Free Library of Philadelphia, Heim Center for Cultural and Civic Engagement, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
The Jane and David Walentas Endowed Fellowship sustains Moore’s legacy as a hotbed of activity for forward-thinking contemporary artists.
Moore College of Art & Design is honored to announce the selection of artist Caroline Woolard as the first recipient of the Jane and David Walentas Endowed Fellowship. The prestigious annual fellowship underscores Moore’s ongoing commitment to social engagement by offering opportunities to artists who bring their vision for the future of cultural production to the Moore community and the larger artistic community of Philadelphia.
Woolard, a New York-based artist who creates sculptures, installations, and online networks, will use this inaugural fellowship to contribute to the creative and intellectual life of Philadelphia, and to Moore’s artistic and academic community. In collaboration with key organizations such as the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Woolard will produce a series of sculptures and public events between March 2019 and June 2020, including public talks, workshops, an exhibition at The Galleries at Moore (on view August 3 through September 21, 2019), an exhibition at the Free Library of Philadelphia (spring 2020), and a culminating publication.
As the Walentas Endowed Distinguished Fellow, Woolard will create sculptural objects for worker-owned businesses and self-organized groups, including a clock that relies upon water to mark intervals of time. Her project asks the questions: “Can an object interrupt the unavoidable antagonisms of working together? How do workers without bosses (i.e. worker-owners in cooperative businesses) transform workplace conflict?” Woolard will make, with the support of Moore studio technicians, sculptural objects that are meant to act as tools to facilitate difficult conversations about structural and interpersonal inequity. These objects will migrate throughout Moore and become a central part of the Free Library’s new Robert and Eileen Kennedy Heim Center for Cultural and Civic Engagement, where they can be checked out to support the work of other community organizations around the city, including the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
The fellowship is endowed by Jane Zimmerman Walentas, who graduated from Moore in 1966, and her husband, David.
Caroline Woolard employs sculpture, installation, and online networks to study the pleasures and pains of interdependence. Her work has been commissioned by and exhibited in major national and international museums, including MoMA, the Whitney Museum, and Creative Time. Recent writing on her work has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, Artforum, Art in America, and the New York Times. Woolard’s work has been featured twice in PBS / Art21 for New York Close Up (2014, 2016). Caroline Woolard is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Hartford and a mentor in MFA Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts. Making and Being, her forthcoming book about interdisciplinary collaboration, co-authored with Susan Jahoda, will be published in fall 2019.
Jane Walentas, who worked for many years as an art director in advertising for Elizabeth Arden, Avon and Estee Lauder, is a longtime member of Moore’s Board of Trustees. She is known for restoring and operating Jane’s Carousel, a historic 1922 carousel that is located in Brooklyn Bridge Park, in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, which was developed by David Walentas. The Walentas Endowed Fellowship was born out of the desire of Jane and David Walentas to enrich the curriculum for all students at Moore and to expose them to exceptionally innovative thinking and new experiences.
Moore College of Art & Design educates students for careers in art and design. Founded in 1848, Moore is the nation’s first and only women’s visual arts college for undergraduates. The College’s career-focused environment and professionally active faculty form a dynamic community in the heart of Philadelphia’s cultural district, surrounded by world-class museums. The College offers 10 bachelor of fine arts degrees for women and four coeducational graduate programs. In addition, Moore provides many valuable opportunities in the arts through The Galleries at Moore, Continuing Education Certificate programs, the acclaimed Young Artists Workshop, The Art Shop and more. For more information, visit moore.edu.
