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January 26, 2010

Will Wilson Receives Prestigious Mitchell Award

Contact:
Staci Golar, 505.424.2351 (ph)
sgolar@iaia.edu

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts, is pleased to announce that Will Wilson, the Museum’s Vision Project manager, is a recipient of a 2009 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors grant. Wilson was one of 25 artists in the country to receive this prestigious award.

Wilson said, “It’s an honor to receive the Mitchell Award. Looking at its history and the remarkable artists it has supported verifies that Joan Mitchell was a true visionary and it’s amazing to be included in this group. For me, the award reinforces that I am an artist who is creating sensory experience through sensual spaces.”

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 to assist the needs of contemporary artists and to demonstrate that painting and sculpture are significant cultural necessities. The Painters and Sculptors Grant Program was established by the foundation in 1993 to assist individual artists. The grants are given to acknowledge painters and sculptors creating work of exceptional quality. Grant nominators and jurors include prominent visual artists, curators, and art educators.

Wilson began as the Vision Project Manager in October. The Vision Project is part of the Ford Foundation’s grant initiative “Advancing the Dialogue on Native American Arts in Society” that seeks to “provide national and international leadership in determining the role of Native American arts and culture while advancing education about contemporary Indigenous art in the twenty-first century.”

Wilson holds a master of fine arts degree in photography from the University of New Mexico. As an artist he has produced large scale multi-media installations that incorporate photography and sculpture, monumental public artworks and intimate photo essays. His “Auto Immune Response” series garnered him the prestigious 2007 Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art.

For more information on the Joan Mitchell Foundation and its recipients, please visit www.joanmitchellfoundation.org. For more information about the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts, please visit www.iaiamuseum.org.

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About the Museum
Located in downtown Santa Fe, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is dedicated to advancing the discourse, knowledge and understanding of contemporary Native arts. Founded in 1971, the Museum’s exhibitions, publications and educational programs challenge pre-conceived notions of contemporary art. The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is home to the largest collection of contemporary Native art in the world. A premier shopping destination, the Museum’s store offers the finest selection of contemporary Native arts and gifts from both emerging and established artists. The Museum is a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Museum hours are Monday – Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday: noon to 5 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays from November through May as well as major holidays. Adult admission is $5; senior citizens (62 and over), students with valid IDs and residents of NM: $2.50. Admission is free for Native people, Museum members, youth under the age of 16, and NM residents visiting on Sunday.

IAIA’s Mission
To empower creativity and leadership in Native arts and cultures through higher education, lifelong learning and outreach


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