MacArthur Fellowships

Three visual artists are among the winners of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Awards, known familiarly as "Genius Awards" and each will received an unrestricted stipend of $500,000. I thought you might like to visit the websites of the chosen artists.

Shahzia Sikander is having a solo exhibition called "Miniphilia" at Valentina Bonomo Artecontemporanea in Rome this month. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Sikander lives and works in New York City. She received her MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 1995. Starting with miniatures, at a time when the art world was engrossed in the outsized paintings of artists like Frank Stella, she has produced some striking images. http://www.shahziasikander.com/index.html

Anna Schuleit's newest pieces, called "Bathers, Sleepers", feature drawings which she places onto aged, rusting, sometimes folded paper. The award specifically mentions her works evocative of the people who have lived in mental institutions, multi-sensory installations which she has placed in historic buildings. http://www.1856.org/anna/default.html

Josiah McElheny also received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His work in glass combined with other media is particularly noteworthy, and he has received numerous awards and solo exhibitions. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mcelheny/index.html

Two musicians also were honored. Regina Carter, a jazz violinist, and John Zorn, a musician and composer working in experimental forms. Carter has been instrumental in developing the jazz violin as a solo instrument. Zorn started Masada, a four-piece jazz band and songbook project devoted to forging a new form of Jewish music and founded the record label Tzadik in 1995. Their biographies and those of the other 2006 recipients are available at http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.2066197/k.3F6D/2006_Overview.htm.

Regarding the September eMusings on "The Black Hole of American Medicine", gr_blackhole.html, several viewers have cited interesting related articles. E.D. of Santa Fe suggested a piece on Yahoo News titled "U.S. Health-Care System Gets a "D" http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060921/bs_bw/tc20060921053503. Another suggested piece is called "Ten Things Your Hospital Won't Tell You" http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/hospital2_1.html. And the New York Times has published an article (free registration required)headlined "F.D.A. is Faulted for Drug-Safety Process" "http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/business/22fdacnd.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=0c27c1350fcf4c8b&hp=&ex=1158984000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1158953647-2gxmRw2nSMV7tQlUC9/5aA&oref=slogin

c.Corinne Whitaker 2006