In the second and final round of FY2023 Career Opportunity Program grant awards, the Oregon Arts Commission and The Ford Family Foundation have awarded $124,156 to 38 artists for career development projects.
The awards include $65,233 from the Oregon Arts Commission for all artistic disciplines and $58,923 in supplemental funding for 13 established visual artists through a partnership with The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts Program. Individual grants range from $562 to $9,500.
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 Arts Commissioner David Harrelson, who led one of two review panels. “That support is a powerful way for artists to become better recognized and enhance their arts resumes.”
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.
“The Ford Family Foundation values the research and labor of artists to further their careers through training, dedicated work time and new exhibition opportunities,” said Anne C. Kubisch, president of The Ford Family Foundation. “We’re thrilled as ever to partner with the Arts Commission to help amplify these efforts.”
FY2023 Career Opportunity Program grant award recipients are:
Linda Austin, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,243
To support participation in a residency offered by the Ellis Beauregard Foundation in May.
Zach Banks, Pendleton, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Banks’ attendance at the Monteux School and Music Festival, an intensive six-week summer training program for conductors and orchestra musicians, from June 18 to July 31.
Judith Baumann, Pendleton, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support an exhibition of new works, and community outreach, at the Pendleton Center for the Arts. The show, curated by Baumann, includes work by three additional artists from Idaho, New Mexico and Oklahoma, including Native Diné artist Marwin Begaye. The exhibition runs June 1-30.
Aleksandr Chernousov, Oregon City, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support post-production editing of Chernousov’s video of the immersive performance-verbatim “We Sell No Gas.” The 2022 performance, staged in Portland, centers around immigrants, homelessness and finding a home.
Yoonhee Choi, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $6,000
To support a collaboration with Tom Jacobs, manager at Bullseye studio, to translate Choi’s folded drawings and pulp painting into glass artwork and to frame original works for a solo exhibition at PLACE to open in the spring of 2024.
Stephanie Craig, Dayton, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $6,500
To support the growth, rebirth, research and education of the Takelma Rogue River and Cow Creek Umpqua style of stick and root weaving used by Craig’s ancestors. Specifically, Craig wants to revive the flat bottom stick and root baby baskets of the Takelma and Cow Creek people.
Shelly Durica-Laiche, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,000
To support Durica-Laiche’s participation in a week-long collaborative with 50 artists at Frogwood 2023 in Colton from May 21 to 27. Durica-Laiche’s intention is to shift artistic practice toward fine art by working collectively and creatively with multiple mediums.
Melanie Flood, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,928 and the Ford Family Foundation $6,000
To support a solo exhibition of Flood’s work curated by Yaelle S. Amir that will be on display at The Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland from June 13 to Aug. 10, 2024.
Vanessa Fuller, Eugene, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Fuller’s participation in Dana Alexa’s Three6Zero dance and choreography mentorship program in New York City.
Allie Hankins, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,700
To support Hankins’ travel to an artist residency in Cork, Ireland.
Emeric Kennard, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,800
To support Kennard’s travel, lodging and production costs for participation in the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) June 3-4.
Cedar Lee, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $2,000
To support Lee’s one-month artist residency at the Mauser Ecohouse in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica, in January 2024.
Ellen Lesperance, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,500 and the Ford Family Foundation $6,000
To support the production of artist’s first monograph, working title “Ellen Lesperance.” The monograph will be designed, published and distributed globally by Black Dog Press, London, in early 2024.
Fuchsia Lin, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support the presentation of Lin’s costume/textile work to be featured in Seattle’s Bumbershoot Art and Music Festival over Labor Day weekend.
Charlene Liu, Eugene, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $7,500
To support the creation of a Liu’s printmaking and sculptural installation project, China Palace, to be exhibited in “Another Beautiful Country: Moving Images by Chinese American Artists” from December through April 2024 at the University of Southern California Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California.
Elizabeth Magee, Eugene, Oregon Arts Commission $562
To support an exhibition of Magee’s paintings at Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland from May 5 to 30.
Amirra Malak, Hood River, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $2,500
To support Malak’s travel to Egypt to study traditional Egyptian Khayamiya appliqué techniques and support the creation of Altared Space, an immersive circular tent installation combining translucent Khayamiya tent panels and video projection of water to create a healing space and inspire water activism.
Elizabeth Malaska, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $7,000
To support Malaska’s Betty Bowen Award solo exhibition at The Seattle Art Museum scheduled to run from November through April 2024.
Marianne Monson, Astoria, Oregon Arts Commission $1,000
To support Monson’s attendance at the Historical Novel Society North America Conference in San Antonio, Texas, in June. Monson will be the first Oregon women’s history author to present at the annual conference.
Ben Moorad, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Moorad’s travel to Lebanon to co-lead a summer workshop and give a talk on cross-cultural audio storytelling for artists and media practitioners, as well as the artist’s second season of a new English-language podcast featuring stories of life in Lebanon.
Brenna Murphy, Portland, the Ford Family Foundation $2,500
To support Murphy’s pair of MSHR solo exhibitions in two art spaces in Japan in May and June. MSHR is an art collective established by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper in 2011.
Susan Murrell, La Grande, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $1,382
To support Murrell’s solo exhibition: SIFT/SHIFT. The site-specific installation will be on display at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, this summer through fall.
Darlene Pagan, Hillsboro, Oregon Arts Commission $1,300
To support Pagan’s travel to a wildlife refuge in Windhoek, Namibia, to complete a series of creative and pedagogical essays on writing for social justice and to lay the foundation for a course that incorporates creative writing with civic engagement.
Brian Parham, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Parham’s completion of “Elijah & the Sacred Song,” an original metal musical for children and families. Through his play, Parham hopes to encourage more Black children to play hard rock and metal music, and to create a sense of empowerment that audiences can harness to actively engage in their communities.
Alicia Rabins, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support development, rehearsals and touring of Rabins’ fresh choral-theatrical production offering a contemporary reinterpretation of tales involving women from ancient Jewish mythology. The show, to be performed by the Camas High School Choir along with Oregon-based musicians, will run from September to May 2024.
Valerie Radford Cox, Dallas, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $2,500
To support Radford Cox’s travel and participation in the 41st Annual Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., in May.
Jayanthi Raman, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Raman’s teaching of nattuvangam, a South Indian form of rhythmic recitation, and to stage a dance performance at a week-long residency program in the U.K.
Michelle Ross, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Ross’ site-specific painting installation at the Lazy Eye Gallery at Yucca Valley Material Lab in Yucca Valley, California, in October.
Jennifer Rowe, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Rowe’s studies to earn a certificate from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Shakespearian Studies in London.
Sharon Servilio, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $1,700
To support Servilio’s first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery, “Phone Call from the Zone,” at Unit B Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, from July 8 to 28.
Karen Silve, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000 and the Ford Family Foundation $7,500
To support Silve’s career growth and work on an international stage, exhibiting alongside word renowned artists in “Personal Structures,” a seven-month exhibition in parallel with “la Biennale di Venezia” in Venice. The exhibitions are presented by the European Cultural Centre.
Ariella Tai, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Tai’s attendance at the opening of an exhibition that features an installation of Tai’s multi-channel video work titled “safehouse i” at the Pinakothek de Moderne in Munich, Germany. The exhibition will run from late November through March 2024.
Pace Taylor, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Taylor’s participation in the Don Bachardy Fellowship at the Royal Drawing School in London from April 26 to July 1.
Sophie Traub, Cave Junction, Oregon Arts Commission $1,500
To support Traub’s participation in an artist residency at Ponderosa in Stolzenhagen, Germany, from Oct. 16 to 22. The artist will use this opportunity to focus on performance and movement practice, connect with other artists and develop new work.
Christopher Whyte, Newberg, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support the release, production and distribution costs of Whyte’s new solo percussion album with New Focus Records this summer.
Kelly Williams, Portland, The Ford Family Foundation $1,541
To support Williams’ travel to present at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in June. The artist will instruct a curriculum on “Intentional content in context of professional art making.”
Jennifer Wright, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Wright’s dual large-scale live performances at the New Music Gathering annual conference/festival at Portland State University from July 22 to 24.
Takahiro Yamamoto, Portland, Oregon Arts Commission $2,000
To support Yamamoto’s first presentation of original dance performance, “NOTHINGGBEING,” at the Chocolate Factory Theater in New York City from Oct. 5 to 8.
