers to remain anonymous started sending women artists checks in the mail.
The foundation states that its focus is women in mid-career (must be over thirty) who show creative promise. Every year ten grants are given out.
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The anonymous donor maintains the grants are not about her, but about the artists. It is also an attempt to honor women artists throughout history who signed their work "Anonymous" and never received recognition. Friends say that “Anonymous” is an artist, but not a famous one, and the extent of her fortune is unknown. The name of the foundation is a borrowed line from Virginia Wolf's novel "A Room of One’s Own."
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"Flowers on a Striped Cloth"
Sally Friedman
"Multi-Dimensional Thresholds - A Diptych"
Priscilla Souder
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"At a Cafe"
Evelyne Chevalier
"Woodlands Stream"
Beth Kantor
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A wide range of disciplines is recognized by the foundation, including video art, sculpture, photography and small and large-scale installations. The recipients are expected to write to the foundation after a year has passed and describe how the grant has affected their work. To date, artists have used the money to quit part time jobs, allowing more time for work, as well as to pay for costly materials.
Keep checking that mail!
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Read our archived Art in the News |
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