Morgan Graff stands next to a sample of her winning concept, Strides.
After receiving more than 60 entries from Central Texas artists, Hanger Orthopedic Group, Austin, Texas, announced that Austin glass artist Morgan Graff has won Hanger’s “ARTroduction to Austin” art competition for her entry, an art-glass installation titled Strides.
Hanger issued a call for entries to the region-wide competition, themed “Moving Lives Forward,” in August, coinciding with its move to Austin. Entries competed for a $10,000 commission and the opportunity to display artwork at Hanger’s new corporate headquarters for approximately two years. The work will eventually be auctioned off to benefit a local nonprofit organization.
The winner and nine finalists were selected through a juried process that included Hanger Orthopedic Group President and CEO Tom Kirk; Austin artist, Holocaust survivor, and Hanger patient, Max Brenner, MD; Senior Director of Art Education for the Austin Museum of Art, Judith Sims; Acting Cultural Arts Division Manager with the City of Austin, Megan Crigger; and Austin Chronicle Arts Writer, Robert Faires. The finalists each received a $500 prize and had their artwork displayed at a reception attended by more than 250 community leaders and Hanger employees on November 16.
Bryan Dubreuiel stands next to his winning piece of art, Back to Life. Photographs courtesy of Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics.
Hanger’s 4,000+ employees nationwide also had the opportunity to get involved. They selected Bryan Dubreuiel of Round Rock, Texas, to receive the $1,000 Employee Choice Award for his acrylic painting titled Back to Life.
“Though all entries impressed and inspired us, Mrs. Graff’s ability to visually and conceptually capture the history of Hanger Orthopedic Group as well as the theme ‘Moving Lives Forward’ is quite extraordinary,” Kirk said in a company press release. “We appreciate Mrs. Graff offering her talents to tell our company’s and our patients’ incredible stories.”
According to Graff, Strides is composed of a series of glass globes, all of different sizes and tints of amber color. Beginning with the founder, James Edward Hanger, each glass globe will contain photographs of Hanger’s history, patients, innovations, and successes, representing moments of time within the company’s rich past. The competition theme “Moving Lives Forward” will be represented by the movement of the globes along with the progression of achievements depicted within.
All of the finalists and their submitted art pieces are available for viewing at www.ARTroduction.com
