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SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL ANNOUNCES 2007 ARTS AWARD RECIPIENTS

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NEW YORK CITY — The Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture will honor five art world leaders for their outstanding accomplishments, patronage and service to the arts at the 36th annual Skowhegan Awards Dinner on April 24, at Cipriani Wall Street.

The three Skowhegan Medals will be presented to visual artists Mary Lucier, Jules Olitski (accepted by his widow, Kristina Olitski), and Fred Wilson for their accomplishments in video, painting and sculpture, respectively.

Artist advocate Ann Hatch will receive the Governors Award for Outstanding Service to Artists, and New York arts patron Jo Carole Lauder will receive the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Award for Outstanding Patronage of the Arts.

The event is chaired by Jodie and John Eastman. Jane Lauder and Aerin and Eric Zinterhofer are vice chairs.

Awards will be presented by Joseph D. Ketner II, chief curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum; artists Ursula von Rydingsvard and Frank Stella; Patterson Sims, director of the Montclair Art Museum; and Robert Storr, dean of the Yale School of Art.

Founded by artists in 1946, Skowhegan is one of the country’s foremost artists’ residency communities, providing visual artists with a collaborative and rigorous creative environment for the development of new work. Since 1946 Skowhegan has brought together almost 4,000 artists as students and faculty for intensive nine-week summer residencies at the school’s 300-acre lakeside site in rural Maine.

As a further expression of its commitment to fostering excellence in the visual arts, Skowhegan honors artists, patrons and those who have demonstrated outstanding service to the arts/artists annually each spring.

For more information, www.skowheganart.org or 212-529-0505.