Category: news

Ben Bedford, Seth Boustead, Sherri Denault, Kelly Kaczynski, Faheem Majeed, Esau McGhee, Nyeema Morgan, Cristal Sabbagh, Wade Schaaf, and Selina Trepp recognized for innovation, past achievements, and community contributions

The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts today released the names of their 21^st Arts Achievement Awards.  Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-area artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is recognizing ten artists in several genres, a total of $400,000 in awards. The 2026 awardees are singer-songwriter & visual artist Ben Bedford, composer/producer Seth Boustead, fiber and mixed media artist Sherri Denault, mixed media artist Kelly Kaczynski, mixed media artist Faheem Majeed, visual artist Esau McGhee, interdisciplinary artist Cristal Sabbagh, choreographer Wade Schaaf, and multi-media artist Selina Trepp.

Ben Bedford is a Springfield, Illinois singer-songwriter and visual artist whose works “pierce our hearts with the deep truths inside people, the land, and history.” https://benbedford.com

Seth Boustead is an award-winning composer and founder of music innovations in Chicago including the Access Contemporary Music, the Thirsty Ears Festival and the CheckOut.  “Seth’s passion for new classical music takes him for a galloping ride.” http://sethboustead.com

Sherri Denault’s fiber art is grounded in nature, offering a language for growth, erosion, and renewal. “The outer parts of Sherri’s work fold in to reveal the meaning of its inner parts.”  https://sherridenault.my.canva.site/artwork

Kelly Kaczynski is an artist, curator, and writer working within the language of sculpture. They are also the co-director of the “Living Within the Play” art residency program. “Kelly’s wide focus tries to make sense of the world.” https://kellyfkaczynski.com/

Faheem Majeed Working across sculpture, installation, architecture, and collaborative public projects, Majeed often begins with what is already there, often using overlooked materials to create “a platform that brings people into shared community and remembrance.” https://www.faheemmajeed.com/

Esau McGhee moves between collage and sculpture, treating materials as subject and structure.  His works are “irregular portals with the remarkable quality of being humble, urban and discoverable.” Esau McGhee on Instagram

Nyeema Morgan’s artworks are insightful commentary about power and position – and how they permeate our encounters with images, objects and information. “Nyeema brings us in on the joke and makes us think.”  https://nyeemamorgan.com/

Cristal Sabbagh is a dancer and creator, renowned for “Freedom From and Freedom To,” massive improvisational cross-medium happenings combining dancers and musicians from across Chicago. “Cristal envisions art and community engaging wordlessly in common cause.” https://www.ffftchicago.com/

Wade Schaaf is the founder and chief choreographer of the Chicago Repertory Ballet, a company focused on narrative dance from a contemporary perspective. He has “brought classical dance into the 21st Century by dissolving all the borders – of form, genre, and gender – to present compelling stories.” https://www.chicagorepertoryballet.com/

Selina Trepp “is the motive force pushing stop-motion animation way beyond.”  Her meticulous hand-made figures move across tableaus that dance and shapeshift, mesmerizing us with their virtuosity. https://selinatrepp.info/

About the Meier Foundation:  The Meier Achievement Award provides a cash award to Chicago-area artists in music, theater, visual arts, literature and dance who are in mid-career and have demonstrated both talent and persistence in pursuing their craft.  Special emphasis is placed on overlooked or under-publicized talent who are “pushing the envelope,” that is, continuing to innovate, as well as encouraging community involvement.  The awards are decided by anonymous nominators and selected by the Board of the Foundation.

The awards are in gratitude and appreciation for work already done.  There are no applications, no projects to submit, and no outcome measurements.  This follows founder and artist Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.”

Since 2006, the Foundation has given nearly 90 awards. For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

Clarice Assad, Vanessa Filley, Tammy McCann, Maryse Meijer, Sherwin Ovid, Caesar Perez, Galina Shevchenko, and Deb Sokolow recognized for innovation, past achievements, and community contributions

The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts today released the names of their 20th Arts Achievement Awards. Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-area artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is recognizing eight artists in several genres, a total of $320,000 in awards. The 2025 awardees are composer Clarice Assad, visual artist Vanessa Filley, singer Tammy McCann, author Maryse Meijer, painter Sherwin Ovid, visual artist Caesar Perez, visual artist Galina Shevchenko, and visual artist Deb Sokolow.

Clarice Assad brings new ways to link performers and listeners so they can all fully experience music. She is admired for bringing her Brazilian roots into modern classical music. She has released seven solo albums and appeared on or had her works performed on another 34. A multi-award winner in composition, she received her degrees in music from Roosevelt University and the University of Michigan. https://clariceassad.com

Vanessa Filley creates work that is taut, brimming with pent-up energy and complexity. The details show the precision of her work.” Vanessa currently creates work with intricate patterns made of string. Her evolution to new forms is just the kind of work that the Meier Foundation admires. https://vanessafilley.squarespace.com

Tammy McCann’s life experiences have given her a demonstrated wide range of musical expression. She’s made a rich artistic journey from gospel, opera and jazz which form the foundation of her miraculous voice. The Chicago Person of the year for Jazz in 2020, she has performed all over the world. Tammy is currently Artist in Residence for the Music Institute of Chicago. https://www.tammymccann.com

Maryse Meijer, a novelist, describes herself as a “normal” person, yet her characters veer off in very unexpected and frightening directions. We think that’s her point. Mayrse is the author of the story collections Heartbreaker, which was one of Electric Literature’s 25 Best Short Story Collections of 2016, and Rag, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Pick and a finalist for the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, as well as the novella Northwood. https://us.macmillan.com/author/marysemeijer

Sherwin Ovid paints in his own language, layered and deliberate.  He accumulates multiple materials in his paintings, including pigment, resin, bubbles and dirt, along with collage both physical and digital. Sherwin Ovid works in painting and multiple mediums to create visual works that explores the interface between the built and natural world. He has his BFA from the School of the Art Institute and his MFA from the University of Illinois. https://www.sherwinovid.com

Caesar Perez is an urban contemporary artist working in sculptural fabrication, large-scale aerosol murals, and all manner of design. He has drawn on his traditional influences to push into new forms with new sculpture and fine art. https://czr-prz.com 

Galina Shevchenko is a Moscow born, Chicago based multimedia artist. Her practice encompasses multiple modes of expression and image processing.  She portrays the female figure in all its possibility: “Monster/Mother/Other: distorted, powerful, vulnerable, loving and procreating.” She also comments on the impact of an upbringing in the Soviet Union. Her work has been shown at numerous venues nationally and internationally.  http://www.galinashevchenkosequences.com

Deb Sokolow uses her art to draw the viewer in close and uses architectural renderings to style to send a very different message about our world – part blueprint, part conspiracy and part confession. https://debsokolow.com

About the Meier Foundation: The Meier Achievement Award provides a cash award to Chicago-area artists in music, theater, visual arts, literature and dance who are in mid-career and have demonstrated both talent and persistence in pursuing their craft. Special emphasis is placed on overlooked or under-publicized talent who are “pushing the envelope,” that is, continuing to innovate, as well as encouraging community involvement. The awards are decided by anonymous nominators and selected by the Board of the Foundation.

The awards are in gratitude and appreciation for work already done.  There are no applications, no projects to submit, and no outcome measurements. This follows founder and artist Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.” 

Since 2006, the Foundation has given over 70 awards. For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

Tanya Calhoun, Norman W. Long, Matthew Metzger, Todd Novak, Nick Pupillo, Ken “Beady Eyes” Smith, Ursula Sokolowska, and Scott Whitehair recognized for innovation, past achievements, and community contributions

The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts today released the names of their 19th Arts Achievement Awards. Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-area artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is recognizing eight artists – its largest number – in several genres, a total of $320,000 in awards. The 2024 awardees are visual artist Tanya Calhoun, sound artist Norman W. Long, visual artist Matthew Metzger, record producer Todd Novak, choreographer and artistic director Nick Pupillo, blues drummer Ken “Beady Eyes” Smith, multi-media artist Ursula Sokoloska and storyteller Scott Whitehair.

Tanya Calhoun uses hot glue, wire, thread, and paint to create suspended, sewn, and wall-mounted works. “Tanya questions shapes and relationships among them.” Currently represented by ALMA Art & Interiors, she is a BFA graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Read more … Instagram: @t.a.n.y.a.calhoun

Norman W. Long “pierces the world and pulls sound that envelops and challenges us.” Long’s sound artistry draws on many disciplines to engage audiences on memory, place, ecology, race, culture, value, silence, and the imperceptible. Read more … https://normanwlong.wixsite.com/soundartdesign/about

Matthew Metzger received his MFA from the University of Chicago and is represented by Regards, Chicago. His hyper-realistic art “masterly challenges us to confront man’s impact on man.” He is Associate Professor and Acting Chair of Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Read more…http://www.matthew-metzger.com/

Todd Novak is the founder/owner/operator of Hozac Records & Books, an internationally renowned imprint representing underground artists from the past & present who may have otherwise slipped through the cracks of popular culture. Read more… https://hozacrecords.com

Nick Pupillo, founder and artistic director of Visceral Dance Chicago, is an award-winning choreographer recognized for the power and versatility in his work. A graduate of Indiana University and former dancer with Giordano Dance Chicago, he has created over twenty signature works for the company. “Nick’s vision and fortitude has created choreography and a company that is both accessible and revolutionary.” Read more….www.visceraldance.com

Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith is a Grammy-award winning blues artist. With deep roots in the blues tradition, Kenny has created new interpretations of the legendary blues drummers as he pushes blues drumming to new innovative styles. “Kenny’s energy and passion preserve and carry forward the Blues.” Read more…https://beedyeyes.com

Ursula Sokoloska studied photography at Columbia College (1997-99), completing her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001. Her images also reflect the separation of the body from consciousness and objectification. Her photographs are in many collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago. Read more…https://ursula-sokolowska.com/home.html

Scott Whitehair’s mission is to spread his love of storytelling and create as many opportunities as possible for his neighbors to hear and share stories. He produces This Much Is True, Chicago’s longest running monthly personal narrative series (since 2008), Story Lab Chicago, Do Not Submit, and Solo Sunday. He also co-hosts Story Vroom Vroom in Evanston. He teaches an independent storytelling course that has been consistently selling out for over ten years, and he has been a guest speaker at the city’s top universities. “Scott wraps a story in luminous and moving detail.”
Read more…http://www.scottwhitehair.com/

About the Meier Foundation: The Meier Achievement Award provides a cash award to Chicago-area artists in music, theater, visual arts, literature and dance who are in mid-career and have demonstrated both talent and persistence in pursuing their craft. Special emphasis is placed on overlooked or under-publicized talent who are “pushing the envelope,” that is, continuing to innovate, as well as community involvement. The awards are decided by anonymous nominators and selected by the Board of the Foundation.

The awards are in gratitude and appreciation for work already done. There are no applications, no projects to submit, and no outcome measurements. This follows Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.”

Since 2006, the Foundation has given 70 awards. For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

Rachel Niffenegger, Jonathan Meyer, Michael Zapata, and Jon Siskel recognized for innovation, past achievements, and community contributions

The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts today released the names of their 18th Arts Achievement Awards. Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is giving out four awards to Chicago area artists in several genres, a total of $160,000 in awards. The 2023 awardees are visual artist Rachel Niffenegger, dancer and artistic director Jonathan Meyer, author Michael Zapata, and documentary filmmaker Jon Siskel.

Rachel Niffenegger uses curious and experimental media to create interior psychological portraits. Rooted in expanded painting her specters are pulled from the folds of psychedelic clay, spiraled through mirrored metal work and meticulously rendered in colored pencil from an archive of visions conjured in concert with generative technologies. Her work has been
included in museum shows in the Netherlands, Chicago, New York, Berlin, Liverpool, Denver, and Milwaukee, among others. Niffenegger, born in Evanston in 1985, received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Rachel attended the de ateliers residency in Amsterdam NL in 2011. She is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago and lives and works in Chicago. Helen observes, “Rachel’s work elongates, distorts and ultimately reveals the truth she explores.” Learn more at Western Exhibitions.

Jonathan Meyer builds idiosyncratic movement palettes as crafts plying the waters of strange lands that can delight, baffle, and open new vistas. Jonathan Meyer discovered dance at Oberlin College with Nusha Martynuk and Ann Cooper Albright. After a capoeira immersion in Brazil with Maestre Medicina, they completed a Cunningham-focused program at UNC Greensboro. Meyer has danced with The High Risk Group, Pierre-Paul Savoie, Asimina Chremos, and The Seldoms. In 2002 Meyer created Khecari in Taos, New Mexico. In 2006, they moved to Chicago, and re-launched Khecari with co-director Julia Rae Antonick. Meyer has been a CDF Lab Artist and RDDI participant, and an artist in residence at Djerassi, Ragdale, Hambidge, Abigail, The Kohler Art Center, Links Hall, The Chicago Cultural Center, and The Chicago Park District. Khecari means, “In a given moment, there is an
infinite empty field rife with possibility. Movement limits the limitless and makes nothingness something; it creates.” Helen says,  “Jonathan’s work reveals the world we can experience in the voids of living.” Learn more at Khecari.org.

Michael Zapata’s fiction, which is formed from stories of exile and unstable realities, has been described in the New York Times as “hypnotizing” and in Axios as an important “part of the growing Latinofuturism movement.” He is a founding editor of MAKE Literary Magazine and the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is on the faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. He also currently serves on the boards of Stories Matter Foundation and MAKE Literary Productions. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family. Helen observes, “magic, soul and love permeate Michael’s work.” Learn more at michaelzapata.com.

Jon Siskel is a documentary filmmaker committed to telling stories that have entertained and inspired audiences since he and Greg Jacobs co-founded Siskel/Jacobs Productions in 2005. Siskel has produced and directed documentaries that have played across the United States and around the world. Siskel’s films have showcased subjects as disparate as a high school poetry slam competition (Louder Than a Bomb) a biography of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (Unexpected Justice), and have explored issues at the intersection of education and social justice (No Small Matter). Jon is an Emmy award winner for 102 Minutes that Changed America, a documentary about the events of September 11, 2001, produced for the History Channel. Siskel’s work has also been featured on Discovery, A&E, OWN, PBS and National Geographic. Jon’s latest film is the short documentary, MEMORIAL, about the July 4th mass shooting and one of the memorials that reflected the power of healing through art, love and community in his hometown, Highland Park, Illinois. Helen praises Jon, saying, “He brings a gift of vision and empathy to the discovery of truth.” Learn more at siskeljacobs.com.

Ruben Aguirre, Bril Barrett, Kate Berry Brown, Tomeka Reid and avery r. young recognized for innovation, past achievements, and community contributions

The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts today released the names of their 17th Arts Achievement Awards. Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is giving out five awards to Chicago area artists in several genres, a total of $200,000 in awards. The 2022s awardees are painter and muralist Ruben Aguirre, dancer and artistic director Bril Barrett, artist Kate Berry Brown, jazz cellist Tomeka Reid, and poet and interdisciplinary artist avery r. young.

Ruben Aguirre has produced murals in the Chicago area, across the U.S., and abroad. Aguirre’s work is an intersection of abstraction, graffiti, formalism, and mural painting. Ruben’s compositions organically build a visual language often referencing the socio-historical background of each site location. He has exhibited at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Hyde Park Art Center, and The National Museum of Mexican Art. His work has been covered by the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Art News. Aguirre’s public works have been commissioned for clients such as Google, Adidas, Linked IN, Conde Nast, and others.
For more information, see http://www.theshiftchange.com.

Kate Berry Brown is an abstract artist living and working in Evanston, Illinois. Through ink on paper and paint on wood, she explores contrasting ideas of abundance and gratitude with feelings of density and crowdedness in both motherhood and American humanity.

She holds a BFA from Washington University and a Masters in Floral Design from Boerma Instituut in Alsmeer, Holland. She has exhibited at galleries nationally, including the Colored Pencil Society’s International Exhibition in Atlanta, WomanMade Gallery in Chicago, and at the newly founded Stay Home Gallery in Tennessee. She has shown extensively in her home city of Evanston, IL, including Gallery 901, 1100 Florence Gallery and Over the Rainbow Gallery among others. For more information, see https://www.kateberrybrown.com.

Bril Barrett is a dedicated tap dancer, whose mission is to preserve and promote tap dance as a percussive art form, foster respect and admiration for the history and culture of tap, and continuously create opportunities for the art form and its practitioners.

Bril founded The M.A.D.D. Rhythms Tap Academy, located at the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Bronzeville. M.A.D.D. creates an alternative to the schools to prison pipeline that exist for many black and brown youth, including a very successful Novice to Performer program. Bril has taught and/or performed in Europe and across the United States. For more information, see https://meierfoundation.org/award_recipients/bril-barrett/.

Tomeka Reid, cellist and composer, is one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians in Chicago’s jazz and improvised music community over the last decade. Tomeka’s recordings with her Tomeka Reid Quartet showcase her improvisational acumen as well as her dynamic arrangements and compositional ability. She has also appeared with many of leading jazz artists of this generation, including Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Nicole Mitchell, Dee Alexander and Mike Reed.

Tomeka launched the first Chicago Jazz String Summit, a semi-annual three-day international festival of cutting edge string players held in Chicago. In the Fall of 2019 Tomeka Reid received a teaching appointment at Mills College as the Darius Milhaud chair in composition. Tomeka is a Foundation of the Arts (2019) and 3Arts Awardee (2016) awardee. She received her doctorate in music from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2017. Just recently, she was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. For more information, see https://www.tomekareid.net

avery r. young is a poet and teaching artist who has been an Arts and Public Life Artist-In-Residence at the University of Chicago. He is a 3Arts Awardee, Cave Canem fellow and a co-director of The Floating Museum. His poetry and prose has been featured in BreakBeat Poets, Teaching Black, and Poetry Magazine. His most recent album tubman. (FPE Records) is the soundtrack to his first collection of visual and traditional poetry, neckbone: visual verses. His album booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid engages matters of race, gender, and sexuality in America during the Obama Era.

Avery’s work in performance, visual text, and sound design has been featured in several exhibitions and theatre festivals—notably The Hip Hop Theatre Festival, The Museum of Contemporary Art, and American Jazz Museum. His theater credits include co-writing and co-producing the soundtrack for Lise Haller Baggeson’s Hatorgrade Retrograde: The Musical and during the pandemic, writing the libretto for The Chicago Lyric Opera’s groundbreaking Twilight: Gods. For more information, see https://www.averyryoung.com.

Morgan Frank, Sam Jaffee and Zack (“Beverly Fre$h”) Ostrowski recognized for innovation, past achievements, and community contributions 

 

Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier today released the names of their 16^th Arts Achievement Awards.  Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is giving out three awards to Chicago area artists in several genres, a total of $120,000 in awards. The 2021 awardees are poet Morgan Frank, fabric artist Sam Jaffee, performance and visual artist Beverly Fresh (Zach Ostrowski). 

Rebecca Morgan Frank is the author of four collections of poems, most recently Oh You Robot Saints! (2021). Called a “poet of the exacting and harrowing,” her poetry and prose have appeared such places as The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and Los Angeles Review of Books, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, and elsewhere.  Morgan’s poems are sought out for frequent musical settings in art song and modern music with composers such as Eric Malmquist, Aaron Stepp, and Mara Gibson. Helen says, “Morgan’s poetry presents compelling visions and intriguing premises.” For more information, see https://rebeccamorganfrank.com/

Samantha Jaffee is a Chicago-based fabric artist. Characterized by wacky, toxic color and overstuffed, mutating forms, Sam Jaffe’s recent work explores labor, folk and domestic art traditions, ornamentation, collecting behaviors, femininity, and the grotesque fallibility of the human body. All art materials are recycled, reused, repurposed, dead-stock, vintage, or otherwise sustainably sourced. Sam received her BFA from The Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 and her MFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2009. Helen adds, “Sam’s masterful realization of textiles capture the eye and tease the senses.” For more information, see https://thesamjaffee.com

Beverly Fresh (Zach Ostrowski) is a contemporary artist and musician from the rural Midwest.  He examines cultural structures through a variety of media, including drawing, graphic design, installation, video, music, parody and performance. He has a BFA in Graphic Design/Interactive Media from the College for Creative Studies and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He is an Associate Professor of Graphic Art at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Tim says, “Beverly Fresh uses his insightful and imaginative vision over many different media to comment on our American culture.” For more information, see https://www.beverlyfresh.com/WHUT

About the Meier Achievement Award
The 2021 Meier Achievement Award recognizes past work of mid-career arts professionals with checks for $40,000.  Since its inception, the Foundation has presented 53 Chicago-area artists with awards. There are no applications, no project to submit, and no outcome measurements.  This follows Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.”  For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

Past Recipients:  

Krista Franklin, writer and visual artist

Terisa Griffin, singer

Candace Hunter, collage, painting, installations, and performance artist

Corrinne Imberski, dance performer

Ayesha Jaco, educator and coreographer

Angel Pagan, multi-media artist

Jim Lasko, founding Artistic Director, Redmoon Theatre

James Bohnen, cofounder & former Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre

Meade Palidofsky, founder & Artistic Director, StoryCatchers Theatre

Patti McKenny, poet, librettist/lyricist, Founder, Chicago Music Theatre Works

John Eskola, tenor, cabaret artist

Mark Messing, composer, founder of Mucca Pazzo gypsy marching band 

PJ Powers, founder & Artistic Director, TimeLine Theatre

Michael Patrick Thornton, founder & Artistic Director, Gift Theater

Homer Hans Bryant, Director, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center

Elizabeth Doyle, composer, cabaret artist

Hallie Gordon, director, Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults

James Ginsburg, classical musical producer, Cedille Records

Terry Karpowicz, sculptor

Miroslaw Rogala, multi-media artist

Molly Shanahan, choreographer, Mad Shak company

Wesley Kimler, painter

Jeff Kowalkowski, new music composer

Nick Sandys, Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre 

Mindy Rose Schwartz, sculptor

Bernard Williams, painter/sculptor

Jack Zimmerman, storyteller

Sean Graney, playwright

Rob Mazurek, electro-acoustic composer, cornetist, and visual artist

Julia Miller, sound artist, guitarist,  and composer

Simone Muench, poet

Chris Newman, sculptor

Donald Noon, sculptor

Damon Locks, visual artist and musician

James Morrow, dancer and choreographer

Dan Ramirez, painter

Eric Stephenson, sculptor

Stephen Burns, artistic director and conductor, Fulcrum Point

Stacy Garrop, composer

Ayako Kato, dancer and choreographer

Tim Anderson, painter

Chris Bradley, sculptor

Chloe Jensen, choreographer and artistic director, Aerial Dance Chicago

Jill King, sculptor

Renee Baker, composer

Eric Lindsey, sculptor,

Scott Stack, painter

Elsa Munoz, painter

Mike Reed, drummer/impresario

Olea Nova, painter/composer

Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier today released the names of their 15th Arts Achievement Awards.  Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

This year, the Foundation is giving out a record six awards to Chicago area artists in many genres, a total of $240,000 in awards. The 2020 awardees are poet/painter Krista Franklin, singer/composer Terisa Griffin, multi-media artist Candace Hunter, dancer/choreographer Corinne Imberski, dancer/choreographer Ayesha Jaco, and painter Angel Pagan. 

Krista Franklin is a writer and visual artist, the author Too Much Midnight (Haymarket Books, 2020), the artist book Under the Knife (Candor Arts, 2018), and the chapbook Study of Love & Black Body (Willow Books, 2012). She is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and has been published in Poetry.  Helen says, “Krista is a beautiful American woman and explorer who self-creates and re-creates herself.”  For more information, see https://www.kristafranklin.com

Terisa Griffin – Soulful singer/composer Terisa Griffin has produced and starred in her “One Voice, One Woman” concert series, and has produced four successful independent albums, which includes her latest “The Soul Revival.” She also won the Chicago Music Award for Solo Independent Artist of the Year. Terisa’s charity, Better Love Yourself, helps young adults master the art of loving and caring for themselves while succeeding at college. Helen says, “Her realness embraces us so solidly. She is real Chicago, whether singing her works or classics.” For more information, see www.terisagriffin.com

Candace Hunter creates collage, paintings, installations and performance art to tell stories. Through the use of appropriated materials from magazines, vintage maps, cloth, various re-used materials, she offers this new landscape of materials back to the viewer with a glimpse of history and admiration of the beautiful. Tim observes, “Candace tells an exciting story of someone who can’t stay away from art, visualizing the loss to Africa in the same instant celebrating America’s needs in beauty and social justice.” For more information, see http://www.chleeart.com/

Corinne Imberski is a Chicago based dance performer, choreographer, improviser, and educator. As an independent dance artist, Corinne has presented solo and ensemble works for over thirty years, at venues grand, small, and impromptu. She has staged her choreography throughout the country. Helen observes the Corinne creates “clean, focused post-modern dance, so well thought out.” For more information, see https://www.corinneimberski.com/

Ayesha Jaco is a Chicago based philanthropist, educator and choreographer. Ayesha is the founder and Artistic Director of Move Me Soul, an internationally traveled youth dance company headquartered on Chicago’s West Side. Ayesha’s disciplinary focus is a fusion of contemporary modern, jazz, West African and hiphop dance.  Helen is “grateful that Ayesha makes a pathway via dance to form bonds, create something wonderful, and show students how they fit into America.”  For more information, see www.movemesoul.org.

Angel Pagan began his career as an urban and graffiti artist.  After attending the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he expanded to public murals and fine art, Tim says, “Angel has much to say as he has bridged street art to fine art – a brave transition. Bravo!” Angel self-represents his work. For more information, see http://romewon.com

About the Meier Achievement Award

The 2020 Meier Achievement Award recognizes past work of mid-career arts professionals with checks for $40,000.  Since its inception, the Foundation has presented 50 Chicago-area artists with awards. There are no applications, no project to submit, and no outcome measurements.  This follows Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.”  For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org. 

Past Recipients:  

Jim Lasko, founding Artistic Director, Redmoon Theatre

James Bohnen, cofounder & former Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre

Meade Palidofsky, founder & Artistic Director, StoryCatchers Theatre

Patti McKenny, poet, librettist/lyricist, Founder, Chicago Music Theatre Works

John Eskola, tenor, cabaret artist

Mark Messing, composer, founder of Mucca Pazzo gypsy marching band 

PJ Powers, founder & Artistic Director, TimeLine Theatre

Michael Patrick Thornton, founder & Artistic Director, Gift Theater

Homer Hans Bryant, Director, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center

Elizabeth Doyle, composer, cabaret artist

Hallie Gordon, director, Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults

James Ginsburg, classical musical producer, Cedille Records

Terry Karpowicz, sculptor

Miroslaw Rogala, multi-media artist

Molly Shanahan, choreographer, Mad Shak company

Wesley Kimler, painter

Jeff Kowalkowski, new music composer

Nick Sandys, Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre 

Mindy Rose Schwartz, sculptor

Bernard Williams, painter/sculptor

Jack Zimmerman, storyteller

Sean Graney, playwright

Rob Mazurek, electro-acoustic composer, cornetist, and visual artist

Julia Miller, sound artist, guitarist,  and composer

Simone Muench, poet

Chris Newman, sculptor

Donald Noon, sculptor

Damon Locks, visual artist and musician

James Morrow, dancer and choreographer

Dan Ramirez, painter

Eric Stephenson, sculptor

Stephen Burns, artistic director and conductor, Fulcrum Point

Stacy Garrop, composer

Ayako Kato, dancer and choreographer

Tim Anderson, painter

Chris Bradley, sculptor

Chloe Jensen, choreographer and artistic director, Aerial Dance Chicago

Jill King, sculptor

Renee Baker, composer

Eric Lindsey, sculptor,

Scott Stack, painter

Elsa Munoz, painter

Mike Reed, drummer/impresario

Olea Nova, painter/composer

Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier today released the names of their 14th Arts Achievement Awards. Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

The 2019 awardees are painter Elsa Munoz, painter Olea Nova, and drummer/impresario Mike Reed.

Elsa Munoz – Ms. Munoz is an oil painter who works in series. Common subjects in her work are seascapes, forests, fires, tornados, the night, and figurative subjects who typically evade the viewer’s gaze. Elsa’s choice of subject matter is directly influenced by her cultural identity and experience growing up on the south side of Chicago, daughter to working class Mexican immigrants, and kept inside most of the time because of gang violence in her neighborhood. Helen Meier says: “Elsa uses simple things to create great beauty.” For more information, see http://www.elsamunoz.com.

Olea Nova – Ms. Nova is a visual artist and composer. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and is a graduate of the University of Humanities and Social Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her body of work encompasses painting, drawing, printmaking, video and sound. There is no narrative content in her work. By exploring her sense of non-objective form, Olea Nova dematerializes objects and creates space that is non-referential. Olea Nova lives and works in Chicago. Tim says Olea’s work “gives place to imagination.” For more information, see http://www.oleanova.com.

Mike Reed – Mr. Reed is a musician, composer, bandleader and arts presenter based in Chicago. Over the last two decades he has emerged as a dominant force within Chicago’s diverse artistic community, both through the music he makes and the live events he produces. In addition to leading or co-leading several working bands, he is founding director of the Pitchfork Music Festival, the current programming chair of the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the owner and director of the acclaimed performing arts venues Constellation and the Hungry Brain. He is a devoted cultural advocate committed to providing platforms for artistic expression unhindered by commercial pressures. Helen says, “Mike is both an artist and impresario. He is expanding Chicago’s jazz classics and finding new forms.” For more information, see https://www.mikereed-music.com.

The Meier Achievement Award

The 2019 Meier Achievement Award recognizes past work of mid-career arts professionals with checks for $40,000. There are no applications, no project to submit, and no outcome measurements. This follows Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.” For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

Past Recipients:
Jim Lasko, founding Artistic Director, Redmoon Theatre
James Bohnen, cofounder & former Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre
Meade Palidofsky, founder & Artistic Director, StoryCatchers Theatre
Patti McKenny, poet, librettist/lyricist, Founder of Chicago Musical Theatre Works
John Eskola, tenor, cabaret artist
Mark Messing, composer, founder of Mucca Pazzo gypsy marching band & Lullaby Project
PJ Powers, founder & Artistic Director, TimeLine Theatre
Michael Patrick Thornton, founder & Artistic Director, Gift Theater
Homer Hans Bryant, Director, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center
Elizabeth Doyle, composer, cabaret artist
Hallie Gordon, director, Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults
James Ginsburg, classical musical producer, Cedille Records
Terry Karpowicz, sculptor
Miroslaw Rogala, multi-media artist
Molly Shanahan, choreographer, Mad Shak company
Wesley Kimler, painter
Jeff Kowalkowski, new music composer
Nick Sandys, director/actor/fight choreographer, Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre
Mindy Rose Schwartz, sculptor
Bernard Williams, painter/sculptor
Jack Zimmerman, storyteller
Sean Graney, playwright
Rob Mazurek, electro-acoustic composer, cornetist, improviser and visual artist
Julia Miller, sound artist, guitarist, improvisor, composer, visual artist, curator and educator
Simone Muench, poet
Chris Newman, sculptor
Donald Noon, sculptor
Damon Locks, visual artist and musician
James Morrow, dancer and choreographer
Dan Ramirez, painter
Eric Stephenson, sculptor
Stephen Burns, artistic director and conductor, Fulcrum Point
Stacy Garrop, composer
Ayako Kato, dancer and choreographer
Tim Anderson, painter
Chris Bradley, sculptor
Chloe Jensen, choreographer and artistic director, Aerial Dance Chicago
Jill King, sculptor
Renee Baker, composer
Eric Lindsey, sculptor,
Scott Stack, painter

Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier today released the names of their 13th Arts Achievement Awards.  Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

The 2018 awardees are composer/conductor Renee Baker, sculptor Eric Lindsey, and painter Scott Stack.

Renee Baker – Ms. Baker is founding music director and conductor of the internationally acclaimed Chicago Modern Orchestra Project (CMOP), a polystylistic orchestral organization that grew from the plums of classical music, as well as jazz. Her compositions are crafted from her many talents with carefully constructed environments that also allow indeterminacy, experimentalism, classicism, subjectivity, and objective interpretations to co-exist. Intense but rewarding for both performer and listener/viewer, all parties are cast into unknown roles upon encounter, to be radically inside a temporary environment of limitless inhabitation.  Helen Meier says: “Renee thrills and unsettles. She tries to unsettle the world.” For more information, see http://www.reneebakercomposer.net.

Eric Lindsey – In 1977, Eric accepted a position as a sculptor’s apprentice to Daniel Lowery at his studio in O’Fallon, Illinois, learning mold making, woodcarving, clay, metal casting, and iron forging.  Discovering stone working after arriving in Chicago was the only natural next step. After meeting Isamu Noguchi, he felt determined to combine elements of all of these materials to create a singular body of work that became “something it already was.” Helen says Eric’s “mastery of stone, with a touch of iron to open our eyes, is determinedly seductive. I like your unpredictability.” For more information, see http://www.lindseystudioartworks.net/.

Scott Stack – The Chicago Cultural Center recently exhibited a celebrated showing of Scott’s paintings “that challenge our perceptual capabilities as well as defy conventional categories and operations of abstract and representational traditions in modern painting.” Scott’s work engages the viewer to search for a way to make sense of the pattern we are seeing. Scott’s work has been exhibited throughout the Midwest and New York.Tim says, “His work pulled me onto the canvas and then on a journey into the depth of the painting. Levels of meaning appear as you study his work.” For more information, see www.scottstack.com

 

The Meier Achievement Award

The 2018 Meier Achievement Award recognizes past work of mid-career arts professionals with checks for $40,000.  There are no applications, no project to submit, and no outcome measurements.  This follows Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.”  For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

 

Past Recipients: 

Jim Lasko, founding Artistic Director, Redmoon Theatre

James Bohnen, cofounder & former Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre

Meade Palidofsky, founder & Artistic Director, StoryCatchers Theatre

Patti McKenny, poet, librettist/lyricist, Founder of Chicago Musical Theatre Works

John Eskola, tenor, cabaret artist

Mark Messing, composer, founder of Mucca Pazzo gypsy marching band & Lullaby Project

PJ Powers, founder & Artistic Director, TimeLine Theatre

Michael Patrick Thornton, founder & Artistic Director, Gift Theater

Homer Hans Bryant, Director, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center

Elizabeth Doyle, composer, cabaret artist

Hallie Gordon, director, Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults

James Ginsburg, classical musical producer, Cedille Records

Terry Karpowicz, sculptor

Miroslaw Rogala, multi-media artist

Molly Shanahan, choreographer, Mad Shak company

Wesley Kimler, painter

Jeff Kowalkowski, new music composer

Nick Sandys, director/actor/fight choreographer, Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre

Mindy Rose Schwartz, sculptor

Bernard Williams, painter/sculptor

Jack Zimmerman, storyteller

Sean Graney, playwright

Rob Mazurek, electro-acoustic composer, cornetist, improviser and visual artist

Julia Miller, sound artist, guitarist, improvisor, composer, visual artist, curator and educator

Simone Muench, poet

Chris Newman, sculptor

Donald Noon, sculptor

Damon Locks, visual artist and musician

James Morrow, dancer and choreographer

Dan Ramirez, painter

Eric Stephenson, sculptor

Stephen Burns, artistic director and conductor, Fulcrum Point

Stacy Garrop, composer

Ayako Kato, dancer and choreographer

Tim Anderson, painter

Chris Bradley, sculptor

Chloe Jensen, choreographer and artistic director, Aerial Dance Chicago

Jill King, sculpter

Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier today released the names of their 12th Arts Achievement Awards. Their Foundation recognizes Chicago-based artists in mid-career who push the artistic envelope.

The 2017 awardees are painter Tim Anderson, sculptor Chris Bradley, choreographer Chloe Jensen, and sculptor Jill King.

Tim Anderson – A meticulous portrait and abstract painter, Tim has exhibited continuously since 1978 in Chicago and internationally, including Edinburgh, Moscow, Munich, Regensburg, Krakow, Wolfenbuttel, Italy, Paris, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. As one of the founders of “The Coldhouse Group,” he initiated a new and successful exhibition concept using abandoned cold storage warehouses and rail terminals as exhibition halls. Tim has conceived and executed large commissions about Chicago, including 70 oils of Chicagoans for the Equitable Building as well as portraits of 24 historic and contemporary Chicagoans for the Beverly Branch Library. Tim Meier says, “Tim’s work is magnificently communicative.  He is beautifully and thoroughly trained.”  For more information, see www.timandersonart.com

Chris Bradley received his BFA from the University of Michigan, and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is an instructor. His recent exhibition history includes solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Shane Campbell Gallery (Chicago), Roberto Paradise (San Juan, PR), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Raleigh, and group shows at The Renaissance Society, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Helen Meier says, “Bradley’s art is whimsical, innovative and comments on function and dysfunction.” For more information, see www.chrisbradley.us.

Chloe Jensen is the Founder and Creative Director of Aerial Dance Chicago, a nonprofit organization she formed in 1999 to explore her vision of taking dance into flight. She earned a specialized degree from the College of Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University combining dance, education and physical education. Chloe continued her study of dance, choreography and kinesiology in graduate school at Arizona State University. In addition to her work for ADC, she has danced for The Lyric Opera of Chicago and for a unique trampoline-ballet by Cirque du Soleil choreographer Debra Brown. Now entering its 19th season, ADC has recently performed her works, including UnEarthed (2011), Gravity (2013), Aya (2015) and Ghost Stories (2016).  Helen says, “Chloe relishes the relationship between body and mind.” For more information, see www.aerialdancechicago.org.

Jill King is a Chicago born artist whose suspended sculptures take the viewer on a journey from the smallest elements of creation, such as a seed under a microscope and into vast galaxies light years away. King’s art has been exhibited at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, Expo Chicago, SOFA Chicago, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago and many galleries throughout the Midwest. Her work is in several private and public collections throughout the country, including The Lorraine Morton Civic Center, Evanston IL and the Loyola Medical Center in Burr Ridge, IL. Helen says Jill is “the Queen of unpredictable moments.” For more information, see www.jillkingstudio.com.

The Meier Achievement Award 

The 2017 Meier Achievement Award recognizes past work of mid-career arts professionals with checks for $40,000.  There are no applications, no project to submit, and no outcome measurements.  This follows Tim Meier’s directive, “No strings.” For more information, see www.meierfoundation.org.

Past Recipients : 

Jim Lasko, founding Artistic Director, Redmoon Theatre

James Bohnen, cofounder & former Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre

Meade Palidofsky, founder & Artistic Director, StoryCatchers Theatre

Patti McKenny, poet, librettist/lyricist, Founder of Chicago Musical Theatre Works

John Eskola, tenor, cabaret artist

Mark Messing, composer, founder of Mucca Pazzo gypsy marching band & Lullaby Project

PJ Powers, founder & Artistic Director, TimeLine Theatre

Michael Patrick Thornton, founder & Artistic Director, Gift Theater

Homer Hans Bryant, Director, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center

Elizabeth Doyle, composer, cabaret artist

Hallie Gordon, director, Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults

James Ginsburg, classical musical producer, Cedille Records

Terry Karpowicz, sculptor

Miroslaw Rogala, multi-media artist

Molly Shanahan, choreographer, Mad Shak company

Wesley Kimler, painter

Jeff Kowalkowski, new music composer

Nick Sandys, director/actor/fight choreographer, Artistic Director, Remy Bumppo Theatre

Mindy Rose Schwartz, sculptor

Bernard Williams, painter/sculptor

Jack Zimmerman, storyteller

Sean Graney, playwright

Rob Mazurek, electro-acoustic composer, cornetist, improviser and visual artist

Julia Miller, sound artist, guitarist, improvisor, composer, visual artist, curator and educator

Simone Muench, poet

Chris Newman, sculptor

Donald Noon, sculptor

Damon Locks, visual artist and musician

James Morrow, dancer and choreographer

Dan Ramirez, painter

Eric Stephenson, sculptor

Stephen Burns, artistic director and conductor, Fulcrum Point

Stacy Garrop, composer

Ayako Kato, dancer and choreographer