Each year, Anderson Ranch Arts Center celebrates creativity and service to the arts by recognizing the accomplishments of key figures in the art world. This year’s honorees are: Cindy Sherman, National Artist Award, and Dan Cameron , Service to the Arts Award. The awards will be presented at the 13th annual Recognition Dinner on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
Cindy Sherman, National Artist Award
The National Artist Award is given to a nationally or internationally recognized artist who has supported artists, created innovations in art making, and whose career has set an example and a direction for other artists. Cindy Sherman was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, in 1954. She studied painting at State University College , Buffalo , New York , where she failed her introductory course in photography. After graduating in 1976, she produced the 69 black-and-white photographs that comprise her series Untitled Film Stills (1977-80). The images, which resemble movie stills, all portray Sherman herself in a multitude of guises: B-movie characters, film noir victims or European New Wave cinema stars. Since the early 1980s, Sherman has photographed herself in a multitude of masquerades that continue to explore both cinematic traditions—particularly horror—and conventions of representation in popular culture. The construction of woman as image is dominant in her photographs. Her works in color, such as Centerfolds (1981) and Fashion (1983-4), explore themes of voyeurism and fantasy. In 1996, Cindy Sherman made her directorial debut with The Office Killer, a film starring Carol Kane. Her work has been shown internationally in more than 150 group exhibitions and 75 solo shows, most notably in 1997 when The Complete Untitled Film Stills was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art , New York .
Dan Cameron, Service to the Arts Award
The Service to the Arts Award is given to locally or nationally recognized arts advocates whose efforts have supported artists and arts institutions and who have made contributions to the cultural and social life of our country, representing the highest level of leadership, integrity and vision. Dan Cameron is an internationally renowned curator who was recently appointed director of visual arts of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans . He is the founding director and chief curator of Prospect.1 New Orleans, the only Venice-Biennale-style international art exhibition in the United States . For 10 years, he held the position of senior curator at the prestigious New Museum of Contemporary Art in Soho . Dan Cameron has organized numerous large-scale and international exhibitions, including: “Dirty Yoga,” the 2006 Taipei Biennial; “NY Interrupted” (pkm Gallery, Beijing, 2006-07) and “Poetic Justice” (the 8th International Istanbul Biennial, 2003), among others. While senior curator at the New Museum (1995-2006) he organized retrospective exhibitions on the work of numerous mid-career artists from the U.S. and abroad, as well as acclaimed survey exhibitions like “ East Village USA ” (2004) and “Living Inside the Grid” (2003).
The awards will be presented at the 13th annual Recognition Dinner on Wednesday, July 8, 2009—a gala event that will feature an awards presentation, silent auction of unique artwork by Ranch artists and live music throughout the evening. Table sponsorships, tickets and underwriting opportunities are now available. For more information, please contact Nicole Garrett , Anderson Ranch’s fundraising events coordinator, at 970.923.3181 ext. 211, or email her at ngarrett@andersonranch.org.
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Anderson Ranch Arts Center is a learning community dedicated to creativity and growth through the making and understanding of the visual arts. We promote personal and professional development of artists of all levels of expertise through workshops, residencies, exhibitions, lectures and community outreach programs. A café, studios, galleries, summer classes and public events attract over 10,000 artists, art-lovers, students and faculty each year to this historic mountain ranch near Aspen .
For more information on our programs, call 970.923.3181, email info@andersonranch.org, write Anderson Ranch Arts Center, P.O. Box 5598, Snowmass Village, CO 81615, or visit the web site www.andersonranch.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Holly Bornemeier, Director of Marketing/Communications
970.923.3181 ext. 216
hbornemeier@andersonranch.org
www.andersonranch.org
Holly Bornemeier
Director of Marketing/Communications
Anderson Ranch Arts Center
hbornemeier@andersonranch.org
www.andersonranch.org
970.923.3181 x216