Last night at a celebration at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York United States Artists, a national grant-making and advocacy organization, announced the recipients of 50 USA Fellowships for 2010, totaling $2.5 million. Winners in the visual arts include faculty member Allison Smith and alumna Anna Von Mertens (MFA 2000).

Chosen for the caliber and impact of their work, the USA Fellows for 2010 hail from 18 states and Puerto Rico, range in age from 32 to 71, and represent some of the most innovative and diverse creative talents in the country. They include cutting-edge experimenters and traditional practitioners from the fields of architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, literature, film and media, music, theater arts, and visual arts. The chair for the architecture and design panel was CCA faculty member Karen Fiss.

This marks the fifth year of the USA Fellows program and brings to $12.5 million the total amount USA has invested in living artists since 2006. Other winners in the visual arts category include Siah Armajani, Dara Birnbaum, Mel Chin, Renée Green, Glenn Ligon, Mary Lucier, and Doug Wheeler.

About Allison Smith

Allison Smith's work combines studio-based sculpture and public art to investigate “the role of craft in the construction of national identity.” Smith orchestrates interactive public events that engage participants in explorations of identity and social issues. She also runs SMITHS—a project inspired by the history of general stores as sites for social exchange—in a downtown Oakland storefront, where artists share their skills and stories.

Smith has been on the CCA faculty since 2008. Her work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. She attended The New School for Social Research, Parsons School of Design, and Yale University.

About Anna Von Mertens

Anna Von Mertens creates “conceptual quilts,” hand-stitching empirical data onto hand-dyed fabric. In her works, Von Mertens has traced the migration routes of birds and people, astronomical events during historic moments, the energy dispersion pattern of a nuclear explosion, and the placement of the stars during the exact moment of important violent events in American history such as 9/11.

She places her quilts on platforms on the floor to mimic beds and minimalist sculptures and, more recently, on the walls like paintings. In addition to her MFA from CCA, she holds a BFA from Brown University. Her quilts have been exhibited at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and at the Rhode Island School of Design’s Museum of Art. Her portrait quilts will be featured in an exhibition at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Oregon, from January 6 to February 12, 2011.

About United States Artists
The founding of Los Angeles–based United States Artists in 2005 was prompted by the Urban Institute’s 2003 study, "Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structures for U.S. Artists." This groundbreaking report found that while 96 percent of Americans appreciates the arts, only 27 percent believes artists contribute to the good of society.

With a mission to invest in America’s finest artists and illuminate their value to society, USA annually awards 50 USA Fellowships totaling $2.5 million to exceptional artists in the performing, visual, media, and literary arts. Past USA Fellows include visual artists Kara Walker and Catherine Opie, cartoonist Chris Ware, designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy (of Rodarte), performing artist Meredith Monk, jazz composer Jason Moran, ballet dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied, choreographer Bill T. Jones, and the writer Sapphire.