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4-2224 FEDE~AL WOR..XS AGENCY WOJ.K PROJ ECTS Am.:rm STRAT I Olif ] 'or R.e l e;:i,se Su.n.d.ay, ¥.ar ch 30 , 1941 . FOUR iTPA ARTISTS CONGRATULATED ON WIHNI :.'JG Hl.JOR AWARDS \gr aclu a t es 11 of WPA art :pr o j e ct s \vho wer e a :nong t he Four wi nn ers cf ma j or awar ds i n r e c e nt we eks wer e c ongr ~tul a t ed t oday 'by Howa r d o. Hu nt er , Acting Commissioner of Wo r k Pr oj e c t s , on ach i ev eme nt s demons tra ti ng 11 t he i n cr eas ing i m})O r tance of Americ an a rt a n d t he gro wi ng i nflu en ce of a rt on ilme ri can lif e . 11 Two of t he a rti s t s , Br uce Mitche ll nnd Leonar d Pytlak , . were 2,mong t he Guggenhe im Fellowship wi nner s announced t h i s week . A t h ir d wn.s Mi ss Ruth Re ev es , just awa r cl.ed a c onti nuat ion of he r Guggonho i m Fe llo wsh i p to conti nu e her study of anci ent and mocle rn t extil e designs in Sout h Ame ric a and pr epar e an exhi b it t o 'be 'br oug~ t to t h i s coun tr y . Tho mone tnr y a wa r d to e a ch wi nner i s a bout $2 , 500 . The f ourth wa s J ohn He liker , wh o r ecently r e ceiv e d t he Cor coran go l d. medal nnd. fir s t w. A. Cla r k :pr i ze of $2 , 000 fo r t he 12.n ds cape nver mont Farm, 11 no w on ex.hio i t at t he Cor cor 1:m ga l le r y in WD.s h ing t on. He was one of t he y ounges t a rt is t s ev er t o r oc eivo t ho fir s t awar d in t h i s , t h o Bi enni a l Exhi 'bi tio n of .Amer i can Oil Pa i nt i ngs . i: Aft er c ongr atul a t:l.ng t he arti s ts i ndivi dually , Mr . Hu nte r sai d:: 11 The co nti nue d success of art is t s who ha ve h elped and "been he l ped t hr ough tho WPA Art Pr ogr ar.i nri,t ur a lly i s gr at if y i ng t o t hose char ge d. with adm i ni s t ering WP.A, 'but it hr.ts. a br oader and dc 0per Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2224 - 2 - significance to the n'.1.tion . To see s1. .ch talent :preserved. n.nd 1 develo:ood until its -~,riceless rown.rd.s arG r e t,1.rn ed to the r,eoplc is all too r ::..re in th 0 worlc_ to d.f\Y , ,d10n older no.tions , richer in their herit,:,, 6 e of art , seo cre2.tive effort wasted i n war or crinfined in political straitjackets . 11 '.i:ho young ctrtists this p rogr['.m lms boon .::-,bJ.e to t.elp , liko r.12,ny of its musici .9.ns and wri tors, havo bo on in the forefront of the o.clvo..ncc in their ficJ_d.s . Their wo rk demonstrn. tes the incr o;:;.Ging imporkcnco of &'nor icr.!1 art c..nd tho growing influence 0f 2-rt on Amoric.:i.n life ." Mr . Pytlak ::.no. li.r . i'-f i tchcll arc re:prosen tod. in n g rou3) of prints .::-,nc;_ ~oa intin6 s which hr.vu j ust b oon alloc2-tod to the Eew Uti·ocltt Hic;h School in Brooklyn b;r tho Wow York City WP.A. Art Project , with which thoy wore assocfr,,tod until reccn tly . :Eoth h:,.,ve h:1.d their wor~;: widely distributed among sc:1001s "nc1. other public ins ti tu ti ens . Er . Mitcholl I s \-!Ork is in the :permn.nont c::ill e cti on in tho lfotl·o:p0li t.'.1.n Husour.1 1 tho Whi tnoy Husoum of .Americ::i.n Ji..rt [lnr.1 sevor2.l private collections . No\-! a resident of Cornwn.11- on- the- Hudson , ho expects to return to his :c..:1tive Ponnsylvo.nil'.. t 0 ~:x :\int . Ee wns b orn in Pittsburgh. Mr . Pytl2.k he,s cxhibi ted o,t tho };atianal i1..cD. demy , the P;:i.ris Fnir of 1937, the Montclair r-'.usoUJ!l of Now Jers Gy r-,nd. at Senttlo , Wanh. His mmrd. , for cre;:,.ti ve worl-: in po. in tiEg nncl color l i tLogrnph,y , will enctble him t0 c on tinua e:,...-periments with silk screen !, rints, a 2:;r oces s Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2224 - 3 - which was de.velo-ped for fine arts printing in the eraphic work shop of the New York City WPA Art Project, He is a native of Newark, N. J ., and now lives in New York City . Miss Reeves, alre,9dy a noted te xtile designer, was supervisor of the poster division of the New York City WPA Art Project last September, when she received her first Guggenheim award to study textile designs , from ancient Inca and Peruvian culture to the present, in South Ameri ca . Previo usly she he' 'l been assoch.ted with the mural division and the Index of American Design of WPA in New York City. She is now in Quito, Ecuador. 0 Mr . Heliker has produced several works which have been distributed to public buildings in Hew York. and "Landscape No. 2, 11 His i;iaintings, "The Farm" have "been acquired by the James Mad.ison Hi_gh School; "Perth Amboy" and 11 Cold S:pring" by the Children I s Aid Society. Three He li ke r water c olors are in the exhibit section of the WPA Art Pro gram offices in Washington. Except for 18 months training on WPA a nd three months of pr evious study wi t h Thomas Hart :Benton, Mr . Heliker is entirely selftaught. His pain tings are represented in Y)e r manent collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Cambr jdge , Mass ., and others at Denver, Brooklyn and San Francisco . For three successive years he exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute and in 1938 held a one - man show at the Walker Gallery in New York City. He lives in New York. ---oOo--- Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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