NEA GRANTS ANNOUNCED

The National Endowment for the Arts’ Visual Arts Program has awarded $2.7 million in grants to 258 artists throughout the nation. Most of the fellowships are for $5,000 and $15,000, with a few $25,000 grants awarded at the discretion of the reviewing panel.

This year, 21 of the $5,000 grants went to Californians, 14 of whom are Los Angeles-area artists. New York’s share in this group was 38 grants.

Los Angeles-area artists who received $5,000 are Richard Bunkall, Suzanne Caporael, Wes Christensen, Han Xin, Lin Hixson, Branda Miller, Patti Podesta, Charles Ray, Luis Serrano, Barbara Smith, Alan Sonneman, Janet Tholen, Johanna Went and Norman Yonemoto.

In the $15,000 grant category, 24 were awarded to Californians, 47 to New Yorkers. The 11 who received $15,000 in the L.A. area are John Arvanites, James Doolin, Llynn Foulkes, Gilah Hirsch, Ynez Johnston, Mike Kelley, Suzanne Lacy, Constance Mallinson, Paul McCarthy, Peter Plagens and Bobby Ross.

Of the five $25,000 grants given this year, one went to Los Angeles artist Patrick Hogan.

“Individual-artist fellowships are the first priority of the Visual Arts Program and are the best means of providing direct support to artists of the highest quality,” said Richard Andrews, director of the Endowment’s Visual Arts Program, in a prepared statement.

“These fellowships provide funds which will allow visual artists to set aside time to create new work. Grants are awarded to artists who are at many different stages of their careers, with the intention that this support will move them forward at an important point in their artistic development. The work of this year’s recipients is reflective of the diversity of styles and artistic directions evident in contemporary American visual art.”

NEA Chairman Frank Hodsoll also announced expansion of an endowment pilot project which funds regional fellowships for emerging visual artists. This year the project will provide 49 fellowships of $3,500.

Upcoming deadlines for NEA grants application submissions are photography, Jan. 25; sculpture, Feb. 15; and crafts, March 15. Individuals may apply only once and in only one fellowship area.

Guidelines for the next round of applications (1987-88) will be available in the spring.

Opening today at the Long Beach Museum of Art is “Sculpture & Drawing/Drawing & Sculpture,” an exhibition representing eight contemporary artists with one sculpture each, accompanied by related drawings produced at various stages of the sculptor’s process.

The artists are Lita Albuquerque, Tony DeLap, Joanna Jordan, Patrick Mohr, Eric Orr, Christopher Schumaker, Eileen Senner and Craig Cree Stone. The exhibition seeks to illuminate the relationship between drawing and finished three-dimensional work. Some drawings were produced as sketches for the finished pieces, others as a formal record of the entire process.

Stone and Senner will be at the museum today at 1 p.m. to talk about their work. A public reception follows. The exhibition continues through Jan. 5.

Author/historian/critic Leo Steinberg, noted for his work in the field of Renaissance and modern art, will speak on “The Interrupted Reading: How Men Have Perceived Women With Books from the 14th Century to Modern Advertising,” Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the County Museum of Art’s Bing Theater.

Steinberg is Benjamin Franklin professor of art history at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1983 received an award in literature from the American Academy of the Institute of Arts and Letters. His exploration of innovative themes in his writing and lectures have brought him acclaim in his field. Tickets are $8 for museum members, students with ID and senior citizens; $10 for others.

The Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies is offering a series of creative and technical workshops this month and next. The remaining sessions, led by professional photographers, are: “The Zone System and its Calibration,” “Black-and-White Printing Techniques,” “Collage and Applied Color” and “Aspects of the Portrait--Confrontational Portraiture.” Workshops, held on weekday evenings and Saturdays, are limited to 10 to 20 students. Information: (213) 623-9410.