Mission

Dedicated to supporting Los Angeles artists

Established in 2016, The Davyd Whaley Foundation is dedicated to supporting artists in their endeavors. In the spirit of its namesake Davyd Whaley (1967-2014), the Foundation offers grants and scholarships to assist the recipients in the pursuit of their work.



Davyd Whaley devoted the happiest and most productive years of his life to his work as a painter. Unfortunately, his life ended just as he was beginning to achieve the recognition and success for which he worked so hard. The quality of the paintings he left behind is testimony to his creative accomplishment.. Davyd was fascinated by every aspect of art, but he was also a philanthropist. He taught art to the underprivileged, counseled grieving families in hospitals, and taught terminally-ill and war-scarred children to paint. He was honored as Volunteer of the Year by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 2012. Davyd's goals were always evident: Make art. Buy the art of others. Help people whenever possible. Grow in consciousness. The mission of the Foundation was designed around these tenets.

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Grants Recipients

we offer a wide variety of grants to the LA community

About Davyd Whaley

"PAINTING MANIFESTS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE"

Davyd Whaley was born on December 6, 1967 and died on October 15, 2014. He was a resident artist at the Santa Fe Art Colony in downtown Los Angeles and was a member of the Los Angeles Art Association. He had previously served in the Navy for four years from 1986-1990, and worked for 15 years as an electrical engineer before becoming a professional artist. He was admired and deeply loved by his colleagues, his friends, and his spouse, television director Norman Buckley.

His time was split between being a full-time studio artist and teaching art classes. At the time of his death he was teaching art to terminally ill children with The Art of Elysium, as well as working with war-scarred children through The Children of War Foundation.

As an artist, Davyd Whaley was primarily self-taught. But he took occasional classes at UCLA and with Ronnie Landfield and Larry Poons at the Art Students League of New York. The genesis of his art came from both nature and his surroundings but also from his dreams and subconscious. He was inspired by Jungian psychology and his own desire to understand the unconscious mind through the study of dreams, symbols, art, and philosophy. Davyd believed, "Painting manifests an alternate universe in which our subconscious world becomes a reality.”

In technical terms, Davyd was drawn to asymmetrical forms and the energy and power created by a 3-dimensional contrast of tactile depth, light and color. Davyd’s paintings are defined by circuitous strokes, thick with color and texture. He painted in episodes, each work expressing a moment; each canvas a spiritual sequence, like dreams linked in our subconscious by ethereal themes or meanings.

He wrote, "We do not get all the information on how to live our everyday lives in just one dream. They come in short, little bursts, like thunderstorms. Just like storms, dreams have patterns if we piece them together. I paint as a way of expressing my feelings.”

In the long history of art, there is an abundance of artists whose work was barely known until long after their passing, and indeed Davyd Whaley’s art had not achieved wide recognition at the time of his death. As a body of work, however, it proclaims its own quality and celebrates the dedication and passion with which it was created. He remains alive in the hundreds of paintings and drawings he completed. Much of his work has been collected in the volume DAVYD WHALEY, with an essay “A HERO’S JOURNEY” by Peter Clothier, available soon on Amazon with all proceeds going to the Foundation.

To preserve his legacy,The Davyd Whaley Foundation has been established to support living artists on their path to success. It honors Davyd’s desire to be of service to his fellow artists, through the awarding of grants that will enable others to follow their creative path with the sense of liberation and joy that he himself was able to discover in his studio practice.

davydwhaley.com



Media

Media & Articles

Supporting the Arts in Los Angeles
Michael Welton
Over the past three years, the group has donated more than $42,000 to local artists, helping them survive in a difficult environment – and encouraging them to create with two-week long residencies.
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Margaret Griffith 2017 Mid - Career Grant Winner
Molly Glentzer
Installation view: "Lines Drawn" at DiverseWorks, Houston (September 23-November 18, 2017).
Art Daybook: The sagging gates of the White House
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Direct Support: Why This New Grant is a Surprising Outlier in Arts Philanthropy
Mike Scutari
After coming across the Foundation for Contemporary Arts' (FCA) new annual Roy Lichtenstein Award, I couldn't help but read into a comment by Jack Cowart, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation's executive director.
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Davyd Whaley Foundation launches
Pauline Adamek | July 12, 2016
The Davyd Whaley Foundation, announced its launch on Saturday with a mission dedicated to supporting under-recognized Los Angeles area artists. In the spirit of its namesake Davyd Whaley (1967-2014), the Foundation offers a variety of grants to assist these artists in the fulfillment of their vision.
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Meet the New Foundation Filling a Persistent Void in Local Arts Philanthropy
Mike Scutari
Los Angeles has a new arts grantmaker, the Davyd Whaley Foundation, which recently launched to fill an "over-looked gap in L.A.'s art philanthropy.
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Whaley Foundation grants to support Los Angeles visual artists
debra levine | 10 Jul 2016
In a community celebration on Saturday, the Davyd Whaley Foundation launched a program of grants targeted to directly support individual Los Angeles-area visual artists.
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New grants in honor of the late painter Davyd Whaley will go to midcareer artists
Carolina A. Miranda | July 26, 2016
A new foundation established in honor of Los Angeles painter Davyd Whaley, who died two years ago at age 47, will launch a special grant program to support midcareer artists in the greater Los Angeles area.
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New Foundation in Los Angeles Launches Grant Program for Midcareer Artists
AUGUST 1, 2016
Established in honor of the late Los Angeles painter Davyd Whaley, a new foundation will launch a special grant program in early 2017 to support midcareer artists in the greater Los Angeles area, according to Carolina A.
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Contribute

ART ENRICHES COMMUNITY

The Davyd Whaley Foundation welcomes support from friends of the Los Angeles art community. Making a tax-deductible donation to a grant fund can make a life-changing contribution to an artist's creative life. Join us in celebrating the legacy of Davyd Whaley by participating in this worthy endeavor.

All donations are tax-deductible.
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    MAKE ART. BUY THE ART OF OTHERS. HELP PEOPLE WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

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