RABKIN FOUNDATION AWARDS EIGHT JOURNALISTS SPECIALIZED IN ART
Portland, Maine, July 23, 2018– The Dorothea & Leo Rabkin Foundation grant program for visual art journalists has awarded grants of $50,000 each to eight writers: Coco Fusco (NY & Miami, Florida) artist –she has presented works at the 56th Venice Biennial- and journalist; SarahRose Sharp (Detroit, Michigan); Lori Waxman (Chicago, Illinois); William O’Driscoll (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); Ray Mark Rinaldi (Denver, Colorado); Sebastian Smee (Boston, Massachusetts); Brett Sokol (Miami, Florida); Travis Diehl (Los Angeles, California).
Engaged more than 60 years ago with art, the Rabkin couple created a historical collection of North American folk and alternative art. Both lived in the New York neighborhood of Chelsea where they frequented the company of artists, collectors, writers and curators, all friends. United in New York for their cultural and artistic freedom, the couple became one of the most important marriages for the promotion of art and the artistic press. "Leo valued the essential role of visual arts journalists in the fast-changing art world. He and Dorothea had several art writers as close friends and understood the financially precarious circumstances of many in the profession. Ours is an award for past achievement, but we also hope it will provide a bit of time for unfettered creativity, reflection, and renewal for those who are chosen each year,” said Susan C. Larsen Ph.D., Executive Director of the Rabkin Foundation and a longtime friend of both Leo and Dorothea.
On this occasion, the award was made from a distinguished group of sixteen nominees working in the visual arts throughout the United States. They provided the list of possible winners to the Rabkin Award. All candidates for the prize had to submit two recent articles and a short curriculum vitae. From there, the jury of Rabkin Foundation considered each one until the month of July.
Writers can be nominated again and are eligible until they win a Rabkin Award in Visual Arts Journalism. This is an annual program and the core initiative of the foundation.
