PORTLAND, Ore. – (December 10, 2020) – Jordan Schnitzer, in a partnership with the Jordan Schnitzer Museums of Art at the University of Oregon, Washington State University, and Portland State University, announced today the grant recipients for the Black Lives Matter Artist Grant. The winning artists will each receive $2,500 to fund the creation of art that expresses the voices, experiences, and artistic expression of the social justice efforts in response to systemic racism.

“I want to thank the 232 artists who submitted their applications to the JSMA Black Lives Matter Artist Grant. To the 60 winners, ‘congratulations’! We look forward to exhibitions of your submissions in the near future! Now more than ever, our community needs artists to help us understand the issues of racism and white privilege,” said Jordan Schnitzer, president of The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. “I am confident that the art created from this grant program will lead to better understanding and change in our community.”

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at UO’s 20 recipients are: Tumelo Moloi, Ana-Maurine Lara, Gabriel Barrera, Gabby Beauvais, Malik Lovett, Mya Lansing, Anthony Lewis, Kathleen Caprario and Gregory S. Black, John Adair, Josh Sands, Michael Perkins, Elliot March, Jasmine Jackson, Aaron Thompson, Marina Hajek, Artemas Ori, Naomi Meyer, MO WO, Stormie Loury, and Mika Aono.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU’s 20 recipients are: Annabelle Araya, Julia Bond, J’reyesha Brannon, Amirah Chatman, Steven Christian, Baba Wague Diakite, Sade DuBoise, Austin Gardner, Leila Haile, Elijah Hasan, Edmund Holmes, Willie Little, Latoya Lovely, Aiyana McClinton, Jessica Mehta, Christine Miller, AnAkA Morris, Annie Schutz, Sharita Towne, and Kyra Watkins.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU’s 20 recipients are: Aisha Harrison, Lisa Myers Bulmash, Hasaan Kirkland, Rene Westbrook , Troy Riley Miles, Jasmine Iona Brown, Robert J Lloyd, Grace June, Zinda K Foster, Whitney Evans, Jennifer Kuhns, Cynthia Camlin, Myron Curry, Jackie Schaubel, Derek E Johnson, Maya Milton , Bonnie Hopper, Tracy Poindexter-Canton, Damon Brown, and Felicia Follum.

Artists residing throughout the state of Oregon and Washington were encouraged to submit proposals for new work or projects, or recently created work directly responding to the current Black Lives Matter movement; responding to marginalized communities; experiences with systemic racism and inequality; and artists whose work thematically connects to these experiences. Artists working in all mediums were invited to apply. The application process opened on August 1, 2020 and closed October 31, 2020.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon worked in partnership with The Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center to review applications from all counties in Oregon excluding Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, and Columbia Counties. The panel selected to review the artist submissions included John Weber, Executive Director JSMA UO; Dr. Aris Hall, Coordinator, Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center; Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Phyllis and Andrew Berwick Dean, UO School of Music and Dance; Jamar Bean, Program Director, Multicultural Center; and Jovencio de la Paz, Assistant Professor, Department of Art.

“We congratulate the Black Lives Matter Artist Grant Program grantees and thank all the applicants for their creativity and their commitment,” said the UO JSMA BLM Artist Grant Jury. “We sought to support a wide range of artistic practices. We encourage our community to support these artists and other artists from marginalized communities who are confronting systemic racism and the legacy of white supremacy. Our selection includes artists working in traditional media such as drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, and printmaking, and also video, performance works, community projects and collaborations between artists. Our committee had a difficult job, as so many worthy submissions were received. For artists who were not selected, we thank you for your efforts and encourage you to keep making art and working for racial justice.”

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University worked in partnership with PSU’s Global Diversity and Inclusion and the College of the Arts at PSU to review applications from Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, and Columbia County. The panel selected to review the artist submissions included Lisa Jarrett, Assistant Professor, Art Practices, Arvie Smith, Portland-based artist, Michael Stephenson, candidate for the MFA in Art and Social Practice, and Leroy Bynum, Dean of Portland State University’s College of the Arts.

“Artists help us to understand our world and express our feelings when words may fall short. I am so honored to share the work by these talented artists with our community this coming fall 2021,” said Maryanna G. Ramirez, director of the JSMA at PSU, “I would like to express my gratitude to the jury for the thought and consideration they put into reviewing all of the submissions.”

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Washington State University worked in partnership with WSU’s Black Student Union; the Department of Fine Arts; the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race; and the Honors College to determine grant recipients. The panel selected to review the artist submissions included Ryan Hardesty, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU; Io Palmer, Department of Fine Arts WSU; Lisa Guerrero, School of Languages, Cultures, and Race WSU; Trymaine Gaither, Honors College WSU; and Mikayla Makle, Black Student Union WSU.

Mikayla Mackle, WSU Black Student Union (President) and member of our jury: “This art grant has not only provided me with the opportunity to work with such an amazing panel of jurors but it has allowed me to be witness to such impactful and nuanced artistry. I have gained so much knowledge throughout this process about the conceptualization of art and have developed a more prophetic appreciation for the stories surrounding it as well.

ABOUT THE JORDAN SCHNITZER FAMILY FOUNDATION

The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation’s mission is to share the extensive post-war prints and multiples in the collections with qualified museum through exhibitions and loans in order to further the appreciation of and education associated with the printmaking practice of the major artists of the late 20th and 21st century. Jordan D. Schnitzer grew up surrounded by art in his mother’s Portland, Oregon art gallery. What began as an interest in his formative years became a passion in 1988 when he began collecting post-war prints and multiples in earnest. Attracted by the collaborative and egalitarian nature of printmaking, Jordan naturally developed a program to share the work from his personal and Family Foundation collections in 1997. The collection, which has grown to be one of the country’s largest private print collections, exceeds 16,000 works and includes many of today’s most important contemporary artists.Exhibitions from Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation collections featuring artists of color include: Mirror, Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar; Emancipating The Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power; Beyond Mammy, Jezebel & Sapphire: Reclaiming Images of Black Women; Second Look, Twice; Social Space; and Witness: Themes of Social Justice in Contemporary Printmaking and Photography. He generously lends work from his collection to qualified institutions and has organized over 110 exhibitions and has had art exhibited at over 150 museums. The Foundation publishes scholarly brochures, exhibition catalogs, and catalogue raisonnés in conjunction with exhibitions drawn from the collections. It also funds museum outreach and programming that furthers the mission of promoting education and engaging non-traditional audiences.

Contact: Caitlin Pihl, JSFF Marketing Director
Phone: (503) 460-7279
Email: caitlinp@jordanschnitzer.org

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