SHEARWATER FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES ANNUAL HOLOGRAPHY AWARDS FOR 1990

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1, 1990 -- The Shearwater Foundation, of this city, announced today that its Board of Directors has made awards totalling $30,000 to three artists working in holography, in recognition of their exemplary work. The holographers, all living in California, USA, were each awarded a cash grant of $10,000. The recipients of the 1990 Shearwater Holography Awards were:

Fred Unterseher, Glendale, California, USA

Sally Weber, Ventura, California, USA

Steve Weinstock, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Holography Program, which administers the awards for the Foundation, was initiated in 1987 to promote and encourage the art of holography by providing support and recognition to the preeminent artists in the field. In this fourth year of operation, the program honours artists who have had a distinguished career in the field for at least four years and whose work, during this time, has attained the highest calibre of artistic achievement. "These artists", announced the Foundation's Board of Directors, "have provided a standard of excellence for the entire field." The Holography Program is international in scope. This is the first year that Holography Award recipients have all come from the same country.

The 1990 Shearwater Foundation Holography Award recipients were selected by the Board of Directors at their annual meeting in November of this year. Nominations for these awards were provided, as in all previous years, by a confidential group of international advisors representing the field of art holography.

The Shearwater Foundation is the only American foundation currently funding artists working in art holography. It is the single foundation world-wide that has set up a program to identify and support the highest achievement in the field. "The Foundation's Board of Directors is proud to have assumed a leadership position in the recognition and encouragement of art holographers through its Award program. We salute these pioneering artists, honoured by the 1990 Holography Awards, who have furthered the art of holography through their individual and collective excellence."

The Foundation continued to expand its area of funding this year by supporting activities and institutions that provide needed services to art holographers. A two year commitment to the International Congress on Art in Holography was completed with a grant of $10,000 to St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, the Congress's sponsor. The Foundation provided initial support to the Congress in 1989 with a grant of $15,000. The Congress, which was held in July of this year, brought together thirty-five international representatives of art holography, with curators of four art museums and galleries, to discuss relevant issues and present artwork. The program was designed as a prototype for a larger conference and included a lengthy evaluation and a summary publication, The Congress Report. Additional funding for the Congress was provided by St. Mary's College, the Indiana Arts Council, The Canada Council, The Goethe Institute and by contributions from the local college community.

In addition, the Foundation granted $25,000 to the Museum of Holography in New York, New York, USA for the salary of a curator, Ms. Sydney Dinsmore, of Toronto, Canada. Ms. Dinsmore's duties, during the granting period, include the completion of cataloguing the Museum's collection, research into archival storage for the collection and providing means to make the collection more accessible. Ms. Dinsmore was the founding Director of the Canadian holography gallery, Interference, and the curator for the international holography exhibition "Images in Time and Space" which has toured the United States and Canada extensively since 1988.