2019 Saltus Award to Mashiko | A Century of Medallic Excellence: The J. Sanford Saltus Award
Channel: American Numismatic Society
Date: 2019-12-17

The American Numismatic Society Presents the 2019 J. Sanford Saltus Award for Signal Achievement in the Art of the Medal to the New York City based medallic artist Mashiko.

Opening remarks are provided by Dr. Gilles Bransbourg, Executive Director of the American Numismatic Society, followed by a lecture on the origins of the Saltus Award by Mr. Donald Scarinici of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Commission.

Mashiko grew up in her father’s home city of Kyoto, Japan. In 1962 she moved to the United States, and in 1964 to New York City. There, in 1993, she founded Medialia … Rack and Hamper Gallery, a showplace for contemporary medallic art.  Seven years later she founded New Approach, Inc., a nonprofit organization that promotes emerging artists and curators and serves as a contemporary medallic-art research center.

As a prolific sculptor and medallic artist, Mashiko has received numerous awards, including the American Numismatic Association’s Excellence in Medallic Sculpture Award and the Grand Prix at the XXXV Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d'Art (FIDEM) Congress. Her stone sculptures, medallic art, silkscreen prints, and drawn illustrations are in numerous public collections around the world, including the Cincinnati Art Museum, the National Museum of Taiwan, Kyoto City Hall, the Queens Museum (New York), the American Numismatic Society, the American Numismatic Association, and the British Museum. Her many commissions, from organizations such as the British Art Medal Society and the New York Numismatic Club, include one for a memorial granite headstone for the feminist activist and author Betty Friedan. She has also been invited to submit designs to the U.S. Mint.

In addition to her extensive creative endeavors, she has also been a tireless teacher of her craft, offering courses in medallic and stone sculpture at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, for two decades (1993 – 2013). Since 2001 she has also conducted private book-art, medal and urushi workshops.

“Mashiko is unquestionably deserving of the Award,” noted Saltus Committee Chairman Donald Scarinci, “not only for her wonderfully creative medallic art, but for all that she has done to teach and promote the medal as well. We are especially pleased to present the Award to her this year, the centennial year of the Award.”

The ceremony took place at the ANS headquarters in New York City on Thursday, December 12, 2019.

The Saltus Award ward was created with a grant to the American Numismatic Society by J. Sanford Saltus in 1913 to recognize and encourage excellence in the art of the medal.  The first Saltus Award was presented in 1919; the silver award medal was designed by the prominent German-born numismatic and architectural sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman.

Mashiko joins the ranks of other significant artists who have been awarded the medal including, among dozens of others, James Earl Frazer (1919), Victor D. Brenner (1922), Paul Manship (1925), Lee Lawrie (1937), Donald DeLue (1967), Kauko Räsänen (1986), Gustaaf Hellegers (2001), and João Duarte (2011), and Bogomil Nikolov (2017).