Music and Arts Center for Humanity

Artist Steffi Friedman Chosen for 2008 Pat Hart Service Award

photo courtesy of David LaBianca

The Music and Arts Center for Humanity is proud to announce that Ms. Steffi Friedman, renowned Westport artist and teacher, has been selected as this year's recipient of the Pat Hart Service Award. Since 1998 the award, named for MACH founder Patricia Hart, has been given annually in recognition of an individual's, or an organization's, generosity and dedication to arts education.

"We are extremely delighted to Honor Steffi Friedman as the sole recipient of the 2008 Pat Hart Service Award," said Executive Director/CEO Dr. Donald Rainone. "Rarely do you find a volunteer with the artistic talent and teaching experience Ms. Freidman possesses. She has displayed an unmatched willingness to share her valuable time and to conduct herself in the most caring and professional fashion as she labors to develop the talents of our young artists. She is a treasure and we are blessed to have her as one of our 3-D instructors."

A graduate of the Pratt Institute, with post-graduate work at Columbia University and the Silvermine School of Art, Ms. Friedman is known as a sensitive artist who focuses on motion and emotion. Versatile in her choice of medium, she is well known for her portraiture and figurative sculpture. Ms. Friedman is a member of the International

Sculpture Center, a board member of the Society of Ct. Sculptors, an Associate Member of the National Sculpture Society, was featured in Who's Who of American Women 1995 and1996, and has taught privately in her own studio for thirty years.

Ms. Friedman began teaching sculpture at MACH as an experiment. She knew a little about the Music and Arts Center for Humanity located in Bridgeport, but had never met any of the students, nor seen the facility. Harold Levine, then Chairman of the Board of Directors of MACH, convinced her to give it a try. The class was a part of the Neighborhood Studios program which provides gifted and talented Bridgeport area teens with professional training in the arts. The six students in Ms. Friedman’s first class had no prior experience with the various sculpture medium, however given their artistic gifts and their instructor’s own talents, the results were magnificent. In a 2007 interview with the Connecticut Post, Ms. Friedman described her MACH students as "... more gifted than anything I've seen in a long time. They're all outstanding, hardworking young people."

photo courtesy of Shelly Cryan

Ms. Friedman will receive her award at MACH's Pat Hart Service Award Luncheon, held at noon on October 29th at Testo’s. The luncheon helps raise the funds necessary to support MACH’s arts programs for the children of the greater Bridgeport area. Honorary co-chairs for this year's luncheon are Claire Gordon and Carol Hallac. For further information about the Pat Hart Luncheon or for tickets, please call 203-366-3300, extension 230.

For additional information regarding Ms. Friedman's works visit www.steffifriedman.com