IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Annual Recipients Selected for Prestigious Award
May 10, 2013
Media Contact
Grace Ryder-O'Malley
gryderomalley@paam.org
(508) 487.1750
| Steve DeFrank, Broken Wrist |
The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant
Fourth Annual Award Given to Talented Painters
Provincetown, MA.: Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is proud to announce the 2013 recipients of The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant. Congratulations to Steve DeFrank of Brooklyn, NY and Donald Beal of Provincetown, MA. Recipients were awarded a total of $30,000 and an exhibition in fall 2014 at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
Grants are offered to American painters aged 45 or older who demonstrate financial need. The primary emphasis is to promote public awareness and a commitment to American art, as well as encouraging interest in artists who lack adequate recognition.
The jurors for this year's award were James Hull, an artist, an educator, a critic, and an independent curator and Gilbert Vicario, Senior Curator and division head for curatorial affairs at the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa. Prior to coming to the Des Moines Art Center, Vicario worked at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Nearly 500 applications were submitted for the annual grant which is in its fourth year. Applicants hailed from 41 states and seven countries, ranged in age from 45 to 88, and were 67% female and 33% male.
Donald Beal was born in 1959 in Syracuse, New York, and grew up in Westford, MA. He studied painting at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA, and received an MFA from Parsons School of Design in 1983. He moved to Provincetown, MA in 1985 and continues to live there with his wife Khristine. Beal is a Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts in North Dartmouth where he has taught since 1999.
Steve DeFrank was born in New Haven, CT in 1963 and spent childhood summers camping with 8 brothers and sisters at North of Highland Campgrounds in Truro. He received his BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts. He was awarded a Fulbright Research grant to study the intersection of Lucha Libre and fine art in Mexico City. DeFrank teaches at the School of Visual Arts in both the Visual Critical Studies and the Fine Arts programs.
The late Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed were artists, teachers, and active members of PAAM and the Provincetown arts community for over 50 years. Lillian, in particular, was sensitive to the challenges that artists confront, especially artists working against the mainstream or outside of popular schools of art. Her desire to provide financial support to mature artists through this generous endowment gift speaks to her passionate commitment to art for art's sake and art created regardless of the demands and whims of the market place. This gift has positioned PAAM to, for the first time, be a grantor - an opportunity to financially assist artists on a national level.
Application materials are currently being updated and will be available online at www.paam.org after August 1, 2013. The postmark deadline for applications is April 1, 2014.
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