Bonnie Bronson Visual Arts Fellowship
The Bonnie Bronson Fellowship is an annual award made to an artist living and working in the Pacific Northwest. The award is a cash prize (currently $10,000) and purchase of a work of art for the Bonnie Bronson Collection, which is housed at Reed College and displayed prominently throughout campus. Artists may not apply for this award and the new Fellow is informed with a simple phone call from the selection committee.
The Bonnie Bronson Fund was created by family and friends in memory of Oregon artist Bonnie Bronson, who died in a climbing accident in August of 1990. Bonnie's art works included enamel on steel sculpture, welded and painted steel collages, painting and carpet design, and were considered a powerful force in the Pacific Northwest art community in her lifetime.
The purpose of the fund was to publish a catalog documenting Bronson’s work and life, and to award an annual fellowship. Publication of the catalog coincided with the Bronson retrospective exhibition mounted by the Portland Art Museum in 1993.
Since 1992, the Bonnie Bronson Fellowship Committee has selected fellows annually through a confidential nomination process. The guiding principles are to advance and encourage creative and intellectual growth in a working artist of the Pacific Northwest region, specifically Oregon and Washington.
Bonnie Bronson, Untitled (red modular), 1974-75, enamel on steel, 33.5 x 22.25".
In 2011, two exhibitions celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Bonnie Bronson Fund and the work of Bonnie Bronson. An exhibition of the Bronson Fellows’ works was held at the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis and Clark College, curated by Hoffman Director Linda Tesner. A full-color catalog of the Fellows' work was published and is available online or at the Hoffman Gallery. The Pacific NW College of Art hosted a retrospective of Bonnie Bronson's artwork called Bonnie. View the catalogue to learn more about her work.
The Bonnie Bronson Fellows
- 1992 Christine Bourdette
- 1993 Judy Cooke
- 1994 Ronna Neuenschwander
- 1995 Fernanda D’Agostino
- 1996 Carolyn King
- 1997 Lucinda Parker
- 1998 Judy Hill
- 1999 Adriene Cruz
- 2000 Helen Lessick
- 2001 Ann Hughes
- 2002 Malia Jensen
- 2003 Christopher Rauschenberg
- 2004 Kristy Edmunds
- 2005 Paul Sutinen
- 2006 Bill Will
- 2007 Laura Ross-Paul
- 2008 MK Guth
- 2009 Marie Watt
- 2010 David Eckard
- 2011 Nan Curtis
- 2012 Pat Boas
- 2013 Wynne Greenwood
- 2014 Vanessa Renwick
- 2015 Cynthia Lahti
- 2016 Lynne Woods Turner
- 2017 Susie Lee
- 2018 Kristan Kennedy
- 2019 Tannaz Farsi
- 2020 Natalie Ball
- 2021 Ed Bereal
- 2022 Dawn Cerny
- 2022 Samantha Wall
- 2023 Dana Lynn Louis
- 2024 Wendy Red Star
Contacts:
Nan Curtis, Co-Chair, Bonnie Bronson Fund Advisory Committee, nanmarty1@gmail.com
Grace Kook-Anderson, Co-Chair, Bonnie Bronson Advisory Committee, grace.kook-anderson@pam.org
Stephanie Snyder, John and Anne Hauberg Director and Curator, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, snyders@reed.edu, (503) 367-7004