SHEARWATER FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES ANNUAL HOLOGRAPHY AWARDS FOR 1992

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, OCTOBER 12, 1992 - The Shearwater Foundation, of this city, announced today that its Board of Directors has awarded a total of $88,500. in grants within its Holography Program this year. The Holography Program was initiated six years ago to promote and encourage the art or holography by providing support and recognition to the preeminent artists in the field. Since 1987, the Holography Program has been expanded to include support of institutions and activities that contribute to the understanding and appreciation of art holography worldwide.

The 1992 Shearwater Foundation Holography Awards were presented to four holographers who have furthered the art of holography through their individual and collective excellence. The recipients were:

Brigitte Burgmer, Germany

Nancy Gorglione, United States

Frithioff Johansen, Denmark

Dean Randazzo, United States

Each artist received a cash grant of ten thousand dollars (U.S.). Nominations for those awarded were provided, as in previous years, by a confidential group of international advisors.

Two special Holography Awards were issued this year to organizations that have provided uniquely important services to the field of art holography. New York Holographic Laboratories, of New York, New York, U.S.A., and Fringe Research Holographics, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, were honoured for their fifteen years + of providing quality instruction, lab facilities and crucial support and encouragement to holographic artists. "Because of the talent and dedication of the Directors of these two organizations, and the ongoing availability of their educational resources and equipment, art holography has grown and flourished - not just in the U.S. and Canada, but around the world. "Theirs is an achievement that needed to be recognized" noted the Foundation's Board of Directors. Each organization received a cash grant of ten thousand dollars (U.S.). The awards were presented to Dan Schweitzer and San Moree, Co-Directors (and founders) of New York Holographic Labs and to Michael Sowdon, Director (and co-founder with David Hlynsky) of Fringe Research Holographics.

A grant of $3,000. was awarded to the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) for fifteen artist scholarships to attend the Holographics International '92 meeting in London, England this July. SPIE is a non-profit technical society dedicated to advancing engineering and scientific applications of optical, electro-optical and optoelectronic technologies through its publications, symposia and short courses. The Holographics International '92 meeting had two major sessions on Holographic Displays and Art. This was the first year SPIE has ever provided scholarships for artists to attend their conferences. The award was presented to Sunny Bains, Holography Technical Director for SPIE, of Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A.

A grant of $2,500. was award to LEONARDO magazine for a color plate page illustrating holographic artwork that will run in the November special issue on holography. LEONARDO is the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. It's "Archives of Holography" issue is the second published of three special issues on holography. The internationally recognized journal has published artist's papers on their work in holography since 1968. Edited by Roger Malina and published by Pergamon Press, LEONARDO will be published by the MIT Press next year. The award was presented to Pamela Grant-Ryan, Managing Editor for LEONARDO, of San Francisco, California, U.SA.

A grant of $15,000. was awarded to The Creative Holography Index as ongoing administrative support in its second year of operation. This is the second of a three year support grant to the art magazine, edited by Dr. Andrew T. Pepper, Department of Media Art, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany and a holographic artist in his own right. The Creative Holography Index begins publication this November as an independent, not-for-profit publication,

written in English and distributed quarterly to paid subscribers. The award was presented to Dr. Andrew Pepper, Editor for The Creative Holography Index, of Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.

A grant of $8,000. was awarded to The Museum of Holography as matching support towards the packing, shipping and storage of the Museum's permanent collection and archives. The $16,000. Storage Fund was administered by the Foundation when the Museum of Holography closed in March. It provided administrative costs to inventory the collection and an archivally sound environment for the collection for 1992. The award was presented to Martha Tomko, recently deceased Director of the Museum, which was formerly of New York, New York, U.S.A.