PAFA Alumna Mia Rosenthal Awarded Prestigious
Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund Grant

"Valuable input from faculty, visiting artists and peers at PAFA helped me find my voice as an artist."

PHILADELPHIA (April 9, 2014) - The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is proud to announce Mia Rosenthal (PAFA MFA '08) as a grant recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts, awarded to young artists of exceptional promise.

Chair of Graduate Programs at PAFA, Clint Jukkala, states: "I am thrilled that Mia has received the prestigious Leonore Annenberg Fellowship. She is an extremely talented and deserving artist and this award will provide tremendous assistance in helping her achieve her creative and professional goals. The MFA program at PAFA is focused on preparing outstanding artists like Mia and we are proud that one of our graduates has been selected for this honor."

Rosenthal, who lives and works in Philadelphia, specializes in works on paper. Her drawn mark has been described as taking on a life of its own, fusing her interests in art and science, and uniquely "fundamental to her work - formally, individually, expansively, and conceptually." Rosenthal's drawings are in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work has been exhibited in various Philadelphia galleries, most recently at Gallery Joe.

"It's such an amazing honor to be nominated by PAFA for the Annenberg Fellowship, and an even bigger honor to be selected," says Mia Rosenthal. "It's such a generous award that it gives me the resources to pursue anything I want both creatively and professionally during this year. This grant allows me more time in the studio creating work, as well as more time traveling to explore new ideas and present my work to more people."

She adds, "As an MFA student at PAFA I received so much valuable input from faculty, visiting artists and peers, and these interactions helped me find my voice as an artist. As a graduate I have still felt very much a part of this community, seeing faculty, alumni and students at arts events around Philadelphia."

The Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund is especially meaningful to emerging artists as it "provides support to artists during a vibrant period of transition in their professional life, enabling them to develop artistically as they realize their career goals," says Annenberg program director Gail Levin, PhD. The Fund provides $50,000 a year for up to two years. Of the seven emerging artists receiving the grant, Mia Rosenthal is the only visual artist.

Leonore (Lee) Annenberg, wife of Walter Annenberg, served as trustee of PAFA, and was honored with trustee emeritus status. The Annenberg Foundation, of which Leonore Annenberg was the President prior to her death in 2009, supported PAFA's Campus Capital Campaign (among many other projects) with a gift, naming the Walter & Leonore Annenberg Gallery in the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building.

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Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first school of fine arts and museum.  A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts presented by the President of the United States, PAFA is a recognized leader in fine arts education. Nearly every major American artist has taught, studied, or exhibited at the Academy. The institution's world-class collection of American art continues to grow and provides what only a few other art institutions in the world offer: the rare combination of an outstanding museum and an extraordinary faculty known for its commitment to students and for the stature and quality of its artistic work.