Judith Kindler Honored as 2009 PONCHO Artist of the Year (September 18, 2009)

Seattle based artist, Judith Kindler has been awarded the 2009 PONCHO Artist of the Year Award. Poncho announced this prestigious award Thursday evening in a special event held at Escala honoring Kindler and the 2009 Poncho Merit Award winners. Upon accepting the award, Kindler choked up, mentioning how much this honor meant to her and went on to say how much Poncho does for the artistic community in the Northwest of which she was equally grateful.

Judith Kindler :

Judith Kindler is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, photography, and photo-based work embedded in encaustic.  Judith’s past awards include serving as Master Artist at Pratt Fine Arts, a PONCHO Merit Award for Excellence, and a Gold Award for Excellence in Printing for her design and publication of the book “Defining Truth/ Judith Kindler . She also has been the recipient of two Roscoe Awards for Innovation in Textiles in the applied arts”

Of her own work, Judith says, “My work deals with the currents of sociological interactions. Whether I am focusing on a more autobiogra-phical subject or cultural trend, I endeavor to lay bare the common threads of the human experience, allowing my own observations to inform my work.”

Outside of the studio, Judith is a hardworking ambassador for the arts in the greater Seattle community.  She has been an active trustee on the Boards of PONCHO and Cornish College of the Arts.  She has Co-Chaired both the Bellevue Arts Museum 's and Poncho's Fine Art Auctions and sat on the Art Auction committees of BAM, Poncho and Pratt.  She has also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Contemporary Arts Council of The Seattle Art Museum.  In 2005 she generously established an endowed scholarship for Cornish College of the Arts to be given every year to a student who is innovative in the visual arts. 

Judith was also instrumental in the task force charged with envisioning of Seattle Center ’s “Theatre District” including the Seattle Rep, Intiman, the Seattle Ballet, and the then-named Opera House, and she also sat on Kirkland 's Arts Commission Development Task Force.

Judith's art can be found in many major collections, both public and private, and she exhibits her work through these galleries in the US : Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum, Idaho, Gebert Contemporary Gallery in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Melissa Morgan Fine Art in Palm Desert, Forre and Co. Fine Art in Aspen, and Daniel Kany Gallery in Portland, Maine. Learn more about Judith and her work by visiting http://www.judithkindler.com

PONCHO Artist of the Year Award:

Awarded annually, The Morrie and Joan Alhadeff PONCHO Artist of the Year Award, is given in honor of a living Northwest artist who exhibits artistic excellence and also is active in supporting the arts in the community. Nominated and voted by a PONCHO award jury, the award includes a gift to the artist of $5,000 underwritten in perpetuity by the Alhadeff family in the names of Morrie and Joan Alhadef.

Past recipients include: Jacob Lawrence (2000), Gwendolyn Knight (2001), Steve Jensen (2002), Ramona Solberg (2003), Buster Simpson (2004), Marita Dingus (2005), Fay Jones (2006), Juan Alonso (2007), and Patti Warashina (2008).

History of PONCHO:

PONCHO has a proud history of making a difference in the arts community. The Northwest region has one of the most vibrant, educational and accessible cultural communities in the nation. For the past 46 years, Poncho has supported over 200 arts organizations by raising and granting more than $40 million in support of the arts.

As Poncho begins their 48th year, Poncho’s goal remains the same: enriching the quality of life in the Northwest through increasing resources and community support of the arts. In addition to providing major funding to visual arts institutions like Seattle Art Museum , The Henry Gallery, the Frye Art Museum , the Museum of Glass , and the Tacoma Art Museum . Poncho also is a major annual contributor to education: Cornish College of the Arts, Pilchuck Glass School , Artist Trust, Gage Academy of Art, and Pratt Fine Arts. Beyond the Visual Arts Poncho also is a critical contributor to the Performing Arts with a long list of beneficiaries starting with the Seattle Opera, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, On the Boards, Intiman Theatre, Freehold, Act Theatre, Bellevue Philharmonic, and the 5 th Avenue Theatre, to name a few. Learn more about PONCHO by visiting it’s website www.poncho.org.

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Judith Kindler is honored to announce the placement of "Conversation Amongst Friends" (below) 
in the permanent collection of the Bakersfield Museum of Art



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Seattle Art Museum and Poncho co-hosted "Got Art", February 22, 2007 
at the new Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park.  Guest Speakers Included 
Judith Kindler (center right), Susan Grover (far right)(Grover/Thurston Gallery), 
Jody Bento (center left) (Seattle Art Museum Gallery), and moderator 
Sandra D. Jackson-Dumont (far left) (Seattle Art Museum, Deputy Director of 
Education and Public Programs) 

 


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Alexis Hotel in Seattle Lobby installation of Judith Kindler's triptych "A Sense of It"



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Pratt Fine Arts, Seattle honored Kindler with the "Master Artist" 
Position for their Spring 2007 Semester




















































photo credits:  Lisa Jacoby
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In 2005 Judith Kindler established The Judith Kindler and A. Kyle Johnson 
Scholarship for Innovation in the Visual Arts, at Cornish College of the Arts 
in Seattle. This Endowed Scholarship will be awarded annually to a Senior 
Student demonstrating excellence, passion,  and innovation in their work.  
Both Judith and husband Kyle encourage you to contribute to this fund and help 
support one of our country's leading Arts College.  For more information, contact 
Jane Ewing, Vice President of Advancement at Cornish. 206-726-5064. 
www.Cornish.edu