^{Untitled (Gene Simmons Inspires Me), alabaster, weathered foam, 2006}

^{I like you (I almost don’t hate you anymore), mixed media, 35 x 21 inches, 2007.}

^{Untitled (neck crack), alabaster, 8 x 6 x 7 inches,2006}

Debra Baxter is the only sculptor—and one of only two emerging artists—to be nominated by Bard College to receive the Joan Mitchell Foundation 2007 MFA grant award. (She goes to Bard in the summers but lives here the rest of the year and is a member of SOIL, where she recently had a striking show that included the Gene Simmons homage and the neck-crack in alabaster above.)

The award is $15,000. It is designed to “help painters and sculptors as they begin their professional art careers outside the academic environment,” according to the foundation’s notification letter.

This year’s round of awards includes about 50 graduate schools, each of whom was invited to nominate two candidates. The jurors will select up to 15 finalists to receive an award. Past winners have included Tara Donovan, Nicola Lopez, and Anthony Goicolea.

UPDATE: Seattle’s Tivon Rice won the award last year and is heading out for a recipient’s group show this June in NY.