A busy three days sees visits from painter and printmaker Jasper Johns, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu, and BBC to interview Maya Jasanoff
The legendary Jasper Johns, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu, and BBC Television all paid visits to the Colony in early June. Johns, the 1994 Edward MacDowell Medalist, toured the property and dropped by several studios, along with Philadelphia Museum of Art Curator Carlos Basualdo. Guided by Executive Director Cheryl A. Young and Resident Director David Macy, Johns got an insider’s look at the recently revamped Eastman Studio and spent some time in Firth Studio speaking with visual artist Whiting Tennis, who explained his process and the projects he was working on while in residence. Afterward, Johns and Basualdo met with architect Michelle Fornabai in Heinz Studio where she was exploring the vibrational setting of concrete, seeing how musical sounds affect the aggregate and pigments of the mix.
Just a couple of days earlier, National Endowment for the ArtsChairman Jane Chu visited the Colony and met with artists-in-residence to ask how the NEA could strengthen the infrastructure for artmaking. The informal discussion took place in Old Savidge after a tour of the Colony, and gave Chu the opportunity to meet a number of first-time Fellows.
Back in December, Chu announced that MacDowell was one of 919 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Ten diverse artists of various disciplines from across the United States will be able to work at the Colony for the first time this year, thanks to that grant.
“The arts foster value, connection, creativity and innovation for the American people and these [NEA] grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives,” Chu said when announcing the support in December.
On average, more than two-thirds of MacDowell Fellows are first-time residents, and for many MacDowell is their first artist residency anywhere. Cheryl A. Young, MacDowell’s executive director, says support for first-time residencies helps the Colony continue as a leader in identifying new artistic talent.
“The NEA has always been a champion of artists, and we appreciate their partnership in helping us to reach new populations of artists,” Young said. “The beauty of this grant, aside from its recognizing artists from various disciplines, is that it supports a diversity of geographies, cultures, gender, and ages that will add to the experiences of other artists-in-residence and enrich the surrounding region by way of our community engagement efforts.”
The day between those historic visits, we hosted a BBC television crew who filmed an interview with writer and Fellow Maya Jasanoff in the library. The crew, including host and author William Dalrymple, spent an afternoon setting up and shooting the interview with Jasanoff because she is a specialist in the history of the British Empire, and especially its conquest of India. The BBC program, which was written and presented by Dalrymple, is based on his book White Mughals.
