Contact: Jeff Clarke
Fall 2006 Individual Artist Awards announced; Delores Churchill receives Distinguished Artist Award
Anchorage - Renowned Haida weaver, Delores Churchill has been chosen as the 2006 Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist in recognition of her lifelong achievements in the arts. The award includes a $25,000 prize.
Six Alaskan artists have been selected to receive the Foundation's $12,000 Fellowship Awards in recognition of their exceptional creative work. This year's Fellowships were awarded for Music Composition and Visual Arts. The 2006 Fellowship recipients are: Hall Anderson, Visual Arts (photographer), Ketchikan; Annette Bellamy, Visual Arts (clay sculpture), Halibut Cove; Rachelle Dowdy, Visual Arts (mixed-media), Fairbanks; Annie Duffy, Visual Arts (mixed-media), Fairbanks; Denis Keogh, Visual Arts (printmaker), Cordova; and Melissa Mitchell, Music Composition (singer/songwriter), Anchorage.
In addition, Individual Artist Project grants have been awarded to Vernon Bavilla, Folk & Traditional (carver), Good News Bay, $5,000; Daisy Demientieff, Folk & Traditional (Athabascan weaver), Anchorage, $4,535; Christopher Ho, Media Arts (film), Bethel, $5,000; Tony Hopfinger, Literary Arts (creative non-fiction), Anchorage, $5,000; Elizabeth Irving, Visual Arts (mixed-media), Fairbanks, $5,000; Matt Johnson, Visual Arts (photographer), Anchorage, $4,915; KC Lowe, Crafts (fiber artist), Anchorage, $5,000; Kathryn Mallory, Visual Arts (painter), Nome, $4,500; Mary Matthews, Visual Artists (mixed media sculpture), Fairbanks, $2,500; Eva Saulitis, Literary Arts (poetry), Homer, $5,000; Linda Schanelmeir, Literary Arts (creative non-fiction), Fairbanks, $5,000; and Sean Tracey, Music Composition (bluegrass), Juneau, $5,000.
Distinguished Artist recipient Churchill, who lives in Ketchikan, Alaska, learned to weave from her mother, Selina Peratrovich, at a time when there were few accomplished Haida weavers. She also studied Tlingit basketry with Esther Littlefield and Annie Jacobs; Tsimshian basketry with Flora Mather; Aleut basketry with Agnes Thompson; birch bark basketry with Belle Deacon; Chilkat weaving with Jennie Thlunaut; and Chilkat apron and geometric robe weaving with Cheryl Samuel.
Over the last 30 years, Churchill has generously devoted her time to continuing the weaving traditions of her Haida heritage. She has also learned the cedar bark and spruce root weaving practices of the Tsimshian and Tlingit cultures and Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving. As one panelist commented, "She has been a teacher for all of Southeast Alaska, sacrificing her time to instruct others, ensuring that these endangered arts are preserved. She is an inspiration to all who know her, a true culture bearer."
Churchill has spent an incredible amount of time researching museum collections throughout the world, utilizing those resources, and sharing that knowledge with other weavers and the museum community. As remnants of baskets and older weaving examples turn up in Alaska, she has been a valuable advisor to museum curators and anthropologists.
In addition to receiving the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment of the Arts in 2006, Churchill's honors include the Governor's Award for the Arts; The Lisle Fellowship in Guadalajara, Mexico; the Connie Boochever Fellowship; and the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Artists Residencies in Hull, Quebec. She also received an Alaska State Legislative Award in recognition of her commitment to Native art.
Churchill has traveled and is recognized around the world. She has lectured and demonstrated her talents in Canada, England, Washington D.C., West Germany, Honolulu, Kansas City, and Chicago to name a few.
The Individual Artist Awards is a program of the Arts and Culture Initiative, a ten-year $20 million investment to increase the impact of arts in Alaska. The awards are intended to provide artists with the resources to concentrate and reflect on their work, to immerse themselves in a creative endeavor, and to experiment, explore, and develop their artistry more fully. To date, the Foundation has awarded over $584,000 to 59 artists for Project Awards; 19 artists for Fellowship Awards; and three artists as recipients of the Distinguished Artist award.
The next deadline for Project Award applications is March 1, 2007 (postmark deadline). More information is available at the Foundation's website or by calling Victoria Lord at 907-297-2827 or toll-free 1-877-366-2700. A list of past award recipients can be viewed by clicking here.
About the Foundation
The Rasmuson Foundation was created in May 1955 by Jenny Rasmuson to honor her late husband "E.A." Rasmuson. The Foundation is a catalyst to promote a better life for all Alaskans.
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