GTCF Honors 10 Pierce County Artists with 10th Foundation Of Art Award

Posted on by Spaceworks Tacoma

Tacoma, WA – Greater Tacoma Community Foundation will honor ten Pierce County visual artists for the 10th Foundation of Art Award in recognition of the growth of the local arts community since the Award’s inception. This year’s awardees span a wide range of artistic mediums, from painting and sculpture, to fabric and letterpress.

The following artists will showcase their work at a dedicated Spaceworks Gallery show and receive $1,000 each: Mindy Barker, Heather Cornelius, Todd Jannausch, Janet Marcavage, Gillian Nordlund, Nicholas Nyland, Chandler O’Leary, Saiyare Refaei, Kenji Stoll, and Chandler Woodfin. The awardees’ art will be on display at Spaceworks Gallery from September 4 to October 19, 2017.

 

Heather Cornelius, “Undine”, Ceramic (2016)
Saiyare Refaei, “Reflection 3”, 17×11” 7 color reduction woodcut print (May 2014)
Chandler O’Leary, “Berry Basket”, Ten life-sized paper strawberries in a found berry basket; from the “Farm to Table” series (2016)
Chandler Woodfin, “Black Mountain”, 24×36″ watercolor on paper (2015)
Gillian Nordlund, GEEGEE Book, Page #2 of 20, 5×12″ ball point pen, whiteout
Mindy Barker, “Yes”, 29’x46’ acrylic mural (2014)
Kenji Stoll, Mural painted for Out of Sight show in Seattle (2016)
Nicholas Nyland, “Studio Mountain”, 21″x13″x12″(h) gouache and acrylic on shaped paper (2007)
Todd Jannausch, Found hammer head, steam bent handle and glass nails
Janet Marcavage, “Heap II”, 23.5×22.5″ screenprint on rag paper (2015)

The Foundation of Art Award was first given in 2008 to honor visual artists living and working in Pierce County. Amy McBride, City of Tacoma Arts Administrator, has been a part of the award selection committee since the beginning, “Tacoma is a creative community and the artists are our lifeblood. They provide vision, different perspectives, beauty, and hopefully even challenge our way of seeing and being in the world.”

This year, Spaceworks partnered with GTCF to produce the 10th Foundation of Art Award Gallery Show. Spaceworks Tacoma is a joint initiative of the City of Tacoma and the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber that provides opportunities to artists and entrepreneurs.

Gabriel Brown, Spaceworks Arts Programs Coordinator, recognizes how meaningful it is for artists to exhibit their work in a gallery setting, “Viewers now see art and exhibition photos from all over the planet via the internet. This makes us long for the physical experience even more; to see artwork in person, as it is often designed for. For visual artists, it is perhaps an honor more than ever to exhibit your work in a gallery, to your community.”

A public reception for this year’s awardees will be held during the Third Thursday Art Walk on September 21, 2017, at the Spaceworks Gallery. As part of the event, a newly commissioned video will be premiered. The video will highlight past Foundation of Art Award recipients sharing stories and lessons from working as an artist in Pierce County.

The selection panel for the 10th Foundation of Art Award included Amy McBride, Sean Alexander, Jeremy Mangan, Elise Richman, and Christopher Paul Jordan.

The previous nine Foundation of Art Award recipients were Chris Sharp in 2008, Jeremy Mangan in 2009, Lisa Kinoshita in 2010, Jessica Spring in 2011, Oliver Doriss in 2012, Shaun Peterson in 2013, Elise Richman in 2014, Christopher Paul Jordan in 2015, and Sean Alexander in 2016. Artwork created by past awardees for GTCF will also be on display at the Spaceworks Gallery show.

For more information, contact Megan Sukys, GTCF VP of Communications, 253.345.41736