The GOLDEN Foundation, a family foundation created in 1997 as an enduring gesture to the memory of Sam and Adele Golden, the founders of Golden Artist Colors, Inc., is operated exclusively for the charitable purpose of promoting the visual arts by assisting and supporting the work of individual artists and art organizations. In a continuing effort to become a significant supporter of the art community, the Foundation identified four individual artists to be recipients of awards in 2004.

Mark Golden presented these individual artists’ awards to Curt Barnes, Richard Harden, Haley Hasler and Teresa Stanley in recognition of their exceptional creative ability and innovative use of paint. The selection of individual applicants to receive an award was made by a committee consisting primarily of artists and art professionals of distinction. The committee’s criteria focused on innovative uses of paint and quality of work.

The artists were chosen from hundreds of career professionals who applied by an independent selection committee consisting of Mary Murray, curator of Contemporary Art at Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica, NY; Dr. Dewey Mosby, Gallery Director (on Sabbatical) Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University; and Ronnie Landfield, a distinguished artist.

Curt Barnes received his MFA from Pratt Institute in New York City where he continues to live and work. He was awarded a residency at the British Academy in Rome, Italy and was guest editor of the College Art Association Art Journal issue on “constructed painting.” He has exhibited widely in the US and Europe and most recently at the Whanki Museum in Seoul, Korea. This award will provide the opportunity for the artist to make larger paintings and assist him as he explores and advances his reach into the relatively uncharted realm of painting on a convex surface.

Richard Harden, a graduate of Syracuse University, began work on themes that 26 years later still influence the content and form of his painting. His work is included in permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Vatican and is widely exhibited in the US and Europe. This award will help support a “Regions” project. The artist will explore how the cycle of form and epic human subjects bear on the present discourse and practice of painting and anticipate the future of the medium.

Haley Hasler received her MFA in painting from Boston University and is the recipient of a Fulbright grant. Presently she is an adjunct instructor of painting at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Her work is exhibited primarily in academic settings and is deeply autobiographical. The recent birth of her son is the underlying inspiration for a series of paintings. She hopes to transform her autobiographical self-portrait into a metaphorical, iconic character containing a more universal, human significance.

Teresa Stanley obtained her MFA from UC Berkeley and currently lives in rural Northern California. She is employed as Associate Professor of Painting at Humboldt State University. Her work is included in several corporate galleries and the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. She has devoted her creative life toward seeking innovative ways to approach the painting process. This award will allow her to build painting surfaces of greater complexity and interest. It will assist her as she further develops her ideas in preparation for a solo exhibition in 2005.

In addition to supporting individual artists, The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, Inc. awards grants to cultural organizations. This year the foundation is accepting applications for cultural organizations who have received their 501-C3 IRS designation and whose purpose is to promote and support visual artists working in paint. In the year 2005, the Foundation will again award grants to professional artists working in paint. A full listing of grant awards, the application and additional information is available on the Web site: www.goldenfoundation.org.