Cultural Council For Palm Beach County Announces Local Artist Michele Hundt as 2021-2022 Dina Baker Fund Recipient

The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is pleased to announce that Wellington-based artist Michele Hundt has been named the recipient of the 2021-2022 Dina Baker Fund for Mature Female Artists.

Michele Hundt's practice has straddled fine art, design, fashion and retail since the beginning. After graduating from the Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, she quickly established herself as a successful designer and artistic director at various companies in the Midwest. Using color and shape, she captures fleeting moments in time that hint at emotions roiling under richly painted surfaces. Her specialties include original abstract paintings, figure paintings and equine artwork. Hundt's paintings have appeared in group shows at the Mulry Fine Art Gallery in Palm Beach, Artists Haven Gallery in Fort Lauderdale and The Paint Store and Stephen Johnson Framing in West Palm Beach.

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.

"It was a great surprise and an honor to receive this grant," said Hundt. "To have Dina Baker recognize my work and my passion of fine art was an unbelievable honor, and it's validation that I'm going in the right direction. When I got to [Palm Beach County], I decided to pursue my passion-what came from the heart. After doing commercial art for so long, I found myself again."

In addition to the funds, each award recipient receives an exhibition in the Council's Donald M. Ephraim Family Gallery.

Hundt's exhibition will run from June 10 to July 30, 2022 at the Council's headquarters in Lake Worth Beach (open Tuesdays through Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m.) Visit palmbeachculture.com/exhibitions for more information or to register for the artist reception.

Past award recipients include:

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