(Houston, TX, November 29, 2012) – The Idea Fund, a re-granting program funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and administered through DiverseWorks, Aurora Picture Show, and Project Row Houses announces the 2013 grantees.
The following ten Texas-based artists and artist collectives will each receive $4,000 ($3,500 for the awarded project, plus $500 seed money for future work) to create and showcase innovative artistic projects in the coming year: The Bridge Club – Art and Performance Collaborative (Huntsville); Erin Curtis (Austin); Bill Davenport (Houston); Esteban Delgado (San Antonio); Everything Records / Robert Hodge and Philip Pyle (Houston), Madsen Minax (Houston); Ryan O’Malley, Joe Pena, Dr. Amber Scoon, and Jack Gron (Corpus Christi); Stephanie Saint Sanchez (Houston); Ethel Shipton and Nate Cassie (San Antonio); and Walley Films – Mark Walley and Angela Walley (San Antonio). Project descriptions are below.
Of the 177 applications submitted to The Idea Fund from across Texas, these ten were selected by Idea Fund Panelists as projects that most exemplify artistic practices which fall outside the traditional frameworks of support, one of the main requirements of the grant. The 2013 panelists were: Dean Daderko, Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH); Ayanna Jolivet McCloud, Artist / Past Idea Fund Recipient; Christina Rees, Director, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts; and Carol Stakenas, Executive Director, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE).
Panelist Dean Daderko states:
As a relative newcomer to Texas, I was enthused to see the strength and vision the state’s artists brought to The Idea Fund’s call for entry. The selected projects represent a diverse group of localities, and the practices and interests that shape this state’s vibrant cultural landscape. From a celebration of driftwood sculpture on Galveston Island, to a mobile performance trailer making stops statewide, a project that brings colorful abstract paintings to under-utilized storefronts in South Texas, and another that creates spirited sets for public access TV shoots, it was exciting to see so many artists finding inventive ways to engage their communities.
Now in its fifth round, The Idea Fund is the second re-granting initiative of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, following the pilot program, Alternative Exposure, administered by Southern Exposure in San Francisco. The Idea Fund is structured to provide artists with quick access to substantial financial support for projects that might not otherwise have access to funding.
THE IDEA FUND 2013 GRANTEES AND PROJECTS:
The Bridge Club – Art and Performance Collaborative: The Trailer: Performance Art Tour (Huntsville): The Trailer: Performance Art Tour tackles issues of regionalism, identity, and domestic displacement in the American landscape through the presentation of a series of live mobile performances in a vintage camping trailer. The trailer will act as both performance site and living history museum, and will make performance stops in Huntsville and other major metropolises, as well as parks, truck stops, elementary schools, and rural farmers markets. The Bridge Club is a collective of artists Annie Strader, Christine Owen, Emily Bivens, and Julie Wills.
Erin Curtis: Public Access (Austin): Curtis will create an eccentric public access television studio for a multi-week collaborative series of performances between artists, musicians, television, and theater actors. The mock television-set, studio-installation space will include a variety of environments, such as a kitchen/cooking set, gardening/backyard set, and travel stage set, as well as a technical control room. The project poses the question of what public access television might mean in today’s media saturated world.
Bill Davenport: Driftwood Festival (Houston): Davenport will work in conjunction with the Galveston Park Board during their early spring driftwood clean up to gather several tractor-trailer loads of winter driftwood and other beach litter. This detritus will then be used as the raw material for workshops and an installation at the Galveston Artist Residency exhibition space.
Esteban Delgado: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue (San Antonio): Delgado will transform the facades of vacant buildings in small towns in South Texas, including – Alice, Bishop, Falfurrias, Riviera and Robstown – through window installations of bright, colorful compositions and vinyl artwork informed by the history of each structure and the surrounding community.
Everything Records / Robert Hodge and Philip Pyle: The Beauty Box (Houston): The Beauty Box will be an outdoor public installation illuminating a particular time in an average Third Ward home prior to integration. The project will transform an abandoned portion of a building into an installation and gallery space where artist talks, round table discussions, and other public events will be held.
Madsen Minax: Just Swallow (Houston): Just Swallow is an experimental video documentary project that explores themes of radical sexuality between people of color and white people through the use of images of physical dominance and submission. The project will include a spectrum of alternative sexual practices, a consensual fistfight, and scenes of breath and touch, as well as vignettes that explore consensual power play with various levels of intensity and intimacy.
Ryan O’Malley, Joe Peña, Dr. Amber Scoon, and Jack Gron: The Underground Art Tunnel at Retama Park (Corpus Christi): The Underground Art Tunnel at Retama Park is a unique 250-foot long pedestrian thoroughfare, built in Corpus Christi in 1929. This project will utilize this eccentric space to produce a series of exhibition, events, and performances in order to provide the local Coastal Bend Region community with an unconventional array of local, regional, and international art, music, and performance.
Stephanie Saint Sanchez: Senorita Cinema (Houston): Senorita Cinema is a two-day, all-female Latina film festival in Houston. The first day consists of a pre-show fair featuring community organizations, artists’ booths, and refreshments, and the second day features workshops, film screenings, and award ceremonies. Senorita Cinema will showcase the rich tapestry of different voices, styles, and ideas unique to the Latina experience.
Ethel Shipton and Nate Cassie: Vacancy Project (San Antonio): Vacancy Projects features a single artistic event occurring in a non-art venue, four times a year in the San Antonio area. Each event is held in a new location, which may include such spaces as an unoccupied apartment, a restaurant, or a beauty salon. The singularity of each event, combined with the project’s multidisciplinary nature, creates a spontaneous energy that ripples through various slices of the larger San Antonio community.
Walley Films – Mark Walley and Angela Walley: Tia Chuck (San Antonio): Tia Chuck is an experimental documentary film following the life and work of the late San Antonio artist, photographer, and designer Chuck Ramirez. The project is inspired by the visual and conceptual techniques Ramirez utilized and will employ those techniques to create a compelling, ambitious storyline and narrative about the artist, his life, and work.