Repeat Honor Testament to Stephen Mishol's Creative Excellence
02/24/2016
By Sheila Eppolito
For the second time in his career, Assoc. Prof. Stephen Mishol has been honored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) through an Artist Fellowship that recognizes exceptional work by Massachusetts artists.
While the $12,000 fellowship was granted for a series of Mishol’s graphite drawings, it is also designed to help ensure selected artists like him continue creating new work.
“The drawings are part of an ongoing body of work examining the nature of the modern landscape and environment,” says Mishol, who teaches painting and drawing in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “They are not of a specific place, rather each drawing is a collection of information that comes from various sources — observation, memory and invention — and is then woven together through a long process in the studio. I want the images to parallel how one moves through these places of vast accumulations of change.”
The MCC Artist Fellowships are awarded annually in three categories to “provide direct, unrestricted support to Massachusetts artists in recognition of exceptional original work, to foster the creation of new art in the Commonwealth.”
The honor, says Mishol, leaves him feeling blessed, and proud of his university and city.
“There are many deserving artists working today, so I feel especially fortunate to have my work recognized by the MCC,” he says. “I'm also particularly grateful to be part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell community, as it has been very supportive of my research over the last 10 years. I was happy to see the City of Lowell included by my name on the list of recipients.”
The 2016 Artist Fellowships awarded $208,000 in three categories: Drawing and Printing, Poetry and Traditional Arts.
Mishol’s first MCC Artist Fellowship was awarded for painting in 2008.