The Oregon Arts Commission has announced its visual arts fellowships this year(in the sum of 3K each):

Avantika Bawa, Portland (Joan Shipley Fellow)
Modou Dieng Portland
Laura Fritz, Portland
Surabhi Ghosh, Eugene
Anna Gray, Portland
Sabina Haque, Portland
Allison Hyde, Eugene
Anya Kivarkis, Eugene
Ryan LaBar, Enterprise
Ellen Lesperance, Portland
Ralph Pugay, Portland
Samantha Wall, Portland
Terri Warpinski, Eugene

Looks like for once more women are receiving awards than dudes (a correction was in order). It is a good list (yes some are close acquaintances but I prefer the fact I don't know all of these people) but one thing that this critic has noticed is that the OAC does not release the names of the panelists making these decisions. Also, the way those panelists are chosen is similarly oblique. RACC by comparison always releases the names of panelists who make the decisions. With recent shake ups at the OAC, this change is required, especially since easy connections to certain groups in the state can be extrapolated from lists like this... the real meat comes from the composition of the panels.

As far as the artists chosen... most, if not all of the artists have been more active outside the region than inside Oregon, which is a good thing since Oregon art awards have lately skewed towards parochialism. This is not a parochial white dudes list for once!

Congrats to all!