18 Alaska artists recognized with grants
Published Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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Stumble It!Three local residents and a former Fairbanksan were among 18 Alaska artists receiving awards of $3,000 to $25,000 to pursue artistic endeavors in their chosen fields.
Ron Senungetuk, a retired University of Alaska Fairbanks art professor and visual artist now living in Homer, received the fifth annual $25,000 Distinguished Artist Award, presented by the Rasmuson Foundation on Monday in Anchorage.
Watercolor painter and ice artist Vladimir Zhikhartsev received a $12,000 Artist Fellowship award to enable him to travel to historic areas of Russian America and build a new body of work with the theme “Seasons in Russian America.”
Writer and wilderness guide Michael Engelhard was granted a $5,000 project award to travel to Mongolia and spend time to develop a narrative nonfiction work. Engelhard is an author, and his writings appear in numerous publications.
Teresa Shannon, a craft artist working in clay, received a $3,000 project award to build a propane-fired soda kiln not previously available in Fairbanks, to continue her exploration of surface design.
Zhikhartsev describes himself as an en plein air watercolor painter, which means he paints outdoors in natural light.
“I am a big fan of watercolor. I started doing it when I was very young,” he said.
The Russian-born artist first arrived in Fairbanks from Provideniya in 1991 to carve ice, and he has won 14 gold medals at international ice carving events around the world including Fairbanks, and carved in two Olympic competitions.
“Ice changed my life,” said Zhikhartsev, who fell in love with Alaska and has been living here since 1996.
Except for teaching watercolor classes for two weeks in July at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Zhikhartsev plans to spend the entire summer traveling in Southeast and Southwest Alaska. He will be visiting and painting in communities and areas settled and/or explored by 19th century Russians.
“I am very excited about this,” Zhikhartsev said. “I hope the weather is going to be good.”
Zhikhartsev’s itinerary includes stops in Kodiak, Sitka, Dutch Harbor, some Aleutian Islands and places in between.
“I’m tracing the Russian heritage; the people, the scenery, the churches and landscape. When I’m done, I am going to do a show in November in Well Street gallery,” he said.
Zhikhartsev’s work is on display at the Annex Gallery through May 31.
The Rasmuson Foundation awards the Distinguished Artist and Fellowship awards once a year. Project awards are given out twice annually. The next deadline is Sept. 1.
Following the art awards announcement Monday morning, the Rasmuson Gallery of Alaskan Artists officially opened in Second Life, the three-dimensional virtual world, making the Rasmuson Foundation one of the first foundations to debut an art project in Second Life.
Since 2004, Rasmuson Foundation has awarded $962,621 in individual artist awards to 132 Alaskans in various stages of their careers to experiment, explore and develop their artistry more fully.
Community Discussion
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How about listing all 18 artists? It's nice to hear about the three local artists and the former UAF professor but who are the other fourteen artists? Was Ossie one of the awardees? What about Becky Etukeok (a former Fairbanks resident)?
Their press release can be found here: http://www.rasmuson.org/PressRelease/ind...
An excerpt:
Six artists have been selected to receive $12,000 Fellowship Awards:
* Carl Battreall, photographer (Anchorage).
* Nicholas Galanin, multidiscipline artist working in performance art, video installation, film, sculpture, painting and photography (Sitka).
* Sonya Kelliher-Combs, visual artist working in mixed-media creating two and three dimensional works (Anchorage).
* Philip Munger music composer (Wasilla).
* Linda Smogor, photographer (Homer).
* Vladimir Zhikhartsev, plein air watercolor painter (Fairbanks).
In addition, Individual Artist Project grants have been awarded to:
* Audrey Armstrong, $5,000, folk/traditional artist working with fish skin (Anchorage).
* Michael Engelhard, $5,000, literary artist (Fairbanks).
* Clara Haley, $5,000, folk/traditional artist Northwest Coast cedar bark weaver (Wrangell).
* Denise Heimel, $5,000, visual artist working in clay to create sculptural forms (Wasilla).
* Caroline Kroll, $5,000, folk/traditional artist, wood carver, weaver (Anchorage).
* Rosemary McGuire, $3,145, literary artist (Cordova).
* Christopher Miller, $4,999, photographer (Juneau).
* Leslie Hsu Oh, $5,000, literary artist (Eagle River).
* Roswell Schaeffer Sr., $5,000, folk/traditional artist working with wood, ivory and bone craft (Kotzebue).
* Teresa Shannon, $5,000, craft artist working in clay (Fairbanks).
* Ruth Sorensen, $5,000, oil painter (Anchorage).
* Tasha Walen, $5,000, craft artist working in glass (Juneau).
* Sheila Wyne, $5,000, multidiscipline, multi-media artist (Anchorage).
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