Distinguished Artist Award
The Club’s Distinguished Artist Award (DAA) is presented each year by the Foundation to an outstanding practitioner in the fields of music, literature and the visual arts, on a rotating basis. Recipients are New England-based artists in mid or late career who have produced a significant body of work and who have performed effectively as teachers, mentors and/or activists in their field. Nominations for the award are solicited from arts experts throughout New England, including from Club members. Once DAA nominations are received, they are evaluated by jurors who decide which of the nominees is to receive the year’s award. The $10,000 grant is supported by the generous contributions of Club members to the Foundation’s Cultural Fund.
A complete list of prior Distinguished Artist Award recipients may be viewed here.
Literature
1964 Conrad Aiken, author & poet
1967 Howard Nemerov, poet
1971 Barry B. Spacks, author
1974 Elizabeth Bishop, poet
1978 Maureen Howard, author
1983 Richard Wilbur, poet & translator
1988 Annie Dillard, author
1992, John Edgar Wideman, author
1995 Stanley Kunitz, poet
1999 George V. Higgins, author
2002 Sissela Bok, author
2005 Gail Mazur, poet
2009 M.T. Anderson, author
2013 E.O. Wilson, biologist, theorist, naturalist & writer
2016 Alan Lightman, physicist & novelist
2019 Affa Michael Weaver, poet and educator
2022 Ann Beattie, short fiction
Music
1965 Walter Piston, composer
1968 Arthur Berger, composer
1972 Frank T. Hubbard, harpsicord maker
1973 Lorna Cooke deVaron, choral director
1976 Elizabeth Parcells, soprano
1981 Daniel Pinkham, composer
1985 Harold Wright, clarinet
1989 John Oliver, choral conductor
1993 Sanford Sylvan, baritone
1996 Allan S. Chase, jazz saxophone & composer
2000 Shirish Korde, composer
2000 Lee Hyla, composer
2003 Robert Winter, jazz piano
2006 Borromeo, string quartet
2011 Peter Sykes, organ, harpsichord & clavichord
2014 David Ripley¸ bass-baritone
2017 Anne Azéma, director of an ensemble
2020 Michael Gandolfini, composer
2023 Balla Kouyate, world contemporary music
Visual Arts
1963 Edward Hopper, painter
1966 Alexander Calder, sculptor
1970 David von Schlegell, sculptor
1975 Agnes Mongan, art scholar
1977 Andrew Tavarelli, painter
1979 Jane Alexander, actress
1980 Steven Trefonides, painter
1982 Aaron Siskind, photographer
1984 Lawrence Anderson, architect
1986 Scott Prior, painter
1987 Adrian Hall, stage director
1990 Varujan Boghosian, painter
1991 David Wheeler, stage director
1994 Abelardo Morrell, photographer
1998 Kevin Hawkes, illustrator
2001 Jeffrey Keough, curator
2004 Michael Beatty, sculptor
2004 Linda Price-Sneddon, sculptor
2007 Gerry Bergstein, painter
2007 Robert Ferrandini, painter
2008 David Sutherland, documentary filmmaker
2010 Jean Carron, preservation architecture
2012 Ellen Driscoll, sculpture, drawing, & installations
2015 Gregory Crewdson, photographer
2018 Danielle Abrams, performance art
2021 Daniela Rivera, multi media
2024 Rhoda Rosenberg, print making