Poet, fashion designer win Carol Brown Awards

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 11, 2016 – Two Pittsburgh-based artists will receive this year’s Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards. A shared commitment of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, the awards recognize exemplary artistic achievement by an established artist and an emerging artist each year. The two recipients are each awarded $15,000.

The Established Artist Award will go to literary artist and creative writing professor Yona Harvey, author of the poetry collection “Hemming the Water.” Fashion designer Tereneh Mosley will receive the Emerging Artist Award. Candidates were nominated by artists and regional arts leaders and chosen by an independent panel that reviewed applications and work samples. There were 35 nominations this year. 

The winners will be recognized during a public program Dec. 5, beginning at 6 p.m. in the theater of the August Wilson Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. In addition to the awards presentation, the foundations will host a panel discussion on the future of artmaking in the region. The discussion will be moderated by David Oresick, executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography.

The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards event is part of the Investing in Professional Artists: The Pittsburgh Region Artists Program, a multiyear initiative established jointly by The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments. The program is one of very few in the region that provide direct philanthropic support to individuals. 

As a component of the Investing in Professional Artists initiative, the Awards “acknowledge the contributions artists make to the region’s vitality and global relevancy,” said Germaine Williams, the Foundation’s senior program officer for Arts and Culture. “These awards celebrate Yona Harvey’s and Tereneh Mosley’s ongoing contributions to Pittsburgh’s arts community.”

Janet Sarbaugh, vice president of Creativity and senior director of the Arts & Culture Program for the Endowments, added that the awards also recognize Ms. Brown as one of Pittsburgh's most influential arts leaders. “As a supporter of individual artists and a driving force behind the creation of the Cultural District, Carol Brown has been a lifelong advocate for our region’s vibrant arts scene,” Sarbaugh said.

About Yona Harvey: Yona Harvey is the author of the poetry collection “Hemming the Water,” winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award from Claremont Graduate University and finalist for the Hurston-Wright Award. Her work has been anthologized in several publications, including “A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry” and “The Force of What’s Possible: Accessibility and the Avant-Garde.” She has received a Creative Development grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, participated in workshops and residencies at the inaugural Cave Canem retreat and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She served as the Cave Canem Writer in Residence at Washington College’s Rose O’Neill Literary House. She recently joined forces with Ta-Nehisi Coates to co-write a story for Marvel’s “World of Wakanda,” a companion to Coates’ best-selling “Black Panther.” Harvey is a graduate of Howard University, The Ohio State University and the University of Pittsburgh. She currently teaches in the University of Pittsburgh Writing Program.

Regarding this year’s Established Artist honor, Harvey says, “So much of my work as a poet and writer hinges on listening and being present. Living in Pittsburgh has deeply influenced this way of artistic being. Pittsburgh talks. On the morning bus, at the gas station, in the coffee shops, and – can I go there – even in the psych wards. I want women, and especially Black women, to know that I hear us tapping our feet and see us crossing our arms as everyone tries to tell us who we are and how we should act. My work doesn't claim to speak for anyone. But the hope is that it channels all of that patient, angry, restless, frustrated, joyful energy and contributes to our ongoing stories.”

About Tereneh Mosley: Tereneh Mosley grew up in a creative and socially active Pittsburgh family. She graduated from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and was named one of its Top 10 Graduating Seniors. As a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar, she received her master’s in fashion design from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Returning to the United States, she taught at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and The New School’s Parsons School of Design. From 2011 to 2013, Mosley lived, taught and designed in Southeast Asia, where she was visiting scholar on global fashion at Yale - National University of Singapore in 2013. That year, she launched her global eco-design collaboration, incorporating Indigenous adornment in contemporary textile arts and apparel design with OMWA: Olorgesailie Maasai Women Artisans of Kenya. In 2014, their first collaborative collection, “Tomon:10,” premiered during Paris Fashion Week. In 2016, the collaboration expanded to include The Beading Wolves, an Oneida family of artisans.

"The biggest thrill of this overall thrilling experience is being able to share this award with my creative partners, OMWA: Olorgesailie Maasai Women Artisans and The Beading Wolves (Oneida),” Mosley says. “I am so thankful and humbled by the encouragement of the Carol R. Brown, The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation."

History of the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards: The program was conceived in 1991 as the Creative Achievement Awards by Carol R. Brown, who was president of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust from 1986 to 2001. Brown oversaw the transformation of a 14-square-block area of downtown Pittsburgh from a red light district to a nationally recognized model for arts-based community redevelopment. The awards went on hiatus from 2002 to 2011. In 2012, as part of their Investing in Professional Artists: The Pittsburgh Region Artists Program, which supports working artists and their creative processes from concept to completion, The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments resurrected the awards and renamed them the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards.

Recipients of the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards from 2012 to the present are:

Year	Emerging Artist	Established Artist
2016	Tereneh Mosley (fashion design)	Yona Harvey (literature)
2015	Brett Kashmere (multidisciplinary)	Karla Boos (theater)
2014	Lenka Clayton (multidisciplinary)	Jon Rubin (multidisciplinary)
2013	Tami Dixon (theater)	Roger Humphries (music)
2012	John Peña (visual arts)	Toi Derricotte (literature)

 About the Ceremony: The awards ceremony will be Monday, Dec. 5, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. It will feature a panel discussion on the future of artmaking in the region, and a reception will follow in the Center’s lobby. The event is free and open to the public. Visit http://bit.ly/2fG3TXh to register.

Images of the awardees are available upon request.

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