New York, NY—August 22, 2023—The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the 15 recipients of its 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellowships, which award $60,000 in unrestricted funds to artists from across the United States. This year’s artists reflect a diverse array of practices: from installations that demonstrate the impact of solar energy, to works made from tulle that use color and movement as a feminine rejoinder to the evolution of abstractionism; from land-based art practices that engage with questions of resilience, survival, and memory among Indigenous communities, to sculptural installations that explore the micro-ecologies of nonliving systems; and painters and sculptors working in a spectrum of materials, including cement, lace, beads, and the artists’ hair.
Central to the Joan Mitchell Fellowships is longitudinal support that recognizes that the greatest benefits of fellowship opportunities are often nurtured over time, through sustained engagement and relationship-building. The Foundation’s monetary award for recipients extends over a five-year period; Fellows receive an initial $20,000 payment this year followed by four years of $10,000 installments. The Foundation also provides opportunities for artists to engage in programs that focus on personal finance, legacy planning, and self-advocacy, among other opportunities. Layered into the support structure are annual in-person convenings that build connections among the Fellows and virtual engagement sessions that further foster a peer learning community.
In 2021, we reconceived and relaunched our primary granting program to more actively explore the ways in which multi-year financial support can help artists transform their practices and secure their legacies,” said Christa Blatchford, Executive Director at the Joan Mitchell Foundation. “The 2023 cohort of Joan Mitchell Fellows again underscores the value of this approach, bringing together a group of artists with diverse practices, interests, and backgrounds, all of whom articulated, in their Fellowship applications, the impact that financial and professional support over time will have on their work and their lives. This commitment to extended engagement is also in line with the legacy of Joan Mitchell herself, who so often offered personal assistance to other artists, and whose directive for her foundation was to continue that approach of direct support for working artists.”
The 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellows:
Ash Arder, Detroit, MI
Raheleh Filsoofi, Nashville, TN
Nicholas Galanin, Sitka, AK
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Los Angeles, CA
Ana María Hernando, Niwot, CO
Mala Iqbal, Brooklyn, NY
William Lamson, Brooklyn, NY
Kathy Liao, Kansas City, MO
Anina Major, New York, NY
Demond Melancon, New Orleans, LA
Javier Orfon, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico
Mikayla Patton, Pine Ridge, SD
Naomi Safran-Hon, Brooklyn, NY
Sable Smith, New Jersey
Jayoung Yoon, Beacon, NY
About the Joan Mitchell Foundation: The Joan Mitchell Foundation cultivates the study and appreciation of artist Joan Mitchell’s life and work, while fulfilling her wish to provide resources and opportunities for visual artists. As the chief steward of Joan Mitchell’s legacy, the Foundation manages a collection of Mitchell’s artwork and archives containing her personal papers, photographs, sketchbooks, and other historical materials. Fulfilling Mitchell’s mandate to “aid and assist” living artists, over the past 30 years the Foundation has evolved a range of initiatives that have directly supported more than 1,300 visual artists at varying stages of their careers. The Joan Mitchell Fellowship gives annual unrestricted awards of $60,000 directly to artists, with funds distributed over a five-year period alongside flexible professional development and convenings that facilitate community building and peer learning. The New Orleans-based Joan Mitchell Center hosts residencies for national and local artists, as well as artist talks, open studio events, and other public programs that encourage dialogue and exchange with the local community. The Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative provides free and essential resources to help artists of all ages organize, document, and manage their artworks and careers. Together, these programs actively engage with working artists as they develop and expand their practices. For more information, visit joanmitchellfoundation.org.