Detroit artists awarded Kresge Fellowships

Art Agenda: Detroit artists awarded Kresge Fellowships

Four AICAD alumni have been awarded Kresge Artist Fellowships in visual arts for 2015: Annica Cuppetelli (Cranbrook) and Cristobal Mendoza (RISD) of the new media collective Cuppetelli and Mendoza, metalwork artist and sculptor Tiff Massey (Cranbrook), and sculptor Chris Schanck (SVA, Cranbrook).

Kresge Arts in Detroit is pleased to announce that 16 metropolitan Detroit artists and two collectives have been awarded Kresge Artist Fellowships for 2015. Funded by The Kresge Foundation and administered by the College for Creative Studies, each of the 18 Fellowships rewards literary and visual artists for their creative vision and commitment to excellence and include an unrestricted 25,000 USD prize.

A talented, eclectic group of emerging and established artists, the 2015 Fellows represent a wide range of creative practices that are enlivening the metropolitan Detroit area and reflect a cultural community that is hyper-creative, resilient and uniquely Detroit.

Literary Arts Fellows
Jeffrey S. Chapman, graphic novels, fiction / Desiree Cooper, flash fiction / Kahn Santori Davison, poetry / Walerian Domanski, short stories / Billy Mark, experimental freestyle poet / Airea D. Matthews, poetry / Sarah Rose Sharp, arts criticism / George Tysh, poetry / Lillien Waller, poetry

Visual Arts Fellows
Cuppetelli and Mendoza, new media art / M. Saffell Gardner (Saffell), painting / Cynthia Greig, photography / Carole Harris, fiber art / Tzarinas of the Plane, performance art / Tiff Massey, metalwork, sculpture / Nancy M. Mitchnick, painting / Jonathan Rajewski, painting / Chris Schanck, sculpture.

In addition to the unrestricted 25,000 USD award, Fellows participate in a year-long professional practice program designed and delivered by Creative Many Michigan. The professional practice program includes an intensive professional development retreat presented by New York-based artist service organization Creative Capital.

More than 650 applications were reviewed by two independent panels of national and local artists and arts professionals.

Literary Arts panelists
Samiya Bashir: Poet, founding organizer of Fire & Ink, an advocacy organization and writers festival for LGBT writers of African descent, assistant professor of creative writing at Reed College
Renée c. hoogland: Writer, professor of English at Wayne State University, editor of Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts
Kim Hunter: Writer, co-director of the Woodward Line Poetry Series, poet-in-residence with InsideOut Literary Arts
Albert Mobilio: Writer, editor for Bookforum, editor for Hyperallergic Weekend, assistant professor of literary studies at the New School’s Eugene Lang College
Anne Waldman: Poet, performer, co-founder of The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University

Visual Arts panelists
Chakaia Booker: Contemporary sculptor
Sonya Clark: Artist, chair of Craft/Material Studies in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University
Elizabeth Dee: American gallery owner (Elizabeth Dee Gallery), co-founder of Independent (alternative art fair established in New York in 2010, expanding to Brussels in 2016)
Valerie Parks: Painter, educator
Senghor Reid: Painter, filmmaker, artist-in-residence at Cranbrook Schools

Kresge Arts in Detroit, which comprises the Kresge Artist Fellowships and Kresge Eminent Artist Award, is generously funded by The Kresge Foundation and administered by the College for Creative Studies. Kresge Arts in Detroit represents one facet of The Kresge Foundation’s Detroit Program, a comprehensive community-development effort to strengthen the long-term economic, social and cultural fabric of the city and surrounding region. The goals of Kresge Arts in Detroit are to enrich the quality of life for metropolitan Detroiters by helping artists provide a broad spectrum of cultural experiences; celebrate and reflect the richness and diversity of our community; heighten the profile of arts and artists in our community; and strengthen the artistic careers of local artists. Since 2008, Kresge Arts in Detroit has recognized 126 Kresge Artist Fellows with 25,000 USD awards and seven Kresge Eminent Artists with 50,000 USD awards, a total of 3.5 million USD.

Text and image courtesy Art Agenda
Text credit cderoos@collegeforcreativestudies.edu
Photo credit Bruce Griffin