ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — Bard College has launched the Barbara Ess Fund for Artistic Expression in Photography, supporting photography students with financial aid, according to an announcement.
The fund, made possible by the Schwartz family, honors photographer Barbara Ess, who joined the faculty at Bard in 1997 as a professor in the photography department. Before she died in 2021, Ess was the subject of several solo exhibitions, including at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York City in 1985, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, and Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2003.
The fund is an annual award, covering the cost of course-related materials for a limited number of Bard College photography students on financial aid.
“Barbara Ess was an artist of immense power and I continue to be amazed by all that she accomplished in her work,” said Megan Plunkett, former Bard student and co-chair in photography at Bard’s Master in Fine Arts program. “In funding materials for photo students with financial need, Barbara’s frenetic, infectious joy for making will continue to thrive in new generations of Bard artists, something I know would bring her immense joy in return.”
For more information or to donate to the fund, visit bardian.bard.edu/register/essfund.
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