Columbus, Ohio—The Greater Columbus Arts Council (Arts Council) and the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2015 Visual Arts Fellowship awards.
The 2015 Visual Arts Fellowship recipients, chosen from 100 applicants, are: Lisa Belsky and Lance Thompson (craft; collaborative team), Glen Holland (2D), Gabe Michael Kenney (3D), and Jason Schwab (photography). Awards were based on the artistic merit of works submitted in the disciplines of craft, 2D and 3D visual arts and photography. Each Fellowship recipient will receive $5,000 and be featured in an exhibition hosted by the Columbus Museum of Art in 2016.
The 2015 Visual Arts Fellowship recipient bios:
Lisa Belsky and Lance Thompson
Lisa and Lance are collaborative ceramic artists based out of Columbus. Lance holds a BFA from The Ohio State University. Lisa holds a BFA from Tyler School of Art and an MFA from The Ohio State University. Lisa currently teaches at the McConnell Arts Center, is an adjunct professor at Capital University and teaches community classes at Columbus College of Art & Design. Lisa and Lance have exhibited their work locally and across the county. Their work has been featured at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, the Belger Crane Yard Gallery in Kansas City, Mo, the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore, MD, the Ohio Craft Museum, Cultural Arts Center and the Columbus Arts Festival where they were the recipients of this year’s Juror’s Choice 3D Award.
Glen Holland
Glen Holland was born and raised in East Texas and has lived and worked in Columbus since earning his MFA from The Ohio State University. He showed his work for many years at the Fischbach Gallery in New York, and he has also exhibited at the Lisa Kurts Gallery in Memphis, Spaces in Cleveland, the Keny Galleries in Columbus, the Springfield Museum of Art, the Park Avenue Armory, and many other venues. His honors and awards include a Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundations SPACE Program Grant, multiple individual artists’ fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council, and his bike rack sculpture, Sunshine Parking, was selected by the City of Columbus in a Pilot Public Art program. Holland is also the founding member of the Columbus indie alternative garage rock band, bottleflies.
Gabe Michael Kenney
Gabe is an artist, researcher and activist hailing from the Laurel Highlands in southwestern Pennsylvania. He received his BFA at Western State Colorado University where he specialized in traditional printmaking and formal aesthetic theory. Years later, he returned to school for an MFA at Pennsylvania State University where he focused more on conceptual and contemporary art theory and practice, while still obtaining a strong emphasis in printmaking. Since then, he’s developed a framework that demonstrates arts true power to incite sociopolitical awareness and advocate global reform in a provocative, yet slightly entertaining manner. His work has now become a hybrid of printmaking, installation, performance and mixed media.
Jason Schwab
Jason Schwab was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and now resides in Columbus. He received his BFA from Kutztown University in 2010 and his MFA from Columbus College of Art & Design in 2014. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at Columbus College of Art & Design and The Ohio State University. Jason is an interdisciplinary artist that focuses on issues pertaining to photography’s role in narrative fabrication and the establishment of cultural commodity. Jason is a nationally exhibited artist and recipient of multiple awards including the Innovations in Imaging Award from the Society for Photographic Education’s National Conference and a fellowship to attend the Vermont Studio Center in 2014.
The Arts Council’s Fellowship program, established in 1986, recognizes outstanding Franklin County artists. Since the inception of the program, more than 240 awards have been made in a variety of disciplines, including visual arts, crafts, film and video, creative writing, music composition and choreography/movement arts.
We would also like to congratulate the finalists for the 2015 Visual Artist Fellowship awards:
- 2D: Alice Carpenter, Michael Kellner, Chaz O’Neil, Suzanne M. Silver, Chris Taylor
- 3D: Carol Boram-Hays, Jill Raymundo, Jayne Struble, Zac Weinberg, Melissa Woods
- Crafts: Carol Snyder
- Photography: Jessica Naples, Nick Weiss
The awards, recommended in an anonymous review process by panelists, assist recipients in any manner they choose to support the creation of new works and/or the advancement of their careers. All 2015 recipients and finalists will be invited to apply for the Arts Council’s Artist Exchange program in Dresden, Germany. Artists who have participated previously in any Arts Council exchange program are not eligible to apply.
Members of the 2015 Visual Arts Fellowship panel who reviewed all applications and recommended fellowships were Cathleen Chaffee, Senior Curator at Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Garth Greenan, Owner of Garth Greenan Gallery, New York; and Katie Rashid, Director at Peter Freeman, inc., New York.
This year, one of the four fellowships is made possible through the generosity of Annie’s Fund, a foundation created in honor of surgeon, artist and arts patron Anne Miller. Until her untimely death in 1998, Miller was an established member of the medical community and a dedicated artist specializing in the hand-crafted arts—those created by people with little or no formal training and without regard to the mainstream art world’s recognition or marketplace. This special award celebrates Miller’s commitment to this art form’s visionary quality and the recipient’s work is meant to embody this bold concept. Jason Schwab received the Annie’s Fund award.
A reception in honor of the 2015 Visual Arts Fellowship recipients will be held in conjunction with the exhibition hosted by the Columbus Museum of Art in 2016.
For more information contact Ruby Harper, Grants & Services Director at rharper@gcac.org.
About the Greater Columbus Arts Council: Through vision and leadership, advocacy and collaboration, the Greater Columbus Arts Council supports art and advances the culture of the region. A catalyst for excellence and innovation, the Arts Council funds exemplary artists and arts organizations and provides programs, events and services of public value that educate and engage all audiences in our community. The Arts Council thanks the City of Columbus and the Ohio Arts Council for their continued support. The Arts Council has been recognized as one of the “5 NonProfits to Watch” in 2014 by The Columbus Foundation.
About the Columbus Museum of Art: The Columbus Museum of Art creates great experiences with great art for everyone. The Greater Columbus Arts Council, Nationwide Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, and the Henry D. and Carol B. Clark, Hermann Vorys, Fred Sands Family, Sayre Charitable, and James W. Overstreet funds of The Columbus Foundation provide ongoing support. CMA and the Museum Store are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm, and until 8:30 pm every Thursday. The Palette Express is open Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. Museum admission is $12 for adults; $8 for seniors and students 6 and older; and free for members, children 5 and younger. Admission is free for all on Sundays. CMA Free Sundays presented by Arts Alive is made possible through a grant from PNC Foundation. For additional information, call 614.221.4848 or visit www.columbusmuseum.org.
CONTACT: Jami Goldstein
(614) 221-8492
jgoldstein@gcac.org