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Arts Council Silicon Valley Awards Fellowships to Internationally Recognized Artists San Jose, CA, June 9, 2004 – Arts Council Silicon Valley recently awarded six Santa Clara County artists with fellowships for their artistic contributions to the field of Visual Arts (three dimensional works) and Theater Arts (stage direction). Arts Council Silicon Valley awarded the fellowships to recognize these professional working artists and to assist them in pursuing creative work with a $3,000 unrestricted grant. The artists were selected through a competitive process by professionals in their respective fields to have the highest level of artistic merit. Direction-Dimension, an exhibitfeaturing work of the visual artists, opens at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara on June 14 and runs through August 29. A public reception will be held on July 15, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Triton. 2003 Artist Fellows Visual Artists (Three dimensional works) Theater Arts (Stage direction) “We are pleased to honor these distinguished artists living and working in Silicon Valley ,” stated Bruce W. Davis, executive director of Arts Council Silicon Valley. “It’s especially gratifying to collaborate with the Triton on this exhibit to showcase the artists’ significant works.” The fellowship program was established in 1988 and makes awards to artists each year in rotating disciplines. It is supported through the Arts Council’s PARTNERS Grants Program, which provides an avenue for corporations, foundations, individuals and government agencies to invest in artists and arts organizations in Silicon Valley. Major donors include California Arts Council, the County of Santa Clara, the City of San Jose, The Peninsula Community Foundation, Lockheed-Martin Missiles & Space, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard and, ArtsChoice, the Arts Council’s workplace giving program. Artist Bios Visual Arts (Three dimensional works) Nina Koepcke, Willow Glen: Koepcke’s work includes sculpting, painting and community art. Her artwork is in public and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Russia, France and Japan. Koepcke’s community projects include ceramic art murals at numerous San Jose and Palo Alto schools, as well as schools in Tucson, Arizona. Koepcke is presently the Arts in Education chairman of the Clay and Glass Arts Foundation of California. From 1995-1999, she co-directed and created LifeLines, a multi-discipline arts program for the terminally ill and in 1999, she co-directed the production of I Want To Say, a video documentary of the LifeLines project. In 1988, Koepcke received a National Award of Merit from the Case for Clay in Secondary Education conference in New York, New York. Quote: “ Receiving the ACSV fellowship is a great honor for me. It is very gratifying to know that a jury of peers recognizes and values my work. As one whose art often falls outside the mainstream of contemporary art, I am encouraged to continue down my personal path by this recognition. I shall probably use the grant money to help rebuild one of my two feeble, ancient kilns.” —Nina Koepcke Terry Kreiter, Santa Clara: Kreiter has been creating and exhibiting paintings and sculpture in local galleries and in national and international competitions for more than 40 years, with an emphasis on bronze sculptures in the last 20 years. Working from his home studio and the foundry he built behind his house, Kreiter values this control over his artistic process. He’s exhibited at numerous Bay Area museums and galleries, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and in sculpture exhibitions in Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado and many other local and national venues. Quote: “The ACSV fellowship award is the most important recognition for my art that I have ever received. The Triton Museum exhibit is a reward for which I am very grateful. The professional acknowledgement of the grant will help with future exhibitions and gallery representation. The cash award will allow me to improve my casting equipment and to cast more work.” — Terry Kreiter Marta Thoma, Los Altos : Thoma has exhibited paintings and large-scale sculptures nationally and internationally at the San Francisco Museum of Art, in New York City galleries, the National Museum of Costa Rica, the Oregon Museum of Art, and most recently, at the Oakland Museum of California. Thoma has permanent public art installations in Palo Alto, San Leandro and in South San Francisco. The artist has taught college classes and worked as an illustrator for magazines and textbook publishers. She’s also been active in the arts community — founding the South Bay Woman’s Caucus for Art, where she served as president for five years. Thoma is a two-time Arts Council fellow, receiving the award in 1996 for two-dimensional work, and a grant from the Peninsula Community Foundation for a community-based project involving high school students. Quote: “The ACSV award is important to my career and will help my art making in many ways. The fellowship is an affirmation of the sculpture and multi-media artwork. It will help bring recognition to the work and the hope is that more people will see it. The award will enable me to purchase art materials for sculptures that I have been thinking about and will now complete.” — Marta Thoma Theater Arts (Stage direction) Barbara Cannon, Los Gatos : Cannon has worked professionally as a theater director since 1991, when she got her start at Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City. Since then she’s directed over 30 productions as associate director of Hillbarn from 1991 - 1993, as associate artistic director of Palo Alto Players from 1993 – 1998, and she is currently the artistic director at Bus Barn Stage Company in Los Altos. A graduate of the dramatic arts department of the University of California at Berkeley, Cannon has also performed as an actor and singer, and worked as a costume, set and props designer. Quote: “The ACSV fellowship means community recognition for the work that I have done for the last 12 years. An artist's path often means a lot of long hours, hard work and little pay. When a prestigious organization such as ACSV recognizes the value of my work, it makes it all worthwhile.” — Barbara Cannon Daniel Helfgot, Willow Glen: Helfgot’s career in opera spans many years and includes the direction of more than 160 productions in the United States, Europe, South and Central America, Mexico and Canada. From 1982 – 2000, Helfgot helped define the artistic life of Opera San Jose, producing and directing over 60 productions. The opera director has held guest professorships at the Musikhochschule of the University in Vienna, Austria and the directorship of the opera program at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. He’s currently completing an assignment as director of opera at the University of Missouri and the Middle America Opera Apprentice program. Helfgot’s opera repertoire includes set and lighting designs, translating operas into and from four different languages and also directing cabaret, tango shows, operettas and other productions of poetry and dance. He’s the author of The Third Line: the Singer as Interpreter, a book widely used by performers and in academic circles. Quote : “Receiving this fellowship underlines my commitment to this community where I have chosen to live and further my craft. I take this recognition as an acknowledgment of years dedicated to bringing my best to an arts environment that has been rich and propitious. The award will allow me to travel to Europe to update my knowledge of the newest trends in contemporary opera production.” — Daniel Helfgot Judy Pearson, San Jose : Pearson has been the driving force behind Visual Rhythm Dance Company since assuming the role of artistic director in 2000. In the past four years, she’s written, directed and overseen the choreographic direction of the jazz dance company. Pearson received her training from San Jose State University, American Musical Theatre of San Jose and Studio 10 Dance, and has been commissioned by Dance Arts Academy, Berle Davis, Ronnie Klein and the Hillbarn Theatre Company. Pearson’s fresh approach to jazz dance fuses multi-disciplinary art-forms by integrating the spoken word, actors and live bands. She’s received funds from ACSV, the Community Foundation Silicon Valley and the city of San Jose to fulfill this vision. Quote: “It is an honor to receive the artist fellowship award from ACSV. My artistic vision for the company is to present art that is innovative and contemporary and make dance lovers out of all ages and backgrounds – especially those that don’t normally support dance. I want our dance community to include those on the fringes and breed more opportunities for jazz and street-based dance to thrive. Receiving this award is important because it will allow me to perpetuate the message that the community supports these art forms.” — Judy Pearson Incorporated in 1983, Arts Council Silicon Valley is an independent, nonprofit arts agency dedicated to providing funding and advocacy support, and fundraising and marketing services, to the region’s arts organizations and artists. As the official state/local partner with the California Arts Council and the County of Santa Clara, Arts Council Silicon Valley is now the largest nonprofit arts council in the state. Over the past 11 years, the Arts Council has distributed $6.5 million to local arts and cultural organizations, individual artists, schools and community groups. The Triton Museum of Art is located at 1505 Warburton Ave., Santa Clara. Open Mon. – Sun., 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. ; 408-247-3754; www.tritonmuseum.org |
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