Philadelphia, PA – Moore College of Art & Design will present its 2018 Visionary Woman Awards to New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast and photographer, professor and art historian Deborah Willis, Ph.D.
Chast and Willis will receive the awards at the Visionary Woman Awards gala on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 6 – 9 pm, at the College, 1916 Race Street, Located on The Parkway in Philadelphia. The annual scholarship fundraising gala honors outstanding women leaders in art and design during an evening ceremony and dinner. Proceeds benefit Moore undergraduate women in the Visionary Honors Program, which includes a $22,000 per year scholarship.
The Elizabeth Greenfield Zeidman Lecture will feature the Visionary Woman Awards honorees in a panel discussion and town hall question and answer session. The Zeidman Lecture is free, open to the public, and will be held October 17, 12:30 – 2 pm, in Graham Auditorium. The Zeidman Lecture is made possible by a generous endowment by the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation. For information on the lecture and gala: moore.edu/vwa.
BIOS OF THE AWARDEES
Roz Chast
Since joining The New Yorker in 1978, Roz Chast has established herself as one of our greatest artistic chroniclers of the anxieties, superstitions, furies, insecurities and surreal imaginings of modern life. Chast is the author of more than a dozen books for adults, including the award-winning Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant? (2014). Chast has also provided cartoons and editorial illustrations for nearly 50 magazines and journals, from Mother Jones to Town & Country. Chast grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design with studies in graphic design and painting.
Deborah Willis
Deborah Willis, Ph.D., has pursued a dual professional career as an art photographer and as one of the nation's leading historians of African American photography and curator of African American culture. She is a university professor and chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has an affiliated appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Social & Cultural Analysis, Africana Studies. Willis grew up in Philadelphia, and received a BFA from Philadelphia College of Art, a MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute, a MA in Art History from City College of New York and a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from George Mason University.
The Visionary Woman Awards began in 2003 and has become a signature event at Moore each fall. The awards bring national attention to women artists and provide powerful role models for Moore’s talented students. The Visionary Honors Program is designed for highly ambitious, reflective, independent-minded students who are interested in entrepreneurship, leadership and service while pursuing their creative discipline and academic achievements.
Past Visionary Woman Awards recipients include interior designer Alexa Hampton, jewelry designer Ann King Lagos, fashion designers Nicole Miller and Mary McFadden, painter Pat Steir and feminist artist Judy Chicago.
