Getting started with a fellowship

Tanner Price, a senior in the woodworking and furniture design program at Maine College of Art in Portland was one of 10 college seniors awarded a Windgate Fellowship of $15,000 from the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, located at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Awarded annually in March, the fellowship is meant to provide support for a student’s artistic career. Applicants submitted images of their work and a proposal outlining how the $15,000 would enhance their careers.

Originally from Addison, Vt., Price first learned of the fellowship in his junior year at Maine College of Art and made it his goal. He has always wanted to be a professional woodworker and credits the college’s program with helping him reach his potential.

“I remember looking into applying for it, coming to find out that it was only applicable to seniors. From that moment, I had remembered to keep my eye out for the application announcements at the school and particularly the notifications we got directly in our studios from our professors. When the event came around, I was ready and applied to a jury within [the college], which reviewed all of the applications from applying seniors from the college to select two students who would then go on to be entered into the national competition.

“The award means everything to me. The sum of money provided is truly career- altering. My plans for the use of the funding are to establish a studio and furnish it with the basic woodworking tools where I will continue to make work to continue and further my career as a furniture maker and designer. Also, I am planning to budget a trip to Europe towards the end of the summer where I will be able to physically experience the architectural elements that have so greatly informed my work so that I can document their physical existence.”

According to the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design’s website, the fellowship received 114 nominations from 66 universities.

Contact: Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, 1181 Broyles Road, P.O. Box 1127 Hendersonville, NC 28793. Tel: 828-890-2050. www.craftcreativitydesign.org

This article originally appeared in the August 2012 issue.