(Andrew Meyers, Where-Wolf, Mixed Media on Paper, 2019 | Photo Courtesy of The Oregon Arts Commission)
In two rounds of FY2020 Career Opportunity Program grant awards, the Oregon Arts Commission and The Ford Family Foundation have collectively awarded $112,342 to 40 artists for career development projects. The awards include $55,121 from the Oregon Arts Commission and $57,221 in supplemental funding for 19 established visual artists through a partnership with The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts Program. Individual grants range from $1,000 to $8,000.
Career Opportunity Grants support individual Oregon artists by enabling them to take advantage of timely opportunities that enhance their artistic careers. Most grants support the artists’ participation in residencies, exhibitions or performance opportunities.
“This grant program invests in the career growth of talented Oregon artists,” said Anne Taylor, chair of the Arts Commission. “We also are so proud to support artists in representing Oregon outside of the region and internationally.”
The Ford Family Foundation funds are available to established Oregon visual artists who are producing new work in the fields of contemporary art and craft.
“We see these critical investments in artists’ careers as a core element of our Visual Arts Program,” said Anne C. Kubisch, president of The Ford Family Foundation. “We hope the funding leverages other support and successes for them.”
FY2020 Career Opportunity Program grant award recipients are:
Paula Bullwinkel, Bend
Oregon Arts Commission $1,117
To support travel and shipping materials for an artist residency at The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont.
Whitney Nye, Bend
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $2,000
To support the purchase of materials, shipping, documentation and cataloging of new work during Nye’s fellowship at Vermont Studio Center in November 2019.
Laura Aguero, Salem
Oregon Arts Commission $1,459
To support a guest-soloist performance with the Orquesta Universitaria de Musical Popular in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
May Anuntarungsun, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $200
To support an eight-week residency and exhibition, The United, at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. The Center will host Anuntarungsun for the creation of new works and pay for one-way shipping.
Olivia Awbrey, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support the debut album release promotion for the Olivia Awbrey band, which includes traveling to the Treefort Music Festival and a UK tour.
Jill Baker, Corvallis
Oregon Arts Commission $1,245
To support fees and travel for an immersive drawing workshop for practicing artists in Northern New Mexico to take place in May of 2021. Baker will be one of six artists participating in a session focusing on craft, materials and ideas relative to drawing.
Claire Barrera, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support Barrera’s weeklong residency at Greywood Arts in Cork, Ireland, to research their project tu eres mi otro yo.
Simon Boas, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support travel for Boas’ solo exhibition/new media art installation about masculinity and sexual consent at the ArtMill in Prague, Czech Republic.
Michael Boonstra, Eugene
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $2,500
To support material costs of a new body of work planned for exhibition in November of 2020 at the Truckenbrod Gallery in Corvallis.
Mike Bray, Eugene
The Ford Family Foundation $4,400
To support a solo exhibition of Bray’s work at Gallery Fourteen30 in February 2021.
Lyra Butler-Denman, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support post-production of the short film BARDO to be submitted to the National Organization for Arts in Health conference.
Rachael Carnes, Eugene
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support the further development and performance of a full-length immersive theatrical experience based on the life of Sarah “Sally” Hemings in collaboration with the Director of the African American Experience and Slavery at Monticello, regional performers and the people of Charlottesville.
Susan Chan, Tigard
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support travel to Germany for residencies at three music institutions as well as to present and perform a lecture-recital at the European Piano Teachers Association 42nd International Conference that celebrates the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven.
Lisa Conway, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $750
To support participation in an Artist-Invites-Artists residency session at the Red Lodge Center Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana.
Fernanda D’Agostino, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $5,500
To support a solo show in Lisbon, Portugal, for the Environmental Biennial as part of the International Green City Initiative 2020. The exhibition will take place at the Museum of Water and will include a 10-day residency.
keyon gaskin, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,450
To support the production of a new performance and textile work commissioned by Lucy Cotter, the curator-in residence at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center. The site-specific, architecturally engaged performance, with a working title of Faint Feel, will take place at Disjecta in December 2020.
Bean Gilsdorf, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support the completion of work for a December 2020 body-themed exhibition at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, as well as inclusion in the subsequent exhibition catalog.
Anne Greenwood, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $2,840
To support documentation of Greenwood’s new work, Lunar Maria for the exhibition SPOR | TRACES in Iceland, as well as travel to attend the opening and to conduct lichen research for new work Enmesh for SCIENCE STORIES exhibit and to promote the call for participation in FLIGHT: What Migratory Birds Show Us.
Sabina Haque, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $3,600
To support (Un) Belonging, a multimedia installation at Paragon Gallery in late 2020. In partnership with Portland Community College’s DACA Dream Center, Haque will present a large drawing installation with video projections of hand-drawn animated borders, exploring our essential desire to belong.
Diane Jacobs, Portland
The Ford Family Foundation $4,050
To support the completion of a multifaceted artist book celebrating Mt. Hood’s ecological richness and cultural importance for a January 2021 exhibit at Passages Bookshop Gallery in Portland.
Michael Kelly, Beaverton
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support the preparation of work, specifically framing and a catalogue, for a solo exhibition of Kelly’s work at Imprint Gallery in Astoria in March and April of 2021.
Anya Kivarkis, Eugene
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $6,500
To support travel and the production of work for two exhibitions in Munich, Germany, that coincide with Schmuck 2020, the most significant annual international jewelry event in the world.
Kendra Larson, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support an exhibition of paintings at the Art Gallery at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg in February and March of 2021. The award will support travel, documentation and a catalogue.
Bethany Marcel, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support two writing residencies, a two-week residency in January 2020 at the Vermont Studio Center, the largest arts and writing residency program in the U.S., and a one-week residency in November 2019 at Spruce Art in Pennsylvania.
Sarah Marguier, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,000
To support travel for a two-week residency at Espace en Cours, a performing art residency space in Paris, in collaboration with choreographer Maya M. Carroll.
Robbie McClaran, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $2,810
To support preparation and framing of exhibition materials, photographs, maps, texts and for a series of four scheduled exhibitions of McClaran’s The Great River of the West, a photographic survey of the Columbia River, from its source in British Columbia to its confluence with the Pacific Ocean.
Laura Medina, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,250
To support the purchase of materials for installation of a new immersive Mixed Reality experience during Medina’s exhibition at Fuller Rosen Gallery alongside Devin Harclerode in fall 2020.
Luz Mendoza, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support the studio recording of a new choral work created in collaboration with the Camas High School Choir.
Andrew Myers, Corvallis
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $1,000
To support professional photography of a curated solo exhibition of Myers’ work at the Bush Barn Art Center in Salem, including the design and publication of an exhibition catalogue.
Julia Oldham, Eugene
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $1,000
To support SHTF, a multi-media solo exhibition for which Oldham will create an installation exploring the fall of civilization, climate change and artificial intelligence/deep learning at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY, in January 2020 in collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist Chad Stayrook.
Vanessa Renwick, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $5,000
To support the exhibition of large paintings on fabric for the Stumptown Fellowship show in January/February 2020 and the Painted Desert Project on the Navajo Nation.
Anya Roberts-Toney, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $225
To support Roberts-Toney’s solo exhibition of new paintings at Nationale, a contemporary art gallery in SE Portland.
Laura Ross-Paul, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $3,000
To support the creation of a 60-image catalog combining various bodies of work that were inspired by Ross-Paul’s experience as a patient pioneer and advocate for treating breast cancer using cryoablation. The catalogue will include a critical essay by writer Sue Taylor and an interview by curator Linda Tesner.
David Rueter, Eugene
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $6,000
To support three months in São Paulo for the production of an exhibition at the 34th Bienal de São Paulo and at the artist-run space Um Trabalho|Um Texto. The exhibitions will bring significant new international exposure and opportunities for Rueter and his two collaborators.
Christina Rusnak, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,100
To support travel to a residency at the Visby International Centre for Composers in Visby Sweden.
Arvie Smith, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $2,550
To support the creation of a 32-page publication based on Smith’s Ground Beneath Us 2019 residency in Waterford, Virginia, for release in time for his public lecture at The Ground Beneath Us Summer Fellowship Institute in Waterford, Virginia, in August 2020.
Kate Speranza, Astoria
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support airfare, materials/shipping and the residency program fee at Arteles Creative Center in Finland for a month-long residency in February 2020.
Jennifer Vaughn, Eugene
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support the exhibition/travel costs for exhibition at two galleries in Pittsburgh: Phosphor Project Space and Casey Droege Projects. Vaughn will also be in residence at Casey Droege Projects.
Kate Wagle, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
The Ford Family Foundation $3,296
To support materials, production, printing and framing for a solo exhibition of current work at the new Center for Art Research at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
Bobbi Woods, Portland
Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support production and travel for Woods’ work using language as material to challenge established structures of power in a solo exhibition at Flood Plain in St. Louis, Missouri.