Archived Biennial Reports

Emily Hall Tremaine was a gifted art collector and a patron of young artists during the 1950’s – 1980’s. As stated in her biography, Collector on the Cusp, “She had a talent for spotting developing trends in contemporary art and to assess how they reinforced, rejected or reinterpreted tradition”.  The Foundation has sought to honor Emily through its art program.

Marketplace Empowerment for Artists (MEA)
We decided to focus the Foundations contemporary art grantmaking on empowering visual artists through skills training which would help them professionally succeed in the art marketplace.  The training that they receive through Tremaine sponsored programs not only provides them with critical professional skills but also enable them to successfully navigate today’s marketplace and when needed, change it. 

University Component
Many experts have remarked about the lack of preparation Masters of Fine Arts students receive in school for their lives as artists after graduation.  In recognition of this we designed a component of the MEA program to focus on fostering certain skills within these artists while their careers are still nascent.  Graduate school presents an opportune time in their lives to introduce them to a strategic planning framework coupled with critical skills that empower them to successfully navigate the contemporary art scene. 

Artist Hub Cities
An important lesson that we learned from our multi-year grants to Creative Capital was the integral role an arts organization can have in educating practicing visual artists.  After identifying four cities that many in the field consider to be “visual artists hubs” (cities that draw visual artists from throughout a geographical region), the Foundation located an organization within each city that serves as a central resource to the community of artists.  Through these organizations, practicing visual artists are able to obtain essential skills to help them in their career. 

Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award
In honor of Emily’s talent and passion for art, the Foundation established the Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award (EHTEA).  This biennial award offers funding for up to $125,000 for contemporary art thematic concepts.  Through the award, the Foundation seeks to give life to those thematic shows that are experimental, challenging and focused which would not be given an opportunity to be shown without the EHTEA.

2002 Winners
The world renowned curators, Anne Philbin, Director, UCLA Hammer Museum; Hamza Walker, Director of Education, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; and Harry Philbrick, Director, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art selected three exhibition concepts from a pool of 45 to win the Award.  (See the Tremaine Foundation News section for more information on the 2002 award winners.)

Curator Sylvia Chivaratanond, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois;
Skin Tight: The Sensibility of the Flesh (June –September 2004).  An examination of the relationship between art and fashion. The show explores the work of innovative contemporary designers who use clothes to probe the cultural construction of the physical identity, challenging the perception and presentation of the self.

Curator Valerie Smith, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York;
Down the Garden Path (May – October 2005). Traces the history of contemporary artist gardens while showing how artists use gardens as a vehicle to explore topics such as history, ecology, and philosophy.

Curator Betti-Sue Hertz, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California;
The Past in Reverse: Contemporary Art of East Asia (November 2004 - March 2005).  A multi-faceted exhibit that showcases artists who combine traditional materials and practices of Asia with contemporary approaches to expressing internal realities such as the poetic states of silence, meditation, nature and the dynamic between presence and absence.