PITTSBURGH, Pa. Nov. 15, 2018 – Today 10 women from across the country who paint in the figurative realist style were named finalists or the $50,000 Bennett Prize, the largest art award ever offered solely to women painters.
Researchers studied nearly 2 million art auction sales and found paintings by women fetched less money than paintings by men. Disparities that plague parts of the economy also affect the art world.
National Public Radio
Conversations with art-world instigators by Victoria Selbach. Collector Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt and her husband, Steven Allen Bennett, are amassing a significant collection of work by female realist painters. Elaine exemplifies the connected collector. Her art historical foundation, fierce intellect and an unquenchable curiosity create a base for her emotional connection to her selections.
Poets & Artists
Art collector, lifelong educator and now curator Elaine Schmidt provides an overview of her life and career, and the vision she shares with husband Steven Bennett of encouraging women figurative realist painters through The Bennett Prize and The Bennett Collection.
Voyage Chicago
Created in 2018, The Bennett Prize is the largest ever Prize offered solely to women painters. The accolade aims to give recognition to women artists who paint in the figurative realist style and who have not yet realised their full professional potential. The Prize, with the call for entry open from 13 April to 28 September 2018, awards $50,000 to allow the winning artist to create her own solo exhibition.
Le Journal
The Muskegon Museum of Art is proud to be the inaugural venue for THE BENNETT PRIZE, a one-of-a-kind juried art exhibition designed to propel the careers of women figurative realist painters. Entry begins April 13.
Grand Valley Artists
Passionate, approachable and smart, the Bennetts were a pleasure to chat with. Dr Elaine Melotti Schmidt and her husband Steven Bennett have gathered a collection of over 150 artworks by figurative artists all of whom are women. The discussion with the Bennetts includes collecting as artistic expression, building a collection, choosing paintings, and much more.
John Dalton, "Gently Does It" podcast- Episode 109
Call for artists! Art collectors Steven Bennett and Elaine Melotti Schmidt are organizing an exhibition of diptych or triptych works. These forms provide enormous creative opportunities for visual artists because it supplies expansive and varied ways for an artist to speak using juxtaposition, contrast, comparison, expansion, connection and separation.
Poets and Artists
Artist Victoria Selbach includes a mention of The Bennett Prize, established by collectors Steven Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt, and the new "Visions of Venus" exhibition organized by Schmidt and opened in April.
BeautifulBizarre.net
Women who paint in the figurative realist style are invited to apply for the $50,000 Bennett Prize, the largest ever offered solely to women painters. Endowed by art collectors Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt at The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Bennett Prize aims to spotlight women artists who are, or seek to become full-time painters but have not yet reached full professional recognition.
WKTV Journal
