Fleishhacker Foundation announces Eureka Fellows
through 2004 whose works will be presented at BAM/PFA in 2005.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is pleased to announce plans for an exhibition of twelve local artists selected for the prestigious Eureka Fellowship Program. The program, which is sponsored by the Fleishhacker Foundation, includes the largest cash prizes for individual artists awarded in the Bay Area. The exhibition, with an accompanying catalogue, will be presented by the BAM/PFA in Summer, 2005.
The Eureka Fellowships, recently increased by the Fleishhacker board from $17,500 to $25,000, were awarded to San Francisco artists John Bankston, Castaneda/Reiman (collaborators Charlie Castaneda and Brody Reiman), Tom Marioni, Rachael Neubauer and Shaun O'Dell; Oakland artists May Chan, Jim Christensen, Michael Temperio and Robert Ortbal; and Kim Anno from Berkeley, Chris Finley from Rohnert Park and Hector Dio Mendoza from San Jose (see Artist Biographies attached).

A panel of three nationally-known curators from outside Northern California judged the artists' works, including Karin Higa of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, James Jensen of The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, and Hamza Walker of the Renaissance Society in Chicago. The panel, which met in March 2002 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, reviewed slides and videotapes of work samples without information as to the artists' identity or professional history.

This round's fellowship winners were among the 125 artists who applied from a candidate pool created by 50 local visual arts organizations who agreed to serve as nominators. The group of nominated artists represents a wide range of the region's artistic talent, with work reflecting a broad cultural and stylistic variety. Nominees were limited to working artists, 25 years or older, who reside in one of eight Bay Area counties (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Marin and Sonoma).

Since 1986, Eureka Fellowships have recognized artistic excellence; past recipients have included Christopher Brown, Roger Van Ouytsel, David Ireland, Ann Chamberlain, Richard Misrach, Hung Liu, Deborah Oropallo, Mildred Howard, Enrique Chagoya, and Jim Campbell. The one-year awards are not limited to specific projects, but help artists continue making art by supporting uninterrupted creative time. This current announcement covers three years, with awards given to four artists each year for 2002, 2003, and 2004. The prize stipulates that the artists remain the in Bay Area during the year of their award. Since the inception of the Eureka Fellowships, and including this current round of awards, the Fleishhacker Foundation has awarded a total of $1,260,000 directly to Bay Area artists.

"The Eureka Fellowships celebrate individual artists and recognize new and changing definitions of the visual arts," says foundation executive director Christine Elbel. "The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's exhibition and catalogue will offer the public a remarkable sampling of the vitality and distinctive character of the Bay Area's visual arts community."

"We are delighted by our new partnership with BAM/PFA," says David Fleishhacker, foundation president. "The Fleishhacker family has a long history with the University of California, where my grandfather was a Regent, and especially with the Berkeley campus, where family members from every generation have attended."

"We are very pleased to be presenting the recipients of the Eureka Fellowships in our museum," says Kevin E. Consey, BAM/PFA Director. "Supporting local and newly emerging artists is an important part of our mission, and parallels the BAM/PFA's strong commitment to collecting and exhibiting contemporary California and Bay Area art."

The exhibition dates are April 27 through August 14, 2005 at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive at 2625 Durant Avenue in Berkeley. Exhibitions of previous Eureka Fellowship recipients have been presented by the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.