SEATTLE, WA.- Visual artists working in Washington, Oregon or Idaho are invited to apply for the Seattle Art Museum’s annual Betty Bowen Award. Applications are available beginning June 1 at www.callforentry.org, and the deadline for submissions is Saturday, August 1, 2009.

For 31 years, the Betty Bowen award has provided artists with an opportunity to introduce their work to SAM’s curators of modern and contemporary art and the Betty Bowen Committee members, and to have their work critiqued by their peers. Each year, two artists are selected to serve as rotating members of the committee. This year artists Dan Webb, the 2003 Betty Bowen Award winner, and Isaac Layman, the 2008 Betty Bowen Award recipient, are will be involved in the selection process.

How to Apply
The application is available beginning Monday, June 1, 2009, at www.callforentry.org. There is a $10 application fee. Entries must be submitted online. SAM is not able to process applications sent by standard mail.

Who is Elegible for the Award?
Visual artists working in Washington, Oregon or Idaho. Sorry, no performing arts.

What is the Betty Bowen Award?
Betty Bowen (1918–1977) was a Washington native and an enthusiastic supporter of Northwest artists. Her friends established the annual Betty Bowen Award as a celebration of her life and to honor and continue her efforts to provide financial support to the artists of the region. Since 1977, the Seattle Art Museum has hosted the yearly grant application process by which the selection committee chooses one visual artist working in Washington, Oregon or Idaho to receive an unrestricted cash award.

The Betty Bowen committee will announce the amount of this year’s award when the finalists are announced in September. Last year’s Betty Bowen award recipient received an unrestricted $15,000 award. In addition, the committee awarded $2,500 to the recipient of the PONCHO Special Recognition award and $2,500 to the Kayla Skinner Special Recognition award winner.