ARTISTS AS INNOVATORS Celebrating Three Decades of NYSCA/NYFA Fellowships ARTISTS AS INNOVATORS Celebrating Three Decades of NYSCA/NYFA Fellowships Fall 2017 - Spring 2020 Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz Dowd Gallery, SUNY Cortland Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University Cathy & Jesse Marion Art Gallery, SUNY Fredonia Plattsburgh State Art Museum, SUNY Plattsburgh Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, Stony Brook University Westchester Community College Fine Arts Gallery, Westchester Community College Copyright © 2017 New York Foundation for the Arts. Introduction & Acknowledgments All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image may be used for any Michael L. Royce, Executive Director, New York Foundation for the Arts purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or retransmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission. All biographical information provided by the artists and their galleries was unedited by the curators except for consistency of museum listings and other details. This exhibition is a testament to the value of funding and recognition at crucial points in artists’ careers, giving them the gift of time and the encouragement to continue ISBN: 978-0-692-91563-9 creating the work that enriches our lives. You will probably recognize the names of the artists in this exhibition and its related events because they are world renowned. They all received New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of NYSCA/NYFA Fellowships (NYSCA/NYFA) Artist Fellowships in the early stages of their careers. They have gone Curators on to shape the contemporary culture of the United States. Judith K. Brodsky and David C. Terry with the assistance of Madeline Scholl But beyond this exhibition, these artists represent a larger impact on the creative NYFA Executive Director community in New York State. Established in 1985, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Michael L. Royce Program has provided over $30 million in unrestricted grants to more than 4,000 artists Cover Image across New York State in the visual, literary, media, and performing arts. All artists in Ross Bleckner, Dome, 2015, Oil on canvas, 104 x 87 inches, Courtesy of Ross Bleckner, the state are eligible to apply. They are selected for awards based solely on the quality Photograph by Jeffrey Sturges of the work submitted. Exhibition history, prior awards, and commercial success are Catalogue Production not a factor in the decisions made by the members of the panels, who are themselves General Editor: Maria Villafranca carefully selected to reflect diversity in every possible way, including geographically Design: Luiza Teixeira-Vesey representing the various regions of the state. There is no fee to apply and first-time fellows range in age from twenty-five to eighty-four. Many recipients, including some of the artists in this exhibition, applied to the program multiple times before being Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949806 selected. This is a testament to the tenacity with which artists are committed to their creativity. We hope these facts encourage would-be and repeat applicants in the future. Fellowships are part of a larger mission at New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) to empower artists at critical stages of their creative lives. For almost fifty years, in addition to the cash grants of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program, we have provided a not-for-profit umbrella to help artists raise funds for their projects; online resources; and in-depth professional development training to artists, arts administrators, and cultural entrepreneurs, including “boot camps” for emerging artists to learn how to manage their careers; an immigrant artist program to help artists who come to the United States learn how to negotiate the American cultural establishment and sustain themselves; and individual career advising through “doctor’s hours.” Curators’ Voice Judith K. Brodsky and David C. Terry with the assistance of Madeline Scholl NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Thank you to Barbaralee Diamonstein- Spielvogel, Mara Manus, Petra Maxwell, Megan White, and other NYSCA staff for making the fellowship program possible. We are grateful to Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher; Sara Pasti, Neil C. Trager Director of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art who During the 1960s and 1970s, we became aware of the restrictions that result from has been our liaison with SUNY; the directors of the six other venues at which the establishing a cultural canon. In response, artists began to explore and analyze exhibition will be shown; the State University of New York (SUNY) for their generosity the cultural and social norms of the past, as well as the new interconnectedness, and partnering with us on this touring exhibition, and to the New York City Department conflicts, and common problems evident in the world. The artists in this exhibition, all of Cultural Affairs, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Deutsche Bank Americas of whom received New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Foundation, and the individual donors who have provided additional funding for Arts (NYSCA/NYFA) Artist Fellowships, embraced this increased social awareness. other Artist Fellowships. Thank you to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of NYSCA/NYFA Fellowships supporting this exhibition and to Atelier 4 for their support with the shipping. I also demonstrates the important role NYFA has played in shaping our conception of art want to thank the members of the NYFA staff who have implemented the NYSCA/ making and its purpose. NYFA Artist Fellowship Program with such dedication over the years, and who are also responsible for organizing this exhibition and surrounding events, particularly David C. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program was established in 1985 and has Terry and Madeline Scholl. encouraged innovation right from the start. In that first year alone, exhibiting artists Ross Bleckner, Christian Marclay, Tony Oursler, and Martha Rosler received grants. We understand how difficult the creative path can be, and we are honored to be These artists, like all of the artists in this exhibition, represent innovation not only in allowed to help artists make that journey. social awareness but also in their use of technique, new media, and/or controversial subject matter. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program is, in itself, innovative in a number of ways. First, it is artist-driven. In fact, it was designed by a team of artists from throughout New York State. While the members have changed, the Artists Advisory Committee, as the team is now called, continues to monitor the program, keeps it up to date, and holds it to the standards and values that informed it from the beginning. Second, the unrestricted nature of the award is also designed to encourage innovation. NYSCA/NYFA funds have enabled artists to take time off from day jobs to spend additional time in the studio, purchase new materials, travel for research, and hire childcare to allow them uninterrupted time to make art. Finally, fellows are selected by other artists, who are often the most open to bold, new, genre- challenging work. 4 Despite the fact that the recipients were all living in New York State at the time they by the Guerrilla Girls (NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows ‘88) — so visible and pointed that received their awards, their impact can be felt around the world through exhibitions they could not be ignored. Faith Ringgold’s (NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow ‘88) quilt and conversations. While New York City looms large in the national imagination, the about an African American child who gets to fly is pictured on the most popular truth is that one of the treasured aspects of living in New York State is the fact that poster at the Guggenheim Museum store and her book, Tar Beach, about the same every region of the state is a hotbed of cultural creativity. Buffalo is an epicenter of child, was one of the first widely read picture books about African American children. the development of electronic music; Rochester, of photography and technological Wendell Castle’s (NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow ‘86) innovative furniture has educated innovation; Alfred, of ceramic science; and Corning, of glass as an artistic discipline. manufacturers of mass-produced goods and their customers to a sense of good Artists’ colonies are also present in many localities such as Austerlitz, the Hamptons, design. Then there’s Tara Donovan (NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow ‘03) who utilizes Saratoga, Ithaca, and Woodstock. Institutions such as the Chautauqua Festival, the everyday objects such as toothpicks or pencils, and opens our eyes to the possibilities Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, and the Glimmerglass Festival are evidence of the for art in the world around us. creativity and culture that has been made and supported by New York State residents While not part of the exhibition, it is important to note the impact that the NYSCA/ for centuries. Finally, the institutions of higher education, such as the 64 campuses in NYFA Artist Fellowship Program has had on the cultural world beyond the visual the State University of New York (SUNY) system, also play a crucial role in developing arts — the program treats culture as a whole, and the categories in which grants are and supporting the creative community of the state. They house museums and awarded include film, theater, choreography, architecture, literature, and music/ performing arts centers, and many NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows teach at and have sound.