R.I. Foundation offering $25K grants to local artists

RHODE ISLAND-based visual artists have until Aug. 18 to apply for the Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund awarded by the Rhode Island Foundation.
RHODE ISLAND-based visual artists have until Aug. 18 to apply for the Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund awarded by the Rhode Island Foundation.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island-based visual artists have until Aug. 18 to apply for the Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund awarded by the Rhode Island Foundation.

Established in 2003 and given out in $25,000 grants, these are considered to be among the largest no-strings-attached awards available to artists in the United States.

Daniel Kertzner, the Rhode Island Foundation’s senior philanthropic adviser for funding partnerships, said: “These fellowships give local artists the resources to spend more time making art rather than making ends meet. That honors the significance that our donors placed on the importance of practicing artists present in the community.”

Applications from visual artists creating original work in any genre will be accepted and judged on the quality of the samples, artistic development and the creative contribution to the visual arts as well as the potential of the fellowship to advance the career of emerging- to mid-career artists.

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Recipients of the fellowship are expected to commit concentrated time to their art during the fellowship period and engage in activities that further their artistic growth.

Four out-of-state jurors, all recognized practicing artists and arts professionals, will make up the judging panel. In addition to awarding the grants, the jurors will name up to three finalists who will participate in a residency at Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency.

Up to three grants each year are awarded from the Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund, which rotate between composers, writers and visual artists on a three-year cycle. These funds are intended to give painters, sculptors, filmmakers and other visual artists the time to concentrate on the creative process, personal or professional development and expand their portfolio while exploring new directions.

Since 2003 the Rhode Island Foundation has awarded 33 fellowships for a total of $825,000.

Lynne Harlow, whose work reflects her interest in merging sound and dance, and Daniel Sousa, a Rhode Island School of Design professor whose animated film “Feral” was nominated for a 2014 Academy Award, are among former recipients.

“The fellowship has had a huge impact on my career as an artist,” said Sousa. “With ambitious projects like animated films, it’s important to have long stretches of uninterrupted time in order to benefit from the creative momentum of the process. The fellowship has given me that, as well as the confidence to take more risks and dive deeper into developing each scene.”

Rhode Islanders Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson were both dedicated to the arts all their lives. When she was 70, Margaret Johnson, who died in 1990, earned a degree in creative writing from Roger Williams College. Robert Johnson invented a new process for mixing metals in jewelry making and then retired to become a full-time painter. Before his death in 1999, he began discussions with the Rhode Island Foundation which led to the creation of these grants.

The fellowships are partially underwritten by the Madeline B. Standish Fund, created in 2010 to support the work of writers and artists. The Ox-Bow residencies are supported by the Kathryn Johnson Fund.

For information about applying for a MacColl Johnson Fellowship, visit www.rifoundation.org.

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