Lappin Recipient of Artist Fund Award

Patricia Lappin - Ancestors Gathering

(PRESS RELEASE)_May 23, 2023 (Lake Worth Beach, Fla.) -- The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is pleased to announce that Delray Beach-based professional artist Patricia Lappin has been named the recipient of the 2022-2023 Dina Baker Fund for Mature Female Artists.

Thanks to the generosity of local artist and longtime Cultural Council supporter Dina Baker, the Dina Baker Fund for Mature Female Artists was created to help stabilize and strengthen the careers of female artists ages 60 and up with financial need and recognizable merit. The artist may use the $10,000 grant for professional development, arts-related exhibitions, equipment and supplies, healthcare costs or basic living expenses.

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​“This grant is one of the greatest honors that I’ve ever received, and it’s been extremely validating,” Lappin said. “Receiving this award has given me newfound confidence in my work. It’s allowing me to follow through on projects and get my work out there in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to without it.”

In addition to the funds, each award recipient receives an exhibition in the Cultural Council’s Donald M. Ephraim Family Gallery at the Cultural Council’s headquarters in Lake Worth Beach. The exhibition, titled Patricia Lappin: Connections, will run from June 2 to July 14.

The paintings displayed in the exhibition were produced from 2020 to 2023 and influenced by the worldwide events and experiences felt by all. Lappin expresses the journey on canvas from missed family events (both joyful and tragic) to inner searching for meaning, acceptance and celebration.

“It was a confusing time for us all. We had to learn new ways to stay connected,” she said. “We learned the beauty of our relationships with friends, family and community. All of this is expressed in my work. I paint what I am feeling. We all have stories, and we can relate to each other through similar experiences. We are all connected.”

A lifelong artist, Lappin studied with famed painter Caesar Cirigliano and taught at The Greenwich Art Society in Connecticut. With a career spanning 50 years, her work has been exhibited in galleries across the country. Her current work is focused on abstract expressionism using glowing colors in acrylic paint, loosely applied with spatulas and palette knives.

With a studio at Zero Empty Spaces in Boca Raton, Lappin leads private painting classes for communities and groups throughout the region. She exhibits and teaches at the New Studio for Visual Arts in Jupiter, where she has developed two abstract acrylic art courses: Dynamic Color Harmony and Beyond the Brush.

Past Dina Baker Fund award recipients include:

2022: Michele Hundt

• 2019: Glenda Green
• 2018: Hegina Rodrigues
• 2017: Debra Yates
• 2016: Batia Lowenberg
• 2015: Alyssa Di Edwardo

The exhibition will take place in the Cultural Council’s Donald M. Ephraim Family Gallery at its downtown Lake Worth Beach headquarters; exhibition hours are Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. During summertime, the Council is also open on the second Saturday of each month from 12 to 5 p.m.