New Paltz alumnus receives Tiffany Foundation Award

NEW PALTZ – New Paltz alumnus Sergey Jivetin ’01 has been named a winner of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation’s 17th Biennial Competition. Thirty award winners were selected from more than 130 nominations in the fields of painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and craft media, gathered by a nationwide nominating committee. Each of the winners has been awarded an unrestricted grant in the amount of $20,000.

“We are very pleased that Sergey has received this award from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. He joins a group of highly distinguished artists who, for the past 30 years, have been recognized by the Tiffany Foundation for their talent, promise, and individual artistic strength,” said Mary Hafeli, dean of New Paltz’s School of Fine and Performing Arts. “I join his faculty mentors here in the art department, Jamie Bennett and Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, in congratulating Sergey on this exceptional achievement.”

Jivetin completed the Master of Fine Arts program in Metal/Jewelry at SUNY New Paltz in 2001. His work incorporates concepts of engineering and mechanical physics, as well as materials such as fishing hooks, syringe needles, and human hair. Now a resident of High Falls, NY, Jivetin is a previous recipient of the Art Jewelry Forum’s Emerging Artist Award and the Herbert Hoffman Prize.

Jivetin’s work is in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, the Dallas Museum of Art, and New Paltz’s Dorsky Museum. His work will be on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in the exhibition, “40 under 40: Craft Futures” later this year.

Established in 1918, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation remains one of the largest single sources of unrestricted monetary awards to artists. The Tiffany Foundation’s biennial competition was established in 1980 and has since granted almost $9,000,000 to 431 artists nationwide. A full list of winners, followed by the members of the 2011 jury, is available at www.louiscomforttiffanyfoundation.org.

The Master of Fine Arts Program in Metal/Jewelry at SUNY New Paltz is among the largest graduate metal programs in the country. It has earned the distinction of being ranked #1 in the U.S. News and World Report list of best graduate schools. Students in the program learn the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual aspects of contemporary jewelry and metalsmithing in a state-of-the-art facility. They are taught a strong sense of responsibility, regard for skill, and knowledge of the history of the discipline.