ArtPace Travel Grant 2002

7.12.02

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2002

CONTACT:
Jennifer Jankauskas, Program Coordinator
210.212.4900 x111

2002 TRAVEL GRANT RECIPIENTS:
GARY SWEENEY, MICHAEL VELLIQUETTE, AND RANDY WALLACE

ArtPace is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2002 Travel Grant for San Antonio area artists: Gary Sweeney, Michael Velliquette, and Randy Wallace. The grant which awards up to $2,500 each year was created in an effort to encourage an on-going dialogue between local artists and an international arts community, as well as to foster the development and vision of an artist's career.

ArtPace is committed to the idea of exchange and to supporting Texas artists. Our International Artists-In-Residence program invites three artists—one international, one national, and one Texan—to live and work in San Antonio, providing a local platform for international discourse. The Travel Grant continues and expands this tradition, giving San Antonio-based artists the opportunity to travel. The award, supported by the Fund for San Antonio Artists @ ArtPace, assists artist(s) with travel related to his or her artistic research and growth—including, but not limited to, participation in out-of-town exhibitions, viewing a particular show or collection, conducting research for a specific project, or to support other residency opportunities. The grant is meant to cultivate and extend an exchange, reaching beyond San Antonio to interact with a larger constituency.

During the month of October, Gary Sweeney will travel to Tokyo, Japan to install and perform a public art project. The performance is a continuation of an on-going series in which Sweeney appropriates and utilizes preexisting signs to spell out—phonetically—phrases and sentences in a foreign language. Sweeney positions himself near the installed phrases, humorously alluding to his quasi-immersion in a prescribed culture. His performative exploration into language and culture has taken him to Mexico, Italy, France, and now Japan. Through these international performances, Sweeney cleverly seeks to assimilate via the distinctive trait of language.

Michael Velliquette, artist and co-founder of The Bower—a San Antonio gallery space—will travel to New York City, for MIX 2002: The 16th New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival. Velliquette has submitted a film entitled Gray Water Shorts for the festival and while in New York he will begin to facilitate a dialogue toward the actualization of a similar event in San Antonio. By attending MIX he has the opportunity not only to view other films and videos in the festival but also make studio visits in the New York area in order to bring artists outside of San Antonio to The Bower. The trip to New York will enable Velliquette to enrich his own art practice as well as geographically and conceptually extend San Antonio's art community.

Artist Randy Wallace recently returned from a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT funded in part by ArtPace's Travel Grant. The residency provided Wallace the space, time, and facilities to realize and produce large-scale, site-specific work—varying from sculptural installations to interactive performances. The residency's location, as well as encounters with other artists, contributed to the site-specificity of Wallace's projects. Furthermore, his time in residence was an opportunity to engage with artists from several parts of the world, working in various mediums. Wallace's valuable experience will provide inspiration for current projects as well as future ventures.

About ArtPace
ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration, experimentation and education. Through our International Artist-in-Residence Program, we invite 9 artists annually to participate in a 2-month residency which supports the evolution of new ideas in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks and studio visits cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for ongoing dialogue.

ArtPace is located downtown at 445 N. Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, San Antonio, TX. Free parking is available on the corner of Savings and Flores streets. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday, 12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org