WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian Institution has awarded fellowships to nine artists to conduct research at Smithsonian museums and research facilities as part of a new Artist Research Fellowship Program. The nine artists are Ghada Amer (New York); Sandow Birk (Long Beach, Calif.); Björn Dahlem (Berlin); Terence Gower (New York); Shih Chieh Huang (New York); Nene Humphrey (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Sergio Palleroni (Austin, Texas); Tim Rollins (New York); and Sue Williamson (Cape Town, South Africa).

The Smithsonian’s Artist Research Fellowship Program is a pilot program that was launched last year to award research fellowships to established artists.

"Under Secretary for Art Ned Rifkin and I envision this program as a way to serve artists by making the Smithsonian’s rich resources, including its vast collections, archives and researchers, available to them," said Susan Talbott, director of Smithsonian Arts. "In this way, we stimulate artistic exploration and, at the same time, encourage interaction among Smithsonian museums and disciplines."

A panel of art curators and administrators from the Smithsonian and other institutions reviewed the applications and selected the artists from 27 nominees. The fellowships are paid and will last two to three months.

Ghada Amer, who was born in Egypt and lives in New York, is interested in cultural stereotypes and will be working at the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian American Art Museum to study outsiders’ perceptions of American Indians. Amer is best known for her textile installations, sculptures and paintings that examine women’s sexuality, desire and happiness.

Californian Sandow Birk’s work deals with contemporary social issues—many of his pieces present a view of post-apocalyptic California. He will research the U.S. Constitution and 18th- and 19th-century American art at the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Archives of American Art.

Berlin-based Björn Dahlem, whose low-tech models of the cosmos depicting astrophysical principles have been exhibited in the United States and Germany, will work with researchers at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Terence Gower, who was born in Canada and lives in New York, will explore the social and political climate of a particular era through its architecture by examining the design of public museums, the influence of the world’s fairs and the Hirshhorn’s architecture. Gower will conduct his research at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Shih Chieh Huang, a Taiwanese artist living in New York, blends artificial materials, natural elements and electronics in his works. He will pursue an interest in bioluminescence—the ability of fireflies and some sea creatures to produce their own light—by working with scientists at the National Museum of Natural History.

Brooklyn artist Nene Humphrey will pursue her interest in the relationships between the body and the universe through research on artifacts and archives at the National Museum of American History.

Sergio Palleroni, a research fellow and associate professor at the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Texas, Austin, conducts architectural design-and-build workshops around the world in marginalized communities. Collaborating at the Smithsonian Photography Initiative, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of African Art, Palleroni will research design that can benefit communities in need throughout the United States.

Tim Rollins is an artist, educator and activist based in the South Bronx, N.Y., who has been making collaborative artworks with youth from his and other low-income communities worldwide. Rollins will be working at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Museum of Natural History, conducting research toward the creation of a new series of paintings inspired by Charles Darwin’s book "The Origin of Species."

The art of Sue Williamson of Capetown, South Africa, which brings the world of the marginalized into the mainstream of social consciousness, has appeared in galleries throughout the world. She will examine African influences on design through study at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the National Museum of African Art.

This new fellowship program is a collaboration of the Office of the Under Secretary for Art and the Office of Research Training and Services. For more information on the fellowships, artists may call (202) 633-5090.