The Force that Drives

As a magazine dedicated to helping art collectors find new works to purchase for their collections, we are always in awe of the passion and dedication they show when it comes to pursuing art and serving as patrons for artists. Attending events as we do across the country, collectors show us charts, graphs, spreadsheets, wish lists, mission statements and many other techniques they use to acquire and manage their collections. One of our favorite things to see is a collector holding a frayed and worn copy of the magazine with little yellow post-it notes extending from the pages.

It is in these moments when our mission and purpose is displayed to us in full effect.

I’ve been thinking of these things while I work on this issue, which features an eight-page spread on The Bennett Prize. Steven Bennett is one of those collectors. His passion and commitment to art is so strong that he and his wife, Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt, created a prize and an endowment to fund that prize just to make sure women figurative artists receive the support they deserve. The prize, which will be given in May of this year, includes $50,000 to help a fund an exhibition of new work that will travel the country after opening at the Muskegon Museum of Art.

“When we first announced The Prize and the exhibition surrounding it, we knew there was a need for more support for women artists, but we had no way of knowing just where this project might go,” says Schmidt. “This level of interest has given us the assurance that The Bennett Prize and exhibition can be sustained and grown, helping give voice and support to figurative women painters around the country for years.”

As we’ve learned so much in any facet of life, one person, or two people, can make a difference. They make a difference in the life of the person who wins the prize but also in the lives of all of us by helping make this world a more beautiful place to be. We humbly thank you, Steven and Elaine.

P.S. Look for our special issue dedicated to women artists in March of this year! We promise it will be bigger and even better than last year!