Our 2018 Medal Day is now behind us and what a spectacular day it was! If you were able to be with us on Sunday, August 12th, 2018, we thank you for joining in our celebration of the cultural contributions made by Pulitzer Prize-winning “co-mix” artist Art Spiegelman. Thirty artists-in-residence and 1,200 arts lovers from around the region and the country came to celebrate with a ceremony and 30 open studios after a picnic lunch.
Each August art lovers from around the region and around the country converge on the lush Colony grounds to celebrate the achievements of a leading voice in American culture. This event is free and open to the public.
If you missed it, or if you attended, please join us next August as we award the 60th Edward MacDowell Medal to a visual artist we hope to announce next spring.
Medal Day
August 12, 2018

Medal Day Schedule
Award Ceremony under the Medal Day Tent 12:15 p.m.
Picnic Lunch 1:15 p.m.
Basket tickets can be collected at the Registration Table before 12:15 p.m. After the ceremony, basket lunches are distributed from the lunch tent located on the south side of Colony Hall.
Open Studios 2:00-5:00 p.m.
Studio tours are self-guided; please refer to the map and artist biographies. To allow artists-in-residence time for lunch, studios will not be open before 2:00 p.m. Parents accompanying young children are encouraged to preview studio displays and/or performances
About the Edward MacDowell Medal
The Edward MacDowell Medal has been awarded annually since 1960 to an individual artist who has made an outstanding contribution to their field. These artists include Leonard Bernstein, John Updike, Georgia O'Keeffe, I.M. Pei, Stephen Sondheim, and Toni Morrison. The artistic discipline in which the award is given rotates in order to celebrate all of the creative fields practiced at MacDowell.
Scavenger Hunt
Once again, we’re excited to offer a scavenger hunt for all ages! This time with a signed copy of Spiegelman’s Maus, Wacky Packages, or Jack and the Box as the prize for student participants. Beginning at 10 a.m., we invite students* (grade school through college) and adults to collect stamps that will be hidden around our 450 acres. Hand-carved stamps are cached in public locations and complete a comic inspired by Mr. Spiegelman!
MacDowell staff member Ann Putnam has carved four rubber stamps that commemorate this year’s medalist, and she will hide them around The MacDowell Colony for the Medal Day hunt.
*Participants NEED NOT be present for the drawing to claim their prizes.
Edward MacDowell Medalist
Art Spiegelman became the first comic artist to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his masterful Holocaust narrative Maus, which portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. Maus II continued the remarkable story of his parents’ survival of the Nazi regime and their lives later in America. His…