Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Inaugural Recipients of the Emerging Artist Grant

New York, NY - The Joan Mitchell Foundation is excited to announce the ten recipients of the 2015 Emerging Artist Grant Program. This program will provide each artist with an unrestricted grant of $12,000 each and professional support.

2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant Recipients:

Greta Bank, Hollis, ME
Adriana Corral, San Antonio, TX
Kerry Downey, Brooklyn, NY
Maria Gaspar, Chicago, IL
Guadalupe Maravilla, Brooklyn, NY
Joiri Minaya, New York, NY
Nontsikelelo Mutiti, New York, NY
Shani Peters, New York, NY
Wendy Red Star, Portland, OR
Tattfoo Tan, Staten Island, NY

To identify artist nominees, the Foundation engaged nominators nationally to recommend artists, who were then invited to apply for the grant. Then, a secondary independent jury panel selected sixteen program finalists through an anonymous review process. Nominators and jurors included visual artists, curators, and individuals from arts organizations and the academic community. A committee of Foundation staff and an outside reviewer determined the final recipient group through an interview process in the fall of 2015. In addition to the above ten recipients, finalists who progressed to this interview round will receive a Finalist Award in the amount of $1,500.

2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Finalists:

Morehshin Allahyari, Oakland, CA
Lili Bernard, Los Angeles, CA
Beatrice Glow, Queens, NY
Woomin Kim, Chicago, IL
Shizu Saldamando, Los Angeles, CA
Anja Ulfeldt, Oakland, CA

About the Emerging Artist Grant Program
The Foundation seeks to award emerging visual artists who demonstrate excellence in their work, a commitment to their careers and artistic communities, and a willingness to engage in the varied support provided by this program. The Foundation defines "emerging" as those early in their artistic careers (regardless of age), who are gaining momentum, and may be at a critical juncture in their career when this support would be the most impactful. These artists demonstrate potential in their practice through risk-taking and pushing their work in dynamic ways, and are not yet considered well established professionally by indicators such as major gallery representation, significant exhibition history, awards and commissions, or sustaining an income derived solely from art sales.

The combination of unrestricted funding and supplemental professional development programming is intended to further recipients' artistic practice, encourage career sustainability, and best equip them to make their own artistic choices and forge a unique career path. Recipients will have the opportunity to build relationships with one another, the Foundation, and an expansive community of arts professionals.

View artwork by the Emerging Artist Grant Recipients here.

About the Joan Mitchell Foundation
Established in 1993, the Joan Mitchell Foundation is an artist-endowed non-profit organization. The Foundation celebrates the legacy of Joan Mitchell and expands her vision to support the aspirations and development of diverse contemporary artists. We work to broaden the recognition of artists and their essential contributions to communities and society.

In addition to this new initiative, other programs undertaken by the Foundation include free art education programming for New York City youth and young adults, the Painters & Sculptors Grant Program, grants to arts organizations, the Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) program that supports mature artists in the areas of studio organization, archiving and inventory management, as well as grants to artists and arts communities in need of emergency support after a disaster. The Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans is an artist residency center that hosts national and local artists, and provides public programming that serves the broader community of New Orleans.