The National Sculpture Society (NSS) awards Erik Ebeling the 2025 Alex J. Ettl Grant. The Ettl Grant is presented annually to a sculptor who has demonstrated a commitment to sculpting and an outstanding ability in their body of work. The grant consists of an unrestricted cash prize of $5000.

NSS Fellows Janice Mauro, Sabin Howard and Alicia Ponzio served as jurors for this year’s grant. In selecting Ebeling, Mauro says, “The narrative in Ebeling’s work, including the straightforward portraits, invite the viewer to contemplate the complexity of the sitter’s expression. The idea of representing a hero, steeped in contemplation, is historic. Ebeling’s contemporary interpretation is broad enough to account for issues that affect our world today, creating a valid and relevant statement. Ebeling gives a sense of action by successfully describing body gestures, carefully placing fragmented forms, and showing sensitive modeling skills. Well done.”

Ebeling is from Overland Park, Kansas. He studied at the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute of Art in Florence, Italy, and graduated in 2005 from Drake University with a BFA in graphic design and a concentration in painting. After working as a senior graphic designer for Disney Interactive for several years, he shifted his attention back to sculpture, his lifelong interest. Ebeling first exhibited with the National Sculpture Society in 2021 at the 88th Annual Awards Exhibition at Brookgreen Gardens (Pawleys Island, South Carolina). He went onto exhibit in the following three Annual Awards Exhibitions. Ebeling has received recognition from the Art Renewal Center as a finalist in their 2020, 2022, and 2024 Salons; from the Society of Portrait Sculptors; the Salmagundi Club and from the Portrait Society of America. In 2023 and 2021, Ebeling was a selected artist for the London Art Biennale. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Ebeling joins thirty-eight others as a recipient of the grant named for Alex J. Ettl (1898 – 1992). Mr. Ettl was the owner of Sculpture House, a sculpture tool manufacturer and a fine art foundry. He was a Patron member of the National Sculpture Society and endowed the Alex J. Ettl Grant of $5,000 with a gift in 1988. Previous recipients include Richard Blake, sculptor of Frederick Douglass for New Bedford, MA, and Benjamin Victor, sculptor of four works in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, DC.