I am still grinning ear to ear.
Why? Because on Tuesday, I made three phone calls that brought tears of joy to my eyes as I congratulated our 2023 Boise Weekly Cover Auction Grant recipients. And now, drumroll, please — here they are:
Artist Mary Gardiner; Humanitarian and Good Deed Doer Sherri Smith; and filmmaker Hollis Welsh. They each are receiving $1,000.
Gardiner, a member of the Plein Air Painters of Idaho, and whose art has graced Boise Weekly covers before and soon will again (May 18!), sent in a submission “to continue and extend a new line of work — large abstract and semi-abstract landscapes watercolor on canvas inspired by plein air painting on location around the Treasure Valley and Idaho. … We would also invite through Facebook other artists and the public in general to join us.” The grant money will cover material costs such as canvases, watercolors, fixative, frames, etc. and also the travel and lodging for getting to on-location painting venues. “Oh my goodness,” said Gardiner when I told her the news, “that’s a lot of money in the art world. That’s wonderful!” Look for her posts on Facebook and Instagram if you’d like to tag along.
Smith sent her submission in to help purchase “needed and ongoing supplies” for Oliver’s Gift, a community outreach project she began “in honor of my son in heaven. We make packages for our less fortunate community as well as provide needed items such as hygiene supplies and blankets.” The project also provides learning materials and backpacks for children experiencing homelessness in the Treasure Valley. Smith started Oliver’s Gift to honor her son, who was a monastic monk. “He spent his whole life helping others,” she said. “One way to deal with my grief was to pick up all the best parts of what he stood for and carry on his mission.” Smith has been doing this work for four years and “every year it’s doubled in size.” The last line on her submission form said: “All of our people benefit when we come together in community.”
Our third grant recipient is Welsh, who is hoping to use the money to help finish work on a film, “Things are OK Here,” a short narrative thriller. Welsh wrote the script about a woman at odds with her life and family struggling to come to terms with what is real and what she might be imagining. The film is slated to shoot locally with all local cast and crew this spring. “It’s critical, in our community, and in the world at large, that we are hearing and sharing stories of women told my women,” Welsh wrote in her submission. “Boise Weekly serves alternative voices and helps keep the arts alive in our community.”
And to that, I say: Amen, sister.
I am proud that Boise Weekly is carrying on this legacy that has continued for more than two decades. It has provided more than $250,000 to fuel scores of artists and art projects.
In full disclosure, I will tell you how it first touched me, long before I became editor for Boise Weekly. In 2016, I applied for and was accepted as a BW Cover Auction grantee. With the money I received, I was able to honor my late husband and artist Bob Neal with an art show at Surel’s Place: Bob’s Art Farm.
Congratulations to all our 2023 Boise Weekly Cover Auction Grant recipients!
We will be checking in on all your projects … because they are all a little bit of ours now, too.
— Jeanne Huff, editor
