The Board met in Late October on Kauai to choose this years grant recipients. We also welcomed two new board members, Dawn O'Brien owner of the Mercury Lounge in Goleta. Dawn is also an accredited art and ceramic restorer and Stephanie Wiarda partner in beppu/Wiarda gallery in the beautiful Pearl District of Portland Oregon and a big thank you to Harry Rabin, Neal Rabin and Nancy Grinstein for the use of their Home on Kauai.

We had a very good turnout as far as applications were concerned and some very tough decisions had to be made. After several days of deliberations from the grant committee 14 artists were chosen to receive $29,000 and we awarded 1 lifetime achievement award to an elderly Oregon artist in the amount of $5000. You can see all the artists HERE.

One outstanding application was submitted by Bradford Edwards a long time Santa Barbara artist. Bradford spends his time between Santa Barbara and Viet Nam where he has really made a name for himself. His proposal is to bring a Vietnamese coffee shop to life in Santa Barbara sometime next summer.

The Hanoi Cafe will be a working coffee shop and gallery. During the installation there will be a silent auction to purchase all of the fixtures brought back for the show with the proceeds going back to the Foundation to benefit future artists. Paying it forward is a cornerstone of the foundation and this is such a wonderful example of doing just that.

On January 31 we will be having a Valentine Benefit for the foundation thanks to the generosity of Stephanie Wiarda. She has donated the use of her Gallery for a show consisting of donated work for many of our past grant recipients. If you would like to attend provide your mailing address to mark@colvilleart.org and we'll send you an invitation.

We will be having our annual benefit and show at The Arts Fund Gallery in July/August 2009. There we will be offering donated pieces to be sold at studio prices and you will able to see some of the artists we have supported in the past. We thank The Arts Fund for the use of their gallery over the last 2 years.

To become a member and get on the mailing list send your info to mark@colvilleart.org

Memberships start at just 20.00 per year and have some added benefits. For more information about memberships and donating click HERE.