FLORIDA KEYS COUNCIL OF THE ARTS
Press Release
Contact: Liz Young
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 305-295-4369
09/05/2019

LOCAL ARTISTS WIN PRESTIGIOUS GRANT

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts proudly announces two local artists, Nellie Appleby and Vivien Segel, are the 2018-2019 winners of the South Florida Cultural Consortium Award for Visual and Media Artists. Ms. Appleby and Ms. Segel were both awarded a prize of $7,500, joining several other artists from South Florida so honored in this year’s SFCC competition. The SFCC grants are among the largest such awards provided by local arts agencies in the United States. The South Florida Cultural Consortium Program offers the largest regional, government-sponsored artists’ grants in the United States, awarding $15,000 and $7,500 grants to resident visual and media artists. Since it was established in 1988, the Consortium has awarded close to $4 million to over 300 artists. The Consortium is an alliance of the Arts Councils of Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Martin Counties.

Nellie Appleby’s life and work are deeply engrossed with the study of ecology and plants, the cultivation of gardens and beauty, the exploration of wildness and the examination of culture and expression through the actions of photography and sculpture. She has dedicated her life to these practices. She lives and works in beloved Key West, Florida.

Ms. Segel, with her fascination for tools and woodworking, creates assemblages and collages using odd or old objects, wood or parts from damaged antique furniture and other rejected items that she sometimes finds in the streets or at yard sales. All her pieces are generally reworked several times, involving all composition aspects. The reconfiguration and refining process often ends up showing complete changes from the original concept. This constant evolution is evidence of her desire to always test, stretch and expand her abilities. To Segel, personal and professional life challenges have always been tools for self-improvement and her search is constant and endless.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Grant Program is a cooperative project funded in part with the support of the Boards of the five counties and of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

In preparation for the 2020 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artist Grant Program, The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is offering a free workshop this Friday, September 20, 2019 from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm at the Gato Building, 1100 Simonton Street Key West, FL 33040
RSVP appreciated: 305-2954369 / director@keysarts.com . For more information visit, www.keysarts.com

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