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Helen O'Toole painting
UPDATE:
On December 17, 2014, Portland Art Museum announced the winners of the 2015 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards. Four of the seven winners are from our list published earlier: Victoria Haven (BFA 1989), Professor Helen O’Toole, Professor Emeritus Akio Takamori, and Willem Volkersz (BFA 1965). The full list may be seen in the museum’s press release.
The seven winners will be featured in an exhibition at Portland Art Museum, which will run from February 13 – May 8, 2016.
The Portland Art Museum requests nominations from arts-related professionals for the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards every two years. For the 2015 awards, they gathered a list of 200 nominees, and nearly all of the artists submitted application materials. On September 4, 2014, the museum announced the twenty-four finalists for the awards. Professor Helen O’Toole and Professor Emeritus Akio Takamori are among the finalists as are seven alumni:
Gail Grinnell (BFA 1988)
Victoria Haven (BFA 1989)
Mary Iverson (BA/BFA 1989, MFA 2002)
Ellen Lesperance (BFA 1995)
Margie Livingston (MFA 1999)
Willem Volkersz (BFA 1965)
Robert Yoder (MFA 1987)
Curators will visit the artist’s studios over the next several months, and four to seven award winners will eventually be selected. An exhibition opening in October 2015 will feature these winners, and there will be a full-color catalog that also recognizes the other finalists. One of the award winners will be selected for the $10,000 Arlene Schnitzer Prize. Additional information may be found in this press release.