Granted Geniuses

The MacArthur Foundation announced their 2005 grant winners. Another year and I'm not an acknowledged genius, outside of my home anyway. It’s a wonderful thing to see so much money given to people doing great things. Wonderful indeed to see so much creativity and passion when our senses are inundated with war, disaster, and incompetence.

A surprise to readers of the Baltimore Sun this morning was the grant to Marin Alsop (who is a frequent topic at Ionarts), the new conductor of the Baltimore Symphony. Alsop was not well received when she was chosen by the board of directors this past summer: you go, gurl!

Among the 25 recipients are biologists, planners, fisheries managers, musicians, and artists. Representing the artists are painter Julie Mehretu (shown at left), who was part of the last Whitney Biennial, and sculptor Teresita Fernandez (work shown at right). I am new to her work, but what I have seen on her gallery Web site I like. For a complete list, go here.