3 LIC, Queens-Based Artists, Organizations Awarded Prizes

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Several artists and artistic nonprofits from Queens, including two from Long Island City, were awarded prizes by a preeminent arts foundation this week.

On Tuesday The Pollock-Krasner Foundation — a New York-based arts nonprofit established in honor of abstract artists Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock — awarded $3.35 million worth of grants to 137 artists and organizations around the world, including three recipients in Queens.

Katrín Sigurdardóttir, an installation and sculpture artist and the SculptureCenter, a contemporary arts museum, were the two Long Island City-based recipients. Shervone Neckles, an interdisciplinary artist from Queens Village, was also awarded a grant for her work.

Sigurdardóttir creates sculptural work, which can be used functionally, or displayed in exhibitions; she’s had exhibitions at the SculptureCenter in the past.

In addition to displaying the work of Sigurdardóttir, and other contemporary, emerging artists, the SculptureCenter hosts an open call exhibition, which is what the Pollock-Krasner Foundation will go to, according to Artforum. The open exhibition “exemplifies the spirit of SculptureCenter’s mission,” according to the museum, since it helps a cohort of artists present work, much of which is on display institutionally for the first time.

Neckles, who is the only Queens-based recipient not based in Long Island City, has shown her work at international exhibitions, but most recently created a piece of public art that’s outside the Lewis Latimer House Museum in Flushing.

The museum honors Lewis Howard Latimer, a Black inventor and electrical pioneer, and Neckles’ work, titled BEACON, is an LED sculpture that pays homage to him.

Among the grant’s 100-plus recipients, 24 are from New York.

The foundation’s chair and CEO Ronald D. Spencer said in a news statement that the grants “fulfill Lee Krasner’s vision of supporting working artists internationally,” adding “we are proud to provide artists the opportunity to practice and advance their work.”

Artforum reported that the grants enable artists and organizations to create new work, rent studio space, and prepare for exhibitions and residencies — resources that are especially useful as New York City begins to return from the pandemic, which decimated many artists’ livelihoods.

You can read the Artforum piece about the grant, and see the full list of recipients, here.