Three members of the Art Department faculty have received grants to support their work through the Artist Fellowship Program of the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA). Art Professor Thuan Vu, a painter, received one of seven Artistic Excellence Awards, while Art Professor Terrence Lavin, Art Department chairman and a jewelry maker and metalsmith, and photographer Meredith Miller, an adjunct faculty member in the Art Department, won Artist Fellowship grants.
The Artist Fellowship Program provides competitive grants to encourage the continuing development of Connecticut artists. These grants provide support for artists to pursue new work and achieve specific creative and career goals.
There are three types of grant designations awarded under this program based on reviewer assessment. The Artistic Excellence grants are $5,000 each, while the Artist Fellowship grants are $3,000 each.
Emerging Recognition grants are $1,000.
The awards covers all arts disciplines including the visual arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, crafts, installation, illustration); music (music production, music composition, and opera); writing (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and Young Adult fiction); dance and choreography; and theater (playwriting, film, and writing).
Of the top seven recipients of Artistic Excellence grants, Vu is one of only two visual artists to receive this grant. Of the paintings he entered in the awards competition, Vu says, “The black and white painting of flowers are a meditation on creating meaning and beauty in a world of conflict, division, and loss. Conceptually, the flowers were painted in a grisaille palette to convey how joy and beauty feel tempered during this time in my life and in our nation’s history.”
Lavin, who teaches jewelry and metals, writes of his work, “My current research is focused on looking toward the creation of a body of creative work that will adapt emergent digital tools and industrial manufacturing processes to the traditional forms, materials and practices of metalsmithing & sculpture. I’ll be working with 3D modelling software and rapid prototyping to explore 3D-printed output in two specific areas:
- direct casting of 3D printed forms into metal and glass (via lost-wax and/or sandcasting processes)
- electrolytic deposition (electroforming) of copper on 3D printed models”
Lavin is one of 35 artists in the state who were chosen to receive a $3,000 award from the COA. The funding provides an opportunity for these artists to continue their artistic development and creation of new work.
Miller was also one of the 35 artists to receive a $3,000 award. She received an Artist Fellowship from the COA with her photographic series, “On Trail: Portraits on the A.T.” She began this project in July 2019 during an artist residency at Monson Arts in Monson, Maine, an official Appalachian Trail Community. She explains, “My studio was conveniently located across the street from a hostel for thru-hikers. I plan to continue this project and am applying to other artist residencies situated along the A.T throughout New England.”
