The International Sculpture Center is proud to present the winners of the 1999 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. This annual award was founded in 1994 to recognize young sculptors and to encourage their continued commitment to the field of sculpture. As part of the award, the artists are presented with a one-year ISC membership, as well as free registration to the ISC’s International Sculpture Conference.
Art departments that are University Level Members of the ISC may nominate one candidate each year for the Student Achievement Award. For more information about University Level Membership and the 2000 nomination process, contact the ISC Resource Center at 609.689.1051.
Katherine Heinlein
MFA
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Katherine Heinlein has emphasized sculpture and clay during her MFA studies. Her work was included in the 1997 exhibition “Substance: Materials, Process and Vision in Clay,” held at Texas Woman’s University. She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki, Japan, during the summer of 1998. Part of the body of work that she completed there was acquired by the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park Museum.
Michelle D. Mazurek
MFA
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York
Michelle Mazurek received her BFA in graphic design and worked in the design field for three years before her nagging love of fine art prompted her to pursue an MFA. Her most recent work fragments the human body through materials as varied as twigs, mustard seeds, hair, and cast aluminum and attempts to convey the varying sensibilities of a being in a given moment.
William Pergl
MFA
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
After receiving a BFA in painting and sculpture, William Pergl made his living as a cabinetmaker. Wood is still the primary medium in his studio sculpture, although he continually experiments with materials. His work, characterized by an appreciation of function, structure, and simplicity, embodies a tension between precision craftsmanship and abstract, organic forms.
Simon Anthony Raines
MA
Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds
West Bretton, England
Simon Raines received his BA in sculpture from Bretton Hall College, after completing the art and design foundation at Leicester Polytechnic. The 1999 winner of the Yorkshire and Humberside Art Award, he has shown his work in exhibitions in Cheshire, London, and at the Cleveland College of Art and Design.
Bettina Viereck
MFA
Hartford Art School, University of Hartford
West Hartford, Connecticut
Before coming to the U.S. to study sculpture, Bettina Viereck completed both her BA and MA in clinical psychology and family and child counseling at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, Germany. She also holds an MS in sculpture with a minor in painting from Central Connecticut State University.
