For Immediate Release
August 15, 2003
Contact:
Brent Sverdloff 781/259-3628, bsverdloff@decordova.org
Joby DeCoster 781/259-3663, jdecoster@decordova.org
DeCordova Announces the Fourth Annual Rappaport Prize Winner:
John Bisbee
The Rappaport Prize is an annual award made possible by funding from the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation, and administered by DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, to an individual artist in recognition of his or her significant achievement and creative potential.
LINCOLN, MA—DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation are proud to announce this year’s recipient of the largest public annual award to an individual artist in New England, The Rappaport Prize. The $20,000 one-year stipend will be awarded to John Bisbee—a 38-year-old Maine-based sculptor who welds nails and spikes to create intricate works that suggest organic and geometric forms. Bisbee’s work has appeared at DeCordova in the 1999 show On the Ball: The Sphere in Contemporary Art and at present in The 2003 DeCordova Annual Exhibition. The prize will be awarded at the Museum’s Annual Fall Meeting of Trustees and Overseers on Tuesday, September 23, 2003.
About John Bisbee
Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo writes the following about the artist in the current Annual Exhibition catalogue. “John Bisbee’s sculptures express his energy and restlessness, as well as his bravura in choosing to work with an unforgiving and potentially dangerous material. For some time now he has worked with nails and spikes, transforming their industrial toughness and sharp points into an amazing array of abstract forms that can be loosely organic or tightly geometric, or both at the same time. Using twelve-inch spikes as his building material, Bisbee welds the spikes into units and assembles them in shapes that are suggestive without being specific, and that embody a number of opposing characteristics. The forms can look hard or soft, organic or industrial, highly crafted or sloppily thrown together (although they’re not), delicate or strong, complex or simple.
“Following within the minimalist tradition of sculpture, Bisbee often works with repetitive serial elements and modular components that can be shaped and recombined in different configurations. Sometimes the spikes are welded together to form arcing open circles, like a tangle of brambles, or a large drawing in space. Or the spikes are welded together and bent so that when stacked, they look like bundles of branches. Bisbee’s use of the word ‘bioindustrial’ to describe his works is a most apt characterization of their origins in nature and industry.”
John Bisbee received his BFA from Alfred University (Alfred, NY) and attended the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He has done artist residencies at the MacDowell Colony (Peterborough, NH) and Yaddo Art Colony (Saratoga Springs, NY). He has also had solo exhibitions at Plane Space Gallery (New York, NY), Albright-Knox Museum (Buffalo, NY), Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston), Maine College of Art (Portland), Bowdoin College Museum of Art (Brunswick, ME), Kemper Museum (Kansas City, MO), and Suyama Space (Seattle, WA). Bisbee’s work resides in a variety of collections, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Hugo Neu Corporation (New York, NY), Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA), and Portland Museum of Art (Portland, ME). He teaches at Bowdoin College.
About the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation and Prize
The Rappaport Prize was established by the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation to foster two goals: (1) to recognize both the achievement and potential of an artist who has already demonstrated significant creativity and vision, and (2) to encourage the artist to continue in a career of art making despite the ever present challenges which such a choice confronts. Choosing a career in the visual arts today requires courage and sacrifice—courage in the sense that there are few guarantees of success in the arts, and even if “success” (however it is measured in the visual arts) is obtained, it cannot always ensure a livelihood. Sacrifice is also a requisite for the artist to remain committed to the long-term process of developing truly creative new work.
The Rappaport Prize is administered by DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and conforms to the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation’s mission to encourage leadership in specific sectors of the community. DeCordova has attained a significant leadership position as the largest, most dynamic museum of contemporary American art in New England and serves as a national model for institutional involvement within the community.
There is no formal application process. The selection of the Rappaport Prize artist recipient is made by DeCordova’s Director and Curatorial staff. A Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation Trustee may also assist in the selection process in an advisory capacity.
The only condition of acceptance by the artist is that DeCordova receive a work of art by the Rappaport Prize recipient. This acquisition will be added to the Museum’s permanent collection, which comprises 2,200 artworks largely by New England artists. The acquisition will further serve to enhance the artist’s career profile and the mutually beneficial artist/museum relationship. Selection of the work will be negotiated with the Museum’s curators and is subject to DeCordova’s formal process of acquisition. Accession of the work of art will carry the credit of the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation, which makes the acquisition possible through the establishment of the Prize and its stipend to the artist.
General Museum Information
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is a museum of modern and contemporary American art with a particular emphasis on the work of New England artists. It features the only public sculpture park of its kind in New England and the largest non-degree granting studio art program in the state. DeCordova opened in 1950 on the former estate of Julian de Cordova, a Boston entrepreneur and supporter of the arts.
DeCordova Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. Admission is $6 per person, $4 for senior citizens, students, and youth ages 6–12. Children age 5 and under, Lincoln residents, and Active Duty Military Personnel and their dependents are admitted free. The Sculpture Park is open year round during daylight hours and is free. The Store @ DeCordova and the School Gallery are open Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Friday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and Sunday 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. The Café @ DeCordova is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am to 3 pm. New Time: Free guided public tours of the Museum's main galleries take place every Thursday at 1 and Sunday at 2 pm as of October 2003. Free tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to October. No Sculpture Park tours in August and September 2003 due to construction. Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information.
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