Uh?

This morning I was in Annapolis and went to the bathroom to pump bilges when two Milennials walked in to do the same.


As they were peeing, the discussion between them came to the Iowa results.


Milennial One: Can you believe that Cruz beat Trump?


Milennial Two: Yep... what if Cruz or Rubio end up being nominated?


Milennial One: They'd lose to Hillary dude; She'd get all the women vote, all the African American vote and all the Hispanic; the Republicans are anti-Hispanic.


Pause


Milennial Two (who may have been Hispanic): How can you say that? They have two Hispanic candidates!


Milennial One: They're not Hispanic! They're Cuban and they're white!


Milennial Two: True.

VFMA Fellowship winners announced

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Fellowship Program continues its 76-year tradition supporting Virginia’s art community by giving grants to students and professional artists. With this year’s awards, fellowship grants will reach nearly $5.5 million with more than 1,275 awards to Virginia artists since the program’s inception in 1940. VMFA awarded 27 fellowships to Virginia art students and professional artists in 2016-17 for a total of $162,000.


“None of this would be possible without the generous endowment established by the late John Lee Pratt and all the supporters of this mission-based objective throughout the past 76 years.” Director Alex Nyerges said. “The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Fellowship Program is committed to about nurturing artists throughout the Commonwealth.”
  
Twelve professional fellowships, each worth $8,000, were awarded. The recipients are (in alphabetical order by hometown): Moaz Elemam, film/video, Alexandria; Tyrone Turner, photography, Arlington; Lee Anne Chambers, painting, Courtland; Kristin Skees, mixed media, Hampton; Matthew Parker, drawing, Portsmouth; Cynthia Henebry, photography, Richmond; Valerie Molnar, mixed media (collab. with Matt Spahr), Richmond; Matt Spahr, mixed media (collab. with Valerie Molnar), Richmond; Stephen Vitiello, new/emerging media, Richmond; Jack Wax, crafts, Richmond; Paul Ryan, painting, Staunton; Martha Jones, painting, Williamsburg; Charlie Brouwer, sculpture, Willis.   


The juror for the professional awards was  Valerie Cassel Oliver, senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston.


Four graduate students won awards worth $6,000 each. They are: Paul Norton, film/video, Arlington; Kathryn Mayes, photography, Mechanicsville; Corey Piper, art history, Richmond; Abbesi Akhamie, film/video, Woodbridge. 


Ten undergraduate students won awards worth $4,000 each. They are: Natalie Abernethy, new/emerging media, Ashburn; Isabel Lee, sculpture, Charlottesville; Donald Boose, new/emerging media, Falls Church; Madeleine Hardy, painting, Falls Church; Emily White, photography, Fork Union; James Heyes, new/emerging media, Newport News; Cassie Williamson, mixed media, Powhatan; John DiJulio, photography, Richmond; Monica Escamilla, photography, Richmond; Kyle Falzone, mixed media, Richmond.
  
In addition, undergraduate student Rachel McGovern, crafts, of McLean was awarded a fellowship worth $2,000 for her final semester.


The juror for the undergraduate and graduate awards was Amy Moorefield, museum deputy director of exhibitions at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va.


Of this year’s winners, seven artists have received fellowships in the past:
Jack Wax – 2007 Professional fellowship winner
Valerie Molnar – 2007 Graduate fellowship winnerStephen Vitiello – 2010 Professional fellowship winner
Martha Jones – 2011 Professional fellowship winner
Paul Ryan – 2010 Professional fellowship winner
Corey Piper – two-time art history winner
Paul Norton – 2014 Professional fellowship winner


The fellowship funds come from a privately-endowed fund administered by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Fellowship Program was established in 1940 through a generous contribution made by the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg (the husband of Lillian Pratt, donor of the museum’s Fabergé collection). Offered through the VMFA Art and Education Division, fellowships are still largely funded through the Pratt endowment and supplemented by gifts from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation and the J. Warwick McClintic Jr. Scholarship Fund.

Benjamin Abramowitz

Benjamin Abramowitz passed away on November 21, 2011 at age 94 and left a profoundly important legacy of more than 75 years of work.

Lots of information on his life and his more than 7,000 pieces of artwork at www.benjaminabramowitz.com