Notes from the field

Afterimage, May-June, 2003 by Betsy Phillips, Genevieve Waller

Jessica Smith has been appointed Curator of American Art at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. Smith holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Yale University where she was awarded several important fellowships and awards. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude in 1991. Smith has been with the Huntington since 2002. The Huntington also announces the upcoming 16,000-square-foot addition to its American art gallery, doubling the size of the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery. Los Angeles based architect Frederick Fisher and Partners will design the $6 million building, slated for construction in Fall 2003.

Leonard Leher has been chosen as the Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Art at Columbia College, Chicago. Leher, who has been acting dean since 2001, holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. The recipient of numerous academic and artistic awards, Leher, a printmaker, has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as well as in many other museums and collections in the United States and abroad. Prior to coming to Columbia College, Leher was the Chairman of the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University, the Founding Director and Chair of the Department of Art at Arizona State University, and Chair of the Department of Art at the University of New Mexico.

The Potrero Nuevo Fund awards a total of $37,500 to three Bay Area community art projects. The 2003 award recipients are "Mind if I Call You Sir?," a documentary video project by Karla E. Roasales and Veronica Majano investigating queer identity; "Interrogating the Foreigner," a music/literary performance project by Pireeni Sundaralingam and Colm O'Riain that addresses racism in a post 9/11 society; and "November," a documentary video by Paul VanDeCarr that examines the Jonestown mass suicide and the murders of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk in 1978. The annual grant program awards up to 4 prizes, each a maximum of $12,500, to artistic projects that use literary, media, performing, or visual art in the service of social or environmental awareness.

Arts Link announces the winners for the 5th cycle of its Independent Projects Awards. This initiative allows Central and Eastern European artists and arts managers working in all disciplines to realize significant projects with U.S. arts organizations across the country. Awards went to Emil Hrvatin of Slovenia; Damijan Kracina of Slovenia; vadim Larchikov and Olga Veselina of Ukraine; Dijana Milosevic of Serbia and Montenegro; Kiril Prashkov of Bulgaria; Frantisek Skala of the Czech Republic: and two members of the Legendary Poptones of Bulgaria. Arts Link is a public-private partnership of CEC International Partners, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Ohio Arts Council, with Additional Funding from the Kettering Fund and the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation. Further information on the awards is available at www.cecip.org