SHEARWATER FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES HOLOGRAPHY GRANTS FOR 1997
FT. LAUDERDALE FLORIDA, DECEMBER 28, 1997- - The Shearwater Foundation announced today that its Board of Directors has awarded $110,127.64 in grants through its Holography Program this year. The Shearwater Foundation Holography Program provides funding to institutions and associations that contribute to the understanding and appreciation of art holography world-wide. The Foundation also recognizes individual creative excellence within the field by providing an annual Holography Award. Because of the special nature of grants awarded this year, no Holography Award was presented.
In February of this year, the world's leading manufacturer of holographic film. Agfa Gevaert Inc., of Belgium, announced that they would cease production of holographic film within several months. In an effort to provide holographic film to artists around the world who might not be able to purchase from the final production run, the Shearwater Foundation instituted a Free Film Program and purchased $50,127.64 of Holotest film. It set up two distribution systems, one In the US administered by Dr. Tung H. Jeong, and one In the UK administered by Dr. Andrew T. Pepper. Through a special fax-in lottery system, artists were invited to request a box of film which, if they qualified, would be sent to them for shipping and handling charges only. Ninety six artists from 'twenty two countries received film through this program. The Shearwater Foundation would like to express its gratitude to The Bayer Corporation, Agfa Division, for the generous discount they provided on the purchase of film for the Free Film Program and for the resulting support they extended to artists in the field.
Lake Forest College, Illinois, USA, was awarded a grant of $20,000 to provide scholarships for artists to attend the 6th Annual Symposium for Display Holography and pay fees and expenses for artists to present papers and chair conference sessions. The Symposium is put on every three years by Dr. Tung H. Jeong, Professor of Physics at Lake Forest College, and has become an important information exchange for artists, scientists and business people in holography over the years.
The Art In Holography2 Symposium was awarded a grant of $10,000 towards the production of a conference proceedings and creation of a web site to disseminate materials generated from the 1996 conference in Nottingham England. The grant provides for the inclusion of materials produced at the first Art in Holography Conference held at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana in 1990. Professor Douglas Tyler, Chair of the first symposium and Dr. Andrew Pepper chair of the second will collaborate on the combined proceedings and web site. This is the first part of a two year grant for this project.
Professor Eduardo Kac of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA, was awarded a grant of $10,000 for the research towards his forthcoming book Multiple Views Critical Writings on Holographic Art. The book will provide an historical archive of critical writings on art holography from 1965 to the present, with commentary by Professor Kac on the state of art criticism in the field. It will be the first book to address the topic of art criticism in holography, and promises to provide valuable material for future researchers, archivists, curators, collectors and art historians. This is the first part of a two year grant for this project
Professor Dieter Jung, Chairman of the Holographic Network Conference and exhibition in Berlin, Germany in 1996, was awarded a grant of $10,000 towards the publication of "Beyond Perspective", an art book and proceedings catalog from the important and well attended European conference and exhibit held last year. The book will detail the use of holography in environmental, multi-media and literary art work, as well as its function in science, education and art. Financial and editorial support for this project is also being provided by the Akademie der Kuenste in Berlin, Germany. This Is the first part of a two year grant for this project.
Mr. At Razutis, videographer and holographer from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, was awarded a grant of $10,000 for the post production costs which complete the half hour documentary "West Coast Artists in Light". This broadcast quality videotape features the work of half a dozen California artists working in holography, with interviews commentary and documentation of their work. It promises to be an important reference work for art historians, archivists, curators and collectors. The Foundation provided grants towards the research and production of this video documentary in 1995 and 1996.
