Exhibit of emerging young artists with disabilities opens in DC

From VSA Arts:

An exhibition that features 15 emerging artists with disabilities ages 16─25 opens at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, Smithsonian Institution , 1100 Jefferson Drive SW, Washington, D.C. It is open daily 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except December 25. Admission is free.

For the eighth year, VSA arts and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. have partnered to recognize emerging artists with disabilities, who demonstrate promise in the visual arts. The 2009 exhibition illustrates the many personal reasons that accelerate the desire to create. Following this debut at the Smithsonian, the exhibition will tour for two years.

Included in the exhibition is Niamh Butler, 20, who attends the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut. She received the $20,000 grand prize for a painting titled Satori (image of the artwork above).

The largest single award for emerging artists with disabilities, Accelerate features work selected by a distinguished jury, including William A. Newman, Carolyn S. Alper Professor of Contemporary Fine Art at the Corcoran College of Art and Design; Sarah Tanguy, Independent Curator and Critic; and Charles A. Riley II, PhD, Professor at the Weissman School of Arts & Sciences at Baruch College, CUNY and Curator.