The Foundation - Lenore G. Tawney Foundation

Our Mission

The Lenore G. Tawney Foundation was established in 1989 by pioneer fiber artist Lenore Tawney (1907-2007) for charitable and educational purposes. She endowed the Foundation with her life’s resources, artistic and financial. Consistent with the artist’s philanthropic interests, the Foundation supports the visual arts with a focus on craft media, including fiber art. Its broad aim is to increase public access to and knowledge about the visual arts and to assist learning opportunities for emerging artists.

Our Goals

Make its art collection and archive available as resources for exhibitions, educational instruction, symposia, and scholarly study.
Place select examples of the artist’s work in museum collections and educational holdings.
Fund programs that award scholarships and fellowships for professional art education.
Support visual arts exhibitions, publications, and special projects.

Grantmaking

The Foundation makes grants on an invitational basis to organizations exempt under IRS Code 501(c)(3). It does not make grants to individuals.

Fiber

Tawney’s innovative work was at the vanguard of what came to be called fiber art during the second half of the twentieth century. Her groundbreaking sculptural weavings were an important influence in the United States and internationally. Works ranging from intimate to monumental in scale evidence both the originality of her vision and her sensitivity to the expressive potential of the medium.
Drawing

In 1964, Tawney began a series of ink drawings on graph paper, initially inspired by her study of the Jacquard loom. These meditative pieces became a significant and ongoing part of her oeuvre. During the 1990s, she reinterpreted the ink drawings using linen thread in three dimensions in a series titled Drawings in Air.
Collage

Shortly after beginning her graph paper drawings in 1964, Tawney also began to explore collage. In these works, the pages of antique books were often enhanced with drawing or Tawney’s own fine handwriting. She sent hundreds of postcard collages with cryptic, sometimes humorous messages to friends and created a series of collaged books and other objects.
Assemblage

Tawney’s highly personal sculptural assemblages were begun during the mid-1960s and continued throughout her career. In these primarily small-scale works, objects collected over the years–eggs, feathers, pebbles, bones, shells, beads, buttons, and vials–were infused with new meaning and a personal, hidden poetry.

Our Mission

Our Goals

Grantmaking

Fiber

Drawing

Collage

Assemblage