Sarah K. Delson Fellowship Program

The Drawing Room in Partnership with the de Young Museum

This Fellowship was established in the name of San Francisco artist Sarah Delson who passed away on May 4, 2023. The Fellowship is designed to bolster Bay Area artists whose practice has been significantly shifted by a life-changing illness. The yearlong fellowship provides unrestricted stipends of up to $17,500 for each artist. Artists Denise Tarantino and Lexie Bouwsma were announced as the first recipients of the Fellowship in 2024.  In May 2024, The Drawing Room hosted adaptations, a retrospective show of their work. Fuzz E. Grant and Margaret Tedesco are the second cohort of recipients in 2025. 

The Fellowship was created by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in conjunction with the Drawing Room and is made possible by contributions in Delson’s honor from her family, friends, and broader community. The Fellowship is established in Delson’s memory, inspired by her passion for making art and honoring the essential role it played in her life.

The Drawing Room played an important role in Delson’s artistic development during her final years and is the primary home for the Fellowship. The Museums (the de Young and Legion of Honor) were likewise important in Delson’s artistic life, serving as inspirations for how museums can support art and artists as well as enhance local communities. Delson’s work was featured in the Museums’ premiere presentation of The de Young Open in 2020, which was conceived in part to support Bay Area artists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her painting, Dialing Sisyphus, was one of 877 artworks by 762 Bay Area artists selected for the open invitational that year.

2026 Fellows will be announced in April.  The Drawing Room will be accepting nominations from partner institutions beginning in December 2026 for next year’s awards.