Shiva Ahmadi wins Anonymous Was a Woman Award
Shiva Ahmadi, UC Davis assistant professor of art, is one of ten distinguished artists recognized for their body of work who has been honored as a 2016 recipient of the Anonymous Was A Woman Award.
Anonymous
Was A Woman is an unrestricted grant of $25,000 that enables
women artists, over 40 years of age and at a significant juncture
in their lives or careers, to continue to grow and pursue their
work. The Award is given in recognition of an artist’s
accomplishments, artistic growth, originality and
potential. It is not need-based.
The name of the grant program, Anonymous Was A Woman, refers to a
line in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. As the name
implies, nominators and those associated with the program are
unnamed. The award was begun in 1996 in response to the decision
of the National Endowment of the Arts to cease support of
individual artists.
To date, some 210 women have received the award. Each year, an
outstanding group of distinguished women – art historians,
curators, writers and previous winners – serve as nominators.
