Benjamin Victor has been awarded the 2018 Alex J. Ettl Grant from the National Sculpture Society.
The society awards the grant to sculptors who have demonstrated a commitment to sculpting and an outstanding ability. Victor will receive an unrestricted cash prize of $5,000, a half-page ad in Fine Art Connoisseur magazine and a quarter page ad in Sculpture Review magazine.
National Sculpture Society Fellows George Anthonisen, Blair Buswell and Kirsten Kokkin served as the 2018 Ettl Grant jury. Kokkin described Victor as “an extremely talented young figurative sculptor” who has “an impressive and varied body of work.”
Anthonisen added, “I have no question that Benjamin Victor will continue to develop an expertise that will carry him far. Sculptures created consist of powerful images as well as extraordinary knowledge in the mechanics of sculpture. Victor shows great integrity in what he does.”
In 2003, National Sculpture Society first recognized Victor’s talent with a scholarship for his studies at Northern State University. Since then, Victor has completed prestigious commissions which honor a variety of subjects including military personnel and historical figures. Two of his figures, Sarah Winnemucca and Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, representing Nevada and Iowa respectively.
The Boise State campus is home to the Benjamin Victor Gallery. Victor’s works on campus include a bronze memorial statue of Steve Appleton, Micron CEO, that stands in the courtyard of the Micron Business and Economics Building.
The National Sculpture Society will present the grant on June 23 at an awards dinner during the Sculpture Celebration Conference held June 22-24 in South Carolina.