Finalist Selected for 2005 Betty Bowen Award

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Out of a total of 500 submissions from Washington, Oregon and Idaho- five finalists have been announced for the 2005 round of The Betty Bowen Memorial Artist Award*, an annual Pacific Northwest annual event (our Turner?)

October 1st is the date the winner will be announced on the BB* website, with an award Ceremony and Reception on October 27th at theSeattle Art Museum.

The 2005 finalists are:
Evan S. Blackwell (Washington)
Joe Feddersen (Washington)
Sean M. Johnson (Washington)
David Russo (Washington)
Marie Watt (Oregon)

And you may ask: What is the Betty Bowen Memorial Award?

Betty Bowen (1918–1977) was a Washington native and enthusiastic supporter of Northwest artists. Bowen’s friends established the annual Betty Bowen Memorial Award as a celebration of her life and to honor and continue her efforts to provide financial support to the artists of the Pacific Northwest. Every year since 1977, one artist has been selected by the committee to receive an unrestricted cash award of $11,000. At the discretion of the committee, PONCHO Special Recognition Awards are also often granted.

– SAM website

And who was Betty Bowen?

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HistoryLink has some great background on her, as does theUniversity of Washington’s Special Collections site, but essentially she was a great local supporter of the arts whose legacy lives on.