LOCAL ARTIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS FELLOWSHIP

Liz Young, Executive Director, Florida Keys Council of the Arts (right) congratulates Karley Klopfenstein, 2009 winner of the SFCC Visual & Media Artist Fellowship Award. The Florida Keys Council of the Arts proudly announces local artist Karley Klopfenstein as the 2009 winner of the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists. Ms. Klopfenstein was awarded a prize of $15,000, joining nine other artists from South Florida so honored in this year’s SFCC competition. The $15,000 fellowships are the largest such awards provided by local arts agencies in the United States. The Consortium is an alliance of the arts councils of Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Martin Counties. Klopfenstein’s current body of work focuses on specific American military weaponry, rendered domestic with traditional craft techniques such as weaving, crocheting and rug hooking. The juxtaposition of the imagery used as a graphic element, and the technique, comment on the persistent presence of violence in our everyday lives. As an artist, Karley is interested in the ways that violence, horror and war nudge their way into the comfort of our daily routines. Currently, she is an artist in residence at The Studios of Key West, and is represented by the Charest-Weinberg Gallery in Miami. The recipients were selected during a two-tier panel process which included the participation of regional and national arts experts. Selection by the regional panel was totally anonymous, based solely on the quality of the artists' work as evidenced by digital images, slides or video/films submitted. The regional panel forwarded their recommendations to the national panel, which was comprised of: Amada Cruz, Program Director, United States Artists, Los Angeles; Linda Dubler, Curator of Media Arts, High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Odili Donald Odita, Visual Artist, Philadelphia; and Gilbert Vicario, Assistant Curator of Latin American Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. All four national judges participated in the final recommendations. An exhibition featuring the works of the ten recipients will be presented at the University Galleries, School of the Arts at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton from September 18 - October 30, 2009; with an opening reception scheduled for Thursday, September 17, 7 - 9 p.m.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Program is a cooperative project funded in part with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, the Boards of County Commissioners of Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin and Monroe Counties, and the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.