NINE ARTISTS WIN 2015 AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS AWARDS

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced the nine established and emerging artists who’ve won its 2015 awards in art, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Deborah Vankin.

Artist Clintel Steed received the John Koch Award, given to “a young painter of figurative work,” while Jane Rosen, Steve Dibenedetto, Brenda Goodman, Gary Lang, and Stanley Lewis received the Arts and Letters Awards in Art, which honor “exceptional accomplishment and to encourage creative work.”

Meanwhile Andrew Piedilato received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Painting, which recognizes “a young American painter of distinction,” and Irving Petlin and Robert Berlind received the Jacob Lawrence Award and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Award, both given to visual artists.

Each award winner receives $10,000.

Said the academy’s executive director, Virginia Dajani, “We were looking for excellence and promise and, in several cases, lifetime achievement or a formidable body of work.”