News and Notes from MCC Artist Fellows
We compile a monthly list of presentations, honors, publications, and events featuring past and present MCC Artist Fellows & Finalists. As you’ll see, the news is good – not just about these award-winning artists, but also about the breadth and vitality of contemporary arts throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.
Six recent MCC Artist Fellows/Finalists were announced as finalists for the Artadia Awards 2009 Boston. Congratulations to: Claire Beckett (Photography Fellow ’07), Ambreen Butt (Drawing Finalist ’04), Laura Chasman (Drawing Finalist ’04), Eric Gottesman (Photography Fellow ’09), Nick Rodrigues (Sculpture/Installation ’07), and Suara Welitoff (Film & Video Finalist ’05). (Cree Bruins, Caleb Cole, Margo Cooper, Raul Gonzalez, Wendy Jacob, Erik Levine, Steph Plourde-Simard, Amie Siegel, and Joe Zane were also named.) From the finalists, two artists will receive awards of $15,000 and five, awards of $3,000.
The Disappearing Woman, a collaboration between Nell Breyer (Choreography Fellow ’06), Alissa Cardone, Lorraine Chapman, and Bronwen MacArthur (Choreography Finalists ’08) was recently performed at ICA Boston (read a review from the Boston Globe) and is part of the Berkshire Fringe, opening Thursday, July 30, 7 PM, and running through Monday, August 3. The piece blends dance and digital media to explore the anxieties of three women in an increasingly dispersed, high-speed culture.
Laura Harrington’s (Playwriting ’97, ’05) musical Alice Unwrapped (Laura wrote the book and lyrics, music by Jenny Giering) will be performed at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival, opening Sunday, August 2, 5:30 PM, and running through Saturday, August 8.
James Haug (Poetry Fellow ’98) just published his third poetry collection, Legend of the Recent Past. The book was a winner of The National Poetry Review Book Prize.
Sawdust Mountain, a photography book by Eirik Johnson (Photography Fellow ’09), has been published and is now available from Aperture Press.
Alla Kovgan (Film & Video Fellow ’09) screens her film Nora on Saturday, August 1, 1 PM, at the MFA Boston, as part of the 2009 Roxbury Film Festival.
Dawn Lane (Choreography Finalist ’08) was recently featured in an article by Abigail Wood in the Berkshire Eagle. From the story: “Dawn is all about bringing people together and creating a sense of community,” said [Ella] Baff [executive director at Jacob’s Pillow]. “And she brings all of her vast choreographic skills — because she is a very, very highly trained dancer and dance maker — and she brings all of those skills to a mission, and the mission is inclusiveness.”
The world premiere of Caroline In Jersey, a new play by Melinda Lopez (Playwriting Fellow ’03), takes place at the Nikos Stage as part of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. The funny and touching play, about an actress with a floundering career and a ghost in her refrigerator, opens Wednesday, August 5, 8 PM, and runs through August 16.
Tintype portraits by David Prifti (Photography Fellow ’09) are on exhibit at Rice/Polak Gallery August 7-August 20.
Monica Raymond (Playwriting/New Theater Works Finalist ’07, Poetry Finalist ’08), who this month concludes her Jerome Fellowship residency at the Playwrights Center in Minnesota, is among the winners of the Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Playwriting Contest from Castillo Theatre, for her play The Owl Girl (read an excerpt). The play, a magical realist allegory playing on contemporary themes in the Middle East, will have a staged reading (followed by a Q&A) on Monday, August 17, 7 PM, at the Castillo Theatre in the All Stars Project’s performing arts and development center, New York City. Congratulations, Monica!
Past Fellows Notes
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
Apr. 2009
Mar. 2009
Feb. 2009
Jan. 2009
Dec. 2008
Nov. 2008
Oct. 2008
Sep. 2008
Aug. 2008
Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.
Images: Eric Gottesman, MOTHER AND SON REUNITED (1978/2002), Rephotographed and Degraded (2006), Inkjet print, 24 x 17 inches; Cover art for LEGEND OF THE RECENT PAST by James Haug (The National Poetry Review Press 2009)