Artist Receives Carolyn F. Heller Grant Award

From Suzie Boland, president of RFB Communications Group:

Michael Parker, a visual artist specializing in painting and public murals, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Carolyn F. Heller Grant, awarded through Hillsborough Arts, Inc., a support organization for the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. 

The announcement was made earlier this week at the reception for the Carolyn F. Heller exhibition that opened March 1 at the Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Tampa.

“A passionate supporter of public art, our mother was a longtime member of the Arts Council and would be happy to know the grantee will be using the award for public murals,” says Fran Heller, Carolyn Heller’s daughter and executor of her estate.  “We look forward to supporting Michael in his work.”

The Carolyn F. Heller Grant, a permanent award supported by a fund created by donations to Hillsborough Arts, is presented annually to the top-scoring artist in the Council’s Individual Artist Grant Program.  The program funds accomplished artists or those with promising potential, providing support for specific projects that would further advance the artists’ professional growth. 

Parker’s proposal was to execute a series of medium-scale murals in Ruskin as a collaborative piece, with participation open to community members and a specific target group from the South County Career Center. 

“South County Career Center represents for all students an opportunity to achieve academically and to more forward toward a career of choice,” said Parker. “I chose this school to offer students a chance to work as a team on a community-based project and to reveal art as a potentially viable career choice."

Parker received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.  He studied painting in Cortona, Italy, through a program with the University of Georgia. 

Director and resident artist at the Big Draw Studio, he has taught at the University of South Florida, Hillsborough Community College and the University of Montana; received and earned a number of fellowships and residencies and held solo or group exhibitions at such venues as Tampa Museum of Art, Hillsborough Community College Gallery, Missoula Art Museum, Acadiana Center for the Arts and Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Acccording to Art Keeble, executive director of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Parker was one of eight artists in the final round of judging.  Criteria included:

·        Impact of the artist or proposed project on the community

·        Evidence of the artist’s commitment to personal artistic development

·        The potential for the proposed project to contribute to the artist’s personal growth

·        A realistic and well-defined budget

·        The quality of the artist’s work samples

“Michael is the type of artist Carolyn would have enjoyed and supported," said Keeble.