2006-2007
Fellowships and Residencies Awarded |
| Three ceramic
artists were named winners of the Archie Bray Foundation's
annual fellowship awards. The Lilian fellowship was awarded
to figurative sculptor Christina West; potter Jennifer Allen was awarded the Taunt Fellowship; and the Lincoln Fellowship
went to artist Joseph Pintz. Each fellowship awards $5,000 and a one-year residency at the foundation to artists of exceptional accomplishment and promise. Beneficiaries are expected to embrace the Bray experience of community and exchange, and have the opportunity to focus their attention towards producing and exhibiting a significant body of work. Artists Richard Swanson and Sarah Jaeger joined Bray resident director Josh DeWeese in selecting this years award winners. Click here to view 2006-2007 Fellowship Monograph written by Casey Ruble. |
Christina
West was born and raised in Owosso, Michigan. In 2003
she received a BFA from Siena Heights University in Adrian,
Michigan, and her MFA from the New York State College of
Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York this
past spring. West's work caters to her own interests in
psychology, sociology, and narrative. With her work she
says that she "...creates clay figures that become
characters for other people's stories. (These figures)
walk the line between the ordinary and the unusual, innocent
and corrupt, and/or the public and private." |
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Jennifer Allen received
her MFA from Indiana University and her BFA from the University
of Alaska, Anchorage. She also completed a summer residency
at the Bray in 2003, when she was granted the Eric Myhre Scholarship.
Allen's work commemorates various emotional and psychological
influences including family, loss, beauty and mystery. From
the significance of home, the transience of relationships and
the awe of nature, Allen's fondest memories inform her creative
process. Allen says, "I look to my pottery as individual
utilitarian forms that mirror my perceptions of beauty, mystery,
nourishment and celebration." |
Joseph
Pintz earned his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and
urban studies at Northwestern University and completed a
post-baccalaureate study in ceramics at Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville. In 2006, he received his Master
of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Pintz'
sculptural and functional work explore the role that domestic
objects play in fulfilling our needs on a physical and emotional
level. He creates minimal forms based on mundane objects
from the domestic realm, concurrently referencing
traditional pottery and implements associated with the hand.
Pintz says his goal is "...to celebrate the poetics of
the commonplace by sharing a sense of abundance, substance,
and community through my work." |
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| The Taunt, Lincoln, and Lilian
fellowships are awarded in February each year and are made
possible by Robert and Suzanne Taunt, Joan and David Lincoln,
and an anonymous donor. The fellowships reflect the commitment
of the donors to ceramic excellence and innovation, as well
as their regard for the significance of the Bray's artistic
community. The Archie Bray Foundation was the first artist
residency program in the United States devoted solely to ceramics.
For over fifty years the Bray has brought together artists
with diverse backgrounds and approaches to the medium, creating
an environment conducive to artistic exchange and individual
expression. |
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