Congratulations to Maria Gaspar, a UIC MFA Alumni (2009). Gaspar, a Chicago-based artist is among ten artists who will receive the 2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant. This program will provide each artist with an unrestricted grant of $12,000 each and professional support.
The Foundation seeks to award emerging visual artists who demonstrate excellence in their work, a commitment to their careers and artistic communities, and a willingness to engage in the varied support provided by this program. The Foundation defines "emerging" as those early in their artistic careers (regardless of age), who are gaining momentum, and may be at a critical juncture in their career when this support would be the most impactful. These artists demonstrate potential in their practice through risk-taking and pushing their work in dynamic ways, and are not yet considered well established professionally by indicators such as major gallery representation, significant exhibition history, awards and commissions, or sustaining an income derived solely from art sales. The combination of unrestricted funding and supplemental professional development programming is intended to further recipients' artistic practice, encourage career sustainability, and best equip them to make their own artistic choices and forge a unique career path. Recipients will have the opportunity to build relationships with one another, the Foundation, and an expansive community of arts professionals.
To find more information about the Joan Mitchell Foundation, visit: http://joanmitchellfoundation.org/artist-programs/artist-grants/emerging
Maria Gaspar is an interdisciplinary artist. Her artistic practice negotiates matters of space and authority. Using installation, sculpture, performance, community-engagement, and audio, she examines contested geographies, such as oppressive architectures within public space to create new social codes and interventions. Her collaborative projects identify spaces of tension to produce experiences that are generative and pedagogy that draws from community-based participation/scholarship. She creates action-based and performative art experiences with youth and adults that explore the social and political body through long-term processes.
To Learn more about Maria and view her work, visit: http://mariagaspar.com/home.html