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For Immediate Release Contact: Heather Joy Helbach-Olds, Director of Programs MARY LEE HU IS THE 2008 RECIPIENT OF ARTIST TRUST'S Artist Trust proudly announces that jewelry maker Mary Lee Hu is the eighth recipient of the Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. The Twining Humber Award is an unrestricted award of $10,000 given annually to a Washington State female visual artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated a significant portion of her life to her art practice. The award recognizes creative excellence, professional accomplishment and dedication to the visual arts. Mary Lee Hu is a masterful and passionate weaver of metal. As an artist, lecturer and teacher, she has been an active contributor to the civic and cultural life of Washington State for nearly four decades. "Mary's artistic talents have broadened and enriched the aesthetics of the field of contemporary studio jewelry. Her research in gold work has brought her much notoriety worldwide... She is an artist who is focused and committed to her work and has stretched the boundaries in the field. Dedication in this laborious and technically difficult work is boundless, and she has shared her wisdom and research with the hundreds of students she has touched." (2002 Twining Humber Award recipient Patti Warashina) Represented by the Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle, Ms. Hu has developed a refined use of the basketry technique of twining in high carat gold. Her formal use of design is her interpretation of ethnic art and architecture, with a focus on the power of pattern and repetition. She has work in collections including the Renwick Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, and Victoria and Albert Museum. Ms. Hu is featured in the 2008 summer edition of the Artist Trust newsletter Art Source and on Artist Trust’s website. This award is made possible by a generous gift from the late Yvonne Twining Humber to the Artist Trust Endowment Fund. The award was established in the name of Yvonne and her husband, Irving. Yvonne’s name and generosity live on with this annual award established to honor senior female visual artists. This year’s panel included Bellevue Arts Museum curator Stefano Catalani, Seattle artist Marita Dingus, and artist and former director of Yakima’s Larsen Gallery Carol Hassen. Previous award recipients (2001-2007) are Mary Randlett, Patti Warashina, Ramona Solberg, Doris Chase, Fay Jones, Mary Henry and Elizabeth Sandvig. For more information on the Twining Humber Award, this year’s recipient, or to receive print-ready images of Mary Lee Hu’s work, contact Heather Joy Helbach-Olds, Director of Programs. Artist Trust is a not-for-profit organization whose sole mission is to support and encourage individual artists working in all disciplines in order to enrich community life throughout Washington State. Find out more at www.artisttrust.org. :: :: :: |