AMSA AMERICAN MEDALS OF THE YEAR

Geer Steyn and Eva-Maria Wohn tied for the 2024 medal of the year. It is the first time since the inception of the AMY that a tie has been declared.

 

Geer Steyn was awarded first place for his evocative medal Van Pallandt in honor of Charlotte Dorothée van Pallandt (9-04-1898 to 30-04-1997). "The portrait medal is based on my admiration for her work and my personal meetings with her," Geer stated, describing the obverse. "She is looking downwards to find the expression of her introvert character, but with an open mind. An elderly lady with a very determined royal appearance." He describes the reverse as, "Modelling an echo of a monument she had created in 1968 of Queen Wilhelmina, who had lived in exile in London during WWII. I included no feet, only a base, and I deliberately did not close the surrounding of the background to emphasize the expression of a freestanding figure in the public space. Her name and birth and death date finish the four edges of the medal."

Geer describes his medals as "sculptural, created directly in clay by hand and colored by shoe polish. It is the organization of volumes that gives meaning and finally evokes the resemblance with the subject. The right volume on the right spot." The medal is available in terracotta and bronze from the artist. Geersteyn@gmail.com.

 

Eva-Maria Wohn was awarded first place for her medal, Xi Jumping. "I started this political series soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was a way to share my outrage and my deep fear that the world would not support Ukraine's brave struggle. The Ukraine medal led me to explore a series of medals where I could use satire or mockery on the obverse and show the resulting consequences and suffering on the reverse. In this medal Xi is jumping from his cruel subjugation of Hong Kong to his next conquest, the vulnerable island of Taiwan. The reverse shows the strangling of the peace dove as representative of the threat to an all too fragile world peace.

Eva describes this medal as one in a long series. "The fifth in this series, following medals on Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Trump, is in process. There is, unfortunately, an inexhaustible supply of injustices in the world, but art is one of the most powerful tools of protest. An irreverent editorial cartoon, a war poster, a meme, or a medal that you can hold in your hand can spark social change; it has sparked social change. And if you doubt the power of art, consider the very rich, unbroken history of authoritarian governments muzzling artists."

The medal is available in bronze directly from the artist. Emwohn@gmail.com

 

About the artists:

You can see more of Geer's work at https://www.geersteyn.nl, or @geersteyn. His newest annual medal is The Dog.

You can see more of Eva's work at https://evamariawohn.com, or @evamariawohn. Her latest medals are Rocket Man and KREMINAL.

For more information on the American Medallic Sculpture Association, see:
https://amsamedals.org/

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