Homer artists win Rasmuson grants

Three Homer artists have received Rasmuson Foundation grants. Artist Mavis Muller and filmmaker Michael Walsh have been named 2014 Rasmuson Fellows and received grants up to $18,000. Choreographer Breezy Berryman received a project grant worth up to $7,500. Muller, well known for her annual Burning Basket community art project, will create a 30-page color booklet titled “Something has Ended. Something has Begun,” to document her many interactive community art projects — namely, basket sculptures woven with natural materials from the local countryside. This is her second Fellowship Award and third award in total.

Walsh’s award will help him upgrade and modernize his equipment as he continues to explore and showcase contemporary artists in Alaska through monographs. Walsh is well known in Alaska film and art circles, having worked with Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association, the Alaska State Council on the Arts and many of Alaska arts organizations. He previously received an Individual Artist Award.

Berryman will stage an evening of modern dance at the Homer High School Mariner Theater. This production will incorporate video images of Alaska’s natural environment and infuse her interpretations of these images into kinetic movement.

Longtime Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference instructor and poet Peggy Shumaker was named this year’s Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist, receiving a $40,000 award. 

 

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