Pacific Northwest College of Art    Portland, OR

Honors for Samantha Wall ‘11

Samantha Wall, ’11 (MFA Visual Studies) was awarded the $15,000 Joan Mitchell Award by the Joan Mitchell Foundation. After a highly selective process in which schools must be invited to nominate students, the award is given to only 15 graduate students nationwide each year.

The annual MFA Grant Program was created in 1997 to help MFA painters and sculptors in furthering their artistic careers and to facilitate the transition from academic to professional studio work upon graduation. These grants are given to artists in recognition of artistic quality who are chosen from a body of candidates nominated by the academic art community across the United States. The nominated candidates’ images were viewed for grant consideration through an anonymous process by a jury panel.

The Joan Mitchell Foundation was established in April 1993 as a not-for-profit corporation following the death of Joan Mitchell in October 1992. The Foundation strives to fulfill the ambitions of Joan Mitchell, an abstract expressionist painter, to aid and assist the needs of contemporary artists and to demonstrate that painting and sculpture are significant cultural necessities.

First Look III

Wall was also selected for participation in First Look III, an exhibition of work by 12 up-and-coming graduate students at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. First Look has proven to be a must-see for collectors, galleries and international museums interested in seeing new talent. The exhibition is distinguished by the fact that all artwork is the result of nominations and personal studio visits. A curatorial team of leading experts visited over 30 universities and 2,000 studios for this year’s selections. Over 90 artists were nominated for the exhibition and 12 were selected. The Review Committee included skilled gallerists, artists, curators and collectors, who focus on rising MFA talent.

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