Zoe Dufour is the recipient of the National Sculpture Society’s 2020 Alex J. Ettl Grant. Sculptors Janice Mauro, Paul Moore and Tanya Ragir served as the 2020 jury.  The Grant is awarded to sculptors who have demonstrated a commitment to sculpting and an outstanding ability in their body of work. It consists of an unrestricted cash prize of $5000 and a quarter-page ad in Sculpture Review magazine.

NSS Board Member, Tuck Langland, praises Dufour’s “wonderful surfaces and liveliness of form” and her “truly exceptional modeling skills.”  These modeling skills have proven themselves in several competitions; in 2015 she was the Grand Prize Winner in Grand Central Atelier’s figure modeling competition and in 2016 and 2018 she won first place in National Sculpture Society’s modeling competitions.

Dufour recently shared her thoughts on receiving the grant, “I am really excited to have been selected as the recipient for the 2020 Alex J. Ettl Grant from the National Sculpture Society. Thank you so much for this Award! It was scheduled to be announced this summer at the annual conference, but in light of the pandemic the conference was postponed until next year. It is hard to say how much receiving this grant means, given the uncertainty of this year. The validation of the effort I put into my work and the financial aid is such a bolster in a difficult time. National Sculpture Society has supported my career in numerous ways throughout the years. Through them I have met an ever-expanding community of wonderful artists that inspire and educate.”

Dufour has taught at Grand Central Atelier (New York City), Dogtown Sculptors (Oakland, CA) and the Art School at Old Church (Demarest, NJ). Through her engagement with StudioEIS (Brooklyn, NY), Dufour has been a part of the creation of sculptures for the New York Historical Society (New York City), for the National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC), and for the American Revolution Museum (Yorktown, VA).

Alex J. Ettl (1898–1992) was a member of the National Sculpture Society’s board of directors and established the award in his name with an endowed gift. The Society has awarded the Alex J. Ettl Grant since 1989.