Used to be visual artists in this city could only sigh longingly when
ArtPace, the noted foundation for contemporary art down the road in San Antonio, announced the artists chosen for its
International Artist-in-Residence (IAIR) Program. That's because for the first few years of the program, ArtPace limited the participation of regional artists to residents of San Antonio. You might be considered if you lived outside the United States or if you lived in the U.S. but outside this region, but inside this region, well... you were Alamo City or you were out of luck. That finally changed last year when ArtPace founder
Linda Pace and foundation director
Laurence Miller (a former director of
Laguna Gloria Art Museum) announced that the foundation would consider artists from throughout Central Texas for the 1999-2000 program residencies. You still had to be nominated, but at least Austin had a foot in the door. Last month, six art professionals - including our own
Annette DiMeo Carlozzi of the
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at UT - met in S.A. for four days, in which they sifted through 800 applications and 16,000 slides (which makes my eyes bleary just typing), and Austin made it all the way through the door. The choices were made public March 31, and three of our city's finest were among the six Central Texas recipients:
Margo Sawyer, chair of the Studio Program in the
Department of Art and Art History, UT Austin, whose speciality is large-scale installations;
Regina Vater, whose work incorporates video and installations; and
Melvin Ziegler, also a faculty member in the UT Department of Art and Art History, who creates conceptually driven public art projects. These artists will be able to live and work in the ArtPace facility for two months, during which time they'll receive a living stipend and materials budget and be free to create new work of their choice, which will be exhibited for one month after the residency. A fourth Austinite,
Bill Lundberg, was also honored by one of the selecting panelists -
Amada Cruz, Acting Chief Curator of the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago - and as a result he will be able to take part in a supplementary program at the foundation. For more info on ArtPace, call 210/212-4900.
Off the Desk
Playwright Tony Kushner will be in Austin the day this issue comes out to speak on "Contemporary Yiddish Theatre" in connection with the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center exhibit on Isaac Bashevis Singer. The celebrated author of Angels in America and Hydriotaphia, or The Death of Dr. Browne, now running at Houston's Alley Theatre, will speak in Hogg Auditorium on Thursday, April 2, 7pm. Tickets for the speech are free, and may be obtained through any UTTM outlet. The Zachary Scott Theatre Center, which will open its production of Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches on April 11, will host a reception for the playwright after the speech at 8:30pm on Zach's Kleberg Stage, 1421 W. Riverside Dr. For info, call 476-0541.
Four acclaimed local writers whose words were included in the anthology KenteCloth: Southwest Voices of the African Diaspora, will share the stage of the Victory Grill Sunday in the program Sistas. Vicky Charleston, Ana Sisnet, Sharon Bridgforth, and Valerie Bridgeman-Davis will perform their own work, and powerhouse singer Jacqui Cross will provide musical interludes. Sistas takes place at 7pm, Sunday, April 5. The Victory Grill is at 1104 E. 11th. For info, call 474-4494.
