Delaware’s Individual Artist Fellowships recognize artists for their outstanding quality of work and provide monetary awards. Individual Artist Fellows are publicly acknowledged and benefit from the additional exposure to their work. Fellows are required to showcase their work in a public exhibition or performance, so we’ve set up a special section on DelawareScene.com for you to experience their work.
This year, the Division received work samples from 136 Delaware choreographers, composers, musicians, writers, folk and visual artists were reviewed by out-of-state arts professionals, considering demonstrated creativity and skill in their art form. The 20 selected fellows reside throughout Delaware including Bear, Bridgeville, Claymont, Dover, Frankford, Lewes Middletown, Newark, and Wilmington.
Each year, the Biggs Museum of American Art, in partnership with the Delaware Division of the Arts, exhibits the work of Delaware’s Artist Fellows at the Award Winners exhibition. Award Winners XIX began at the Biggs Museum and traveled to CAMP Rehoboth, Rehoboth Beach and Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Wilmington.
Wilmington
Literature: Fiction
“It is in noticing the smallest of details we are able to see the largest: an interconnectiveness that gives meanings of all things great and small.”
Wilmington
Visual Arts: Works on Paper
“Whether I’m using word, image, organic materials or design techniques, nature is my rubric and my compass, my metaphor and material.”
Bear
Visual Arts: Painting
“I am an incurable optimist. I paint to live and I live to paint. My favorite color is blue.”
Wilmington
Music: Solo Recital
“The musician’s world is complicated, challenging, and fully saturated with talent. I have to work hard and dig deep to be heard.”
Claymont
Visual Arts: Photography
“I have always felt that artists maintain a running conversation with art of the past and present. It is reaffirming to live in the world and respond by making something.”
Newark
Folk Arts: Music
“Every day I try to find a new sound with my music. My professional philosophy: Play music, anywhere, anytime, with anyone!”
Middletown
Literature: Creative Nonfiction
“My mother – a photographer, journalist, and painter – taught me that art could say the things that we are afraid to say [and] how it could heal long after the life of its creator.”
Middletown
Literature: Poetry
“It is important to me that others feel a connection when they arrive at my work. . . As a black woman, I feel a particular responsibility to complicate and elevate conversations about black women’s lives.”
Frankford
Literature: Fiction
“Working on one story makes other ideas pop into your head. I’ve got a few of them circling, like airplanes in a holding pattern. I hope I have enough time to get them all out of the air.”
Newark
Music: Solo Recital
“I feel strongly that music should not be a purely academic procedure but should be emotive and connective with every note on the page and every performance.”
Lewes
Visual Arts: Crafts
“I recognize the importance of pushing aside fear and taking risks in developing new work that branches beyond the soft, quiet, and hidden.”
Claymont
Visual Arts: Works on Paper
“The realization that art is actually one very common language has allowed my creative processes to flourish.”
Wilmington
Folk Arts: Visual Arts
“I’m going to show Wilmington and the world about my artwork and changing art in America.”
Newark
Literature: Poetry
“That’s the direction I’m headed in – being open to discovery and committed to invention. My challenge is to build a contraption of dreams that will transport me.”
Bridgeville
Literature: Creative Nonfiction
“I have found that creative non-fiction offers a way into a reader’s emotional content, and I have been exploring that concept for the past year.”
Newark
Music: Composition
“As a composer, I strive to write music that is engaging and captivating to both performers and audiences alike . . . music that interests me and that I am proud of.”
Newark
Visual Arts: Sculpture
“I think that everyone is an artist within. The important thing is for each of us to figure out how to share our own inner artist.”
Lewes
Visual Arts: Painting
“As an environmentalist, I have always wanted my work to convey a sense of activism. Many of my images deal with environmental issues that are either overt or hidden.”
Wilmington
Visual Arts: Photography
“I was pre-ordained for photography. There hasn’t been a time in my life in which I did not own a camera.”
The Division offers fellowships in the artistic disciplines of choreography, folk art, jazz, literature, media arts, music, and visual arts. Artists’ work samples are reviewed by nationally recognized out-of-state arts professionals, considering both demonstrated creativity and skill in the art form.
The awards—$3,000 for Emerging Artists, $6,000 for Established Professionals, and $10,000 for Masters—allow artists to pursue advanced training, purchase equipment and materials, or fulfill
other needs that will help advance their careers.
The highest honor—the Masters Fellow—is reserved for those who meet rigorous criteria. Only one Masters Fellow can be awarded each year. Disciplines rotate every three years.
During the fellowship year, recipients are required to showcase their work in a public exhibit or performance in Delaware
For more details about the Individual Artist Fellowship program, please visit our Grants for Artists page.
Fellowship Home
Related Topics: arts fellowship, emerging artist, fellowship, individual artist fellow, individual artist fellowship, literary arts, visual arts