Mahalo Joan Mitchell!

Keith is a recipient of a 2012 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. He was one of 25 artists in the United States to receive this prestigious award in the amount of $25,000 each.

It’s an immense honor to receive the Mitchell Award and to be included with the outstanding artists that have been awarded this grant since 1993. said Keith, Part of Joan Mitchell’s vision was to support the development of diverse contemporary artists. For me, receiving this grant reaffirms my decision to live where I do, and how I do…relatively isolated from any big contemporary art scene and engaging the land, culture and community that I was raised in. This grant will help me continue to create work that addresses and challenges our cultural identity and popular perceptions of Hawaii.

The Painters and Sculptors Grant Program was established by the Joan Mitchell Foundation in 1993 to assist individual artists and to acknowledge painters and sculptors creating work of exceptional quality. Nominators from all over the country were invited to recommend artists at any stage of their career, whose practice would significantly benefit from the grant. The candidates’ images were viewed for consideration through an anonymous process by a jury panel that convened in December at the office of the New York Foundation for the Arts. Nominators and jurors include prominent visual artists, curators, and art educators.

Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) was an essential member of the American Abstract Expressionist movement and was one of the era’s few female painters to gain critical and public acclaim. Her painting and editioned prints can be seen in major museums and collections across America and Europe. The Joan Mitchell Foundation was established in 1993 as a not-for-profit corporation following her death in October 1992. The Foundation celebrates the legacy of Joan Mitchell and expands her vision to support the aspirations and development of diverse contemporary artists.

For more information on the Joan Mitchell Foundation and its recipients, please visit www.joanmitchellfoundation.org.