Tacoma Art Museum Docents Blog TAM Docents Blog: TAM: 2007 Neddy checklist

Attached is the final checklist of artworks that will be in the 2007 Neddy Nominees exhibition.

Please start to research each of these artists.

I have also included some information about the Neddy Artist Fellowship and its selection process.

The Neddy Artist Fellowship is a remarkable gift to Seattle artists and everyone who cares about art. We live in an age in which much lip service is paid to creativity and the pursuit of singular visions.

Entrepreneurs wrestle new technologies into innovative uses and are applauded and sometimes richly rewarded for their creativity. Movie directors, actors and musicians are praised for their uncommon interpretations of the world around us. Everyone talks about the value of creativity. Yet for visual artists, people who dedicate their lives to the investigation of the human heart through visual metaphor, recognition is scarce.

In Seattle many talented artists remain largely invisible to the public. People appreciate the beauty and spiritual wealth that artists give this community. Surveys invariably demonstrate that Seattle’s citizens love this region partly because of the rich artistic legacy created by visual artists. But how many people can name ten of the city’s most prominent artists? And how many of Seattle’s artists struggle to pay bills despite critical acclaim?

Under these circumstances, the Neddy Artist Fellowship is a remarkable gift to Seattle artists and everyone who cares about art. The fellowship, ongoing since 1996, is one of the region’s few significant cash awards made to mature, working artists. It is an award that recognizes excellence as well as community involvement. Recipients have included one of the region’s most admired and best-known senior painters as well as younger and mid-career artists whose names are less familiar.

Artists do not apply for the Neddy Artist Fellowship. Unlike most other regional art awards, they are nominated by curators and art experts, then selected by a committee that includes other artists. Because it is unexpected and entirely out of the hands of the candidates, simply being nominated is like having a fairy godmother arrive to grant a wish. The recipients – indeed all the candidates – are therefore a highly select group. They are painters, photographers, sculptors and printmakers whose work resonates with people who spend their lives looking at art. Such judges have seen plenty of ordinary art. What they seek is the extraordinary.

Robin Updike

Excerpt from 2000 Neddy Artist Fellowship Catalogue

http://www.behnkefoundation.org/Neddy.htm

In 1996 the Behnke Foundation established the Neddy, an annual artist fellowship program awarded in memory of Robert E. (Ned) Behnke (1948-1989). Ned Behnke, the son of Sally and Robert Behnke, was a beloved member of the Behnke family and a renowned and talented painter. Each year two $10,000 fellowships are given -- one in painting and one in a rotating discipline. Additionally each nominated artist receives $500.

Ned was a recognized painter whose work continues to be loved and valued by multiple communities. Ned had a passion for the arts reaching beyond his own work. He realized the importance of art to the community. By honoring artists whose work fosters a conscious, vital, and more livable world, the Behnke family hopes not only to keep Ned’s passion for art alive, but to improve our community’s quality of life.

To identify fellowship recipients, the Behnke family enlists the help of a small number of arts professionals who each search out and nominate an artist using the example of Ned’s art and life as a guide. These nominators, different each year, are known for their expertise and their familiarity with the work of artists in the area. A separate selection committee then reviews applications from the nominees and selects artists to receive the fellowship.

Shari D. Behnke, founder

The Neddy

http://www.behnkefoundation.org/NeddyIntro.htm

Thanks for your time!

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Museum Educator and Docent Coordinator

hllamazares@TacomaArtMuseum.org

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

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Tacoma, Washington 98402

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