Strolling through the online NY Times this morning I see that the 2006 MacArthur “genius” awards are announced today–read. And here’s the MacArthur website with all the winners. I’m excited that visual artists Shahzia Sikander and Josiah McElheny are both recipients this year. Sikander recently had work at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. We’ve written lots about her work and about McElheny and you can find links to the articles in our index. Another visual artist unfamiliar to me, Anna Schuleit, also got an award. Each year there are a few people in the arts who receive these awards. Mostly though it’s the biologists and other scientists working on cutting edge material or physicians and community activists who are singled out. This year there are a couple of author/illustrators, including David McCauley, author of The Way Things Work, a great book. There’s one Philly winner — John A. Rich, a physician and professor at Drexel University.
