Artist Access Grant

I would like to be fully immersed in the art community in Itasca County. Making connections and exploring new depths and the scope of my voice with feedback from my peers and community. My greatest hope would be to bring me closer to a full exhibit in a gallery. This is the first step to that end. I am fortunate that I have the time to devote to this endeavor. By the time of completion, I would like to have a series of completed works that are professionally matted and framed for display, and a cohesive collection of clay and fiber sculptures properly displayed. Additionally, I would like to have the ability to have experiential works for the use of the artist walks every first Friday of each month. The goal is to bring the community into the discussion and allow for a working collaborative project that would be completed by the visitors during the art walks. This finished project would be donated or displayed as appropriate. I would have a completed cohesive collection that tells a story. I will have completed a journal of my work with snapshots of my progress. I will have a completed collaboration with guests of the studio. I will be familiar with the work of other artists in my community and will have built a broader circle of creative influences. Success can be rather subjective and there is no checkbox that I can make today, but the creative sensibility that moves me to make this request and take this risk is the same sensibility that I rely on to determine if I am moving forward in the artistic space that I am in. Beyond having a collection, I want to leave this experience with even more hunger to learn and create. If I find myself at the end of June with an insatiable urge to create and make and do and share then I know that my goals have been accomplished. If people respond to the work I create in a way that makes them stay awhile and share their stories and challenges and hopes, I would consider this experience a great success.