The Board of Administration of the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation has awarded a $33,000 fellowship to Denison University Associate Professor of Studio Art Sheilah Wilson for her work, “SOTD (Strangely Ordinary This Devotion).” Wilson was awarded one of only eight fellowships for the 2017-2018 academic year and is administered by Brown University.
Wilson has collaborated with her partner Dani Leventhal, assistant professor at Ohio State University, on “SOTD,” which was presented at this year’s Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum in New York City. “SOTD” depicts images of ordinary life that resonate with the larger themes of motherhood, queer desire, the environment and domestic life, both real and fantastic.
“The work deals with ideas of how we can construct new narrative structure and sense through the lexicon of our own lives. I feel that the potential of the domestic space as one of radicality is an important way to re-imagine the world and present it visually,” said Wilson.
The Howard Foundation awards a limited number of fellowships each year for independent projects in selected fields, targeting its support specifically to early mid-career individuals, those who have achieved recognition for at least one major project. The George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation was established in 1952 by Nicea Howard in memory of her grandparents. Miss Howard had a special interest in furthering the personal development of promising individuals at the crucial middle stages of their careers in the liberal and creative arts.