LONG ISLAND CITY, NY- Socrates Sculpture Park is pleased to announce the opening of EAF08: 2008 Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition on Sunday, September 7, 2008 (2-6pm), featuring new works by the Park’s current resident artists. This year, Socrates awarded fourteen fellowships to: Martin Basher, Chelsea Beck, Kim Beck & Osman Khan, Michael Berens, Sari Carel, Adriana Farmiga, Kimberley Hart, Rajkamal Kahlon, Jason Bailer Losh, Matthew Lusk, Jong Il Ma, Ted McCann, Juniper Perlis, and Harriet Salmon.

Fellowship artists and are awarded a $5,000 grant and a residency in the Park’s outdoor studio and are also provided with technical support and access to tools, materials and equipment to facilitate the production of new sculptures and installations for exhibition in the Park. The fellows develop their projects throughout the summer in the open studio and on site in the landscape, offering visitors the opportunity to experience both the creation and presentation of their works. Representing a broad range of materials, working methods and subject matter, the diverse sculptural works in this exhibition are presented against the Park’s spectacular waterfront view of the Manhattan skyline.

Emerging Artist Fellows are selected annually through an open application process and reviewed by a committee composed of the Park’s Executive Director; past EAF recipients; established artists who have shown a commitment to mentoring and advocating for younger artists; as well a writers, gallerists, and curators who have special knowledge of contemporary art. The 2008 Advisory Committee members were: Alyson Baker, Executive Director, Socrates Sculpture Park; Hank Willis Thomas, 2006 Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship recipient; Kara Vander Weg, author and Director, James Cohan Gallery; Michael Lieberman, Harris Lieberman Gallery; Roxy Paine, artist; and Sylvia Chivaratanond, Curator, Art Salon, Art Basel Miami Beach 2008.