ArtPace Travel Grant 2002

07.12.02

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 12, 2002

CONTACT:

Jennifer Jankauskas, Program Coordinator

210.212.4900 x111

2002 TRAVEL GRANT RECIPIENTS:

GARY SWEENEY, MICHAEL VELLIQUETTE, AND RANDY WALLACE

ArtPace is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2002 Travel Grant for San
Antonio area artists: Gary Sweeney, Michael Velliquette, and Randy Wallace. The grant
which awards up to $2,500 each year was created in an effort to encourage an on-going
dialogue between local artists and an international arts community, as well as to foster
the development and vision of an artist's career.

ArtPace is committed to the idea of exchange and to supporting Texas artists. Our
International Artists-In-Residence program invites three artists? international, one
national, and one Texan?live and work in San Antonio, providing a local platform for
international discourse. The Travel Grant continues and expands this tradition, giving
San Antonio-based artists the opportunity to travel. The award, supported by the Fund for
San Antonio Artists @ ArtPace, assists artist(s) with travel related to his or her artistic
research and growth?luding, but not limited to, participation in out-of-town
exhibitions, viewing a particular show or collection, conducting research for a specific
project, or to support other residency opportunities. The grant is meant to cultivate and
extend an exchange, reaching beyond San Antonio to interact with a larger constituency.

During the month of October, Gary Sweeney will travel to Tokyo, Japan to install
and perform a public art project. The performance is a continuation of an on-going series
in which Sweeney appropriates and utilizes preexisting signs to spell
out?netically?ases and sentences in a foreign language. Sweeney positions
himself near the installed phrases, humorously alluding to his quasi-immersion in a
prescribed culture. His performative exploration into language and culture has taken him
to Mexico, Italy, France, and now Japan. Through these international performances,
Sweeney cleverly seeks to assimilate via the distinctive trait of language.

Michael Velliquette, artist and co-founder of The Bower?an Antonio gallery
space?l travel to New York City, for MIX 2002: The 16th New York Lesbian & Gay
Experimental Film/Video Festival. Velliquette has submitted a film entitled Gray Water
Shorts for the festival and while in New York he will begin to facilitate a dialogue toward
the actualization of a similar event in San Antonio. By attending MIX he has the
opportunity not only to view other films and videos in the festival but also make studio
visits in the New York area in order to bring artists outside of San Antonio to The Bower.
The trip to New York will enable Velliquette to enrich his own art practice as well as
geographically and conceptually extend San Antonio's art community.

Artist Randy Wallace recently returned from a residency at the Vermont Studio
Center in Johnson, VT funded in part by ArtPace's Travel Grant. The residency provided
Wallace the space, time, and facilities to realize and produce large-scale, site-specific
work?ying from sculptural installations to interactive performances. The residency's
location, as well as encounters with other artists, contributed to the site-specificity of
Wallace's projects. Furthermore, his time in residence was an opportunity to engage with
artists from several parts of the world, working in various mediums. Wallace's valuable
experience will provide inspiration for current projects as well as future ventures.

About ArtPace

ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an advocate for
contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to
nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration,
experimentation and education. Through our International Artist-in-Residence Program,
we invite 9 artists annually to participate in a 2-month residency which supports the
evolution of new ideas in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks and studio
visits cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for ongoing
dialogue.

ArtPace is located downtown at 445 N. Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin
streets, San Antonio, TX. Free parking is available on the corner of Savings and Flores
streets. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday,
12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org