March 13, 2013

Art professors receive prestigious grants for their work

Garrick Imatani, assistant professor of art, recently received significant funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council and The Ford Family Foundation. Imatani and Tammy Jo Wilson, adjunct professor of art, also received Oregon Arts Commission career opportunity awards.

Garrick Imatani, assistant professor of art, recently received significant funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council and The Ford Family Foundation. Imatani and Tammy Jo Wilson, adjunct professor of art, also received Oregon Arts Commission career opportunity awards.

Imatani and collaborating poet Kaia Sand will be the inaugural artists for a unique public project jointly established by the City of Portland Archives & Records Center and the Regional Arts & Culture Council with funding by Percent for Art. The project brings together research, poetry, art, and activism, as Imatani and Sand plan to engage the Watcher Files, a series of surveillance documents on various activist groups collected by the Portland Police Bureau over a 30-year span. The $25,000 award will support fabrication fees for a broad range of material works, public programming, and installation costs.

Both Imatani and Wilson also received $1,500 Oregon Arts Commission career opportunity awards, which enable individual Oregon artists to take advantage of “unique opportunities” to enhance their careers. Imatani’s award will support residency opportunities at both the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska and the Ragdale Foundation artist residency program in Illinois. Wilson’s award will support travel to the Women’s Caucus for Art conference in New York, during which her photography will be included in two exhibitions.

Through the Oregon Arts Commission’s partnership with The Ford Family Foundation, Imatani was awarded an additional $865 to offset expenses associated with the creation of larger scale works. These Ford Family Foundation funds were awarded to only 10 mid-career artists and are designed to assist Oregon’s most promising visual artists.

Department of Art