32nd Annual Betty Bowen Award Call for Artist Entries

Visual artists working in Washington, Oregon or Idaho are invited to apply for the Seattle Art Museum’s (SAM’s) annual Betty Bowen Award. For 32 years, the Betty Bowen award has provided artists with an opportunity to introduce their work to SAM’s curators of modern and contemporary art and the Betty Bowen Committee members, and to have their work critiqued by their peers. Each year, two artists are selected to serve as rotating members of the committee. This year artists, Isaac Layman, the 2008 Betty Bowen Award recipient, and a second artist, who will be announced shortly, will be involved in the selection process.

Betty Bowen (1918–1977) was a Washington native and an enthusiastic supporter of Northwest artists. Her friends established the annual Betty Bowen Award as a celebration of her life and to honor and continue her efforts to provide financial support to the artists of the region. Since 1977, the Seattle Art Museum has hosted the yearly grant application process by which the selection committee chooses one visual artist working in Washington, Oregon or Idaho to receive an unrestricted cash award. The Betty Bowen committee will announce the amount of this year’s award when the finalists are announced in September. Last year’s Betty Bowen award recipient received an unrestricted $15,000 award. In addition, the committee awarded $2,500 to the recipient of the PONCHO Special Recognition award and $2,500 to the Kayla Skinner Special Recognition award winner.

For more information see websites below or email bettybowen@seattleartmuseum.org. Fee: $10.