The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design announces 2017 Windgate Fellows

Breanna Hendricks, The Root of Exchange, 2016. Photo courtesy of the artist

Now in it's twelfth year, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design's (CCCD) Windgate Fellowship marks $1.8 million awarded to 120 emerging craft artists nationwide. Nominated from a national network of over 120 university art programs, these makers represent a skilled and motivated next generation for craft. Each year, the Windgate Fellowship identifies ten graduating college seniors with exemplary skill in craft. Awardees receive $15,000 - one of the largest awards offered nationally to art students. "In 2006, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design had the foresight to launch the Windgate Fellowships in support of undergraduate craft artists when grants and opportunities were scarce," says Stephanie Moore, Executive Director. "We continue to recognize the value of providing support at this critical time - to validate their choice, give them risk-taking and skill-building resources, and provide them with a network of support." The results of such early support are already beginning to emerge. Today, Windgate Fellows hold full time faculty positions, are accepted into nationally renowned residence programs, mount solo shows, and establish successful studios. Over half have gone on to earn a Masters of Fine Arts degree. Their work can been seen in nationally traveling exhibitions, represented in galleries, and published in periodicals such as American Craft. Supporting the next generation is one of CCCD's main focus areas identified to build a thriving national craft field. This year, four panelists reviewed a national pool of 110 applicants on the basis of artistic merit. They also discerned the potential of each applicant to make significant contributions to the field of craft. The 2017 selection panel included: Margaret (Margi) C. Conrads, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Ayumi Horie, Potter, Maker and Activist, Portland, ME; Rebecca Manson, Ceramic Artist, 2011 Windgate Fellowship Recipient and 2016 Windgate Project Grant Recipient, Bedford Hills, NY; Abraham Thomas, Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge, Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC. To mark the tenth anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship in 2015, CCCD announced that it would award a total of ten $10,000 Windgate Project Grants to previous Fellows over the course of three years. The first six grants were awarded in 2015 and 2016 to Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Aaron McIntosh (Baltimore, MD), Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY), Dustin Farnsworth (Madison, WI), Rebecca Manson (Bedford Hills, NY) and Rachel Mauser (Louisville, KY). The final four CCCD Windgate Project Grants were awarded this year to: Josh Copus, 2006 Windgate Fellow, Ceramics, Marshall, NC Brian Fleetwood, 2012 Windgate Fellow, Jewelry, La Mesilla, NM Ani Geragosian, 2009 Windgate Fellow, Fiber, Salem, MA Adam Ledford, 2011 Windgate Fellow, Ceramics, Philadelphia, PA  The 2017 CCCD Windgate Fellows are: Audrey An, Alfred University, Ceramics Rachel Chalik, The University of the Arts, Jewelry/Metalsmithing Esther Cho, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wood/Furniture Emelie Cleveland, Parsons, The New School of Design, Fiber/Textiles Christina Dietz, Pennsylvania State University, Sculpture/Psychology Christina Glover, Savannah College of Art and Design, Fiber/Textiles Breana Hendricks, State University of New York at New Paltz, Ceramics Amy Hoagland, University of Kentucky, Glass/Sculpture/Paper/Extended Media Steven Kaplan-Pistiner, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Jewelry/Metalsmithing Rosa Novak, California College of the Arts, Ceramics/Fiber For a full list of current and previous awardees, please visit www.craftcreativitydesign.org/grants/windgate-fellowship. The CCCD Windgate Fellowship program is administered by The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design and supported by the Windgate Fund at the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. ###