The prestigious Individual Artist Fellowships from the Delaware Division of the Arts recognize artists in a variety of disciplines for their outstanding quality of work and provide monetary grants. Individual Artist Fellows are publicly acknowledged and benefit from the additional exposure to their work.

2012 Delaware Individual Artist Fellows

Masters
	Xiang Gao Music: Solo Recital “Whether to learn music or to listen to music. The healing power of music is unbelievable.”
Established Professional
	William Bretzger Visual Arts: Photography “There’s just so much to be done right around where we live, and I think people sort of miss that sometimes.”		David Brinley Visual Arts: PAINTING
	Anne Marie Cammarato Literature: Playwriting “Think of theater as a place that can really cause audiences to think and act and behave differently.”		Fostina Dixon-Kilgoe Jazz: Compostion “I want them to leave with something that inspired them for their lives.”
	Marianne Gythfeldt Music: Solo Recital “There are infinite possibilities for what you can do on your own with this creation of sound.”		Gary Hanna Literature: Poetry “[it] makes the bravest effort of all literary art forms to communicate our experiences, insights and understanding of ourselves and the life about us.”
	Ellen Priest Visual Arts: Painting “You don’t have to do anything as the viewer. Your eyes will travel."		Sally Van Orden Visual Arts: Crafts “...taking that information and transferring it to my own forms and shapes. It’s taking that information and reconstructing it.”
Emerging Professional
	Mahasveta Barua Literature: Fiction “I could sit on a train and weave a story about the person sitting across from me,”		Ramona Maziarz Visual Arts: Work on paper “It’s just paper, it’s just a pen, and it’s just a matter of how far you want to push it.”
	Abby Millager Literature: Creative Nonfiction “I want to make prose that is poetry.”		James Miller Literature: Poetry “Poetry really merges sound and language. You follow the sound, and the words will create more physical embodiment in the poem
	Nicholas Serratore Visual Arts: Painting “It’s easy to paint what you see...but what you really want to do is paint what you feel.”		Jessica Stephens Visual Arts: Crafts “The scale, for both the artist and the wearer, requires a certain amount of intimacy and closeness,”
	Carol Tippit Woolworth Visual Arts: Painting “Nothing comes out of the tube directly. It’s all a combination of colors.”

Each year approximately 10 to15 artists are awarded Individual Artist Fellowships from a pool of nearly 100 applications. The work of applicants is judged by nationally recognized arts professionals from outside Delaware.

The highest honor—the Masters Fellow—is reserved for those who meet the rigorous criteria. Only one Masters Fellow can be awarded each year, and the discipline category alternates among Literature, Visual Arts, and Music. Masters Fellowship applicants must have been previous recipients of a fellowship at the Established level and, in addition to exhibiting the highest standards in their work, must also demonstrate involvement and commitment to the arts in Delaware.

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. During the course of the fellowship year, recipients showcase their work in an exhibit or performance, giving the public an opportunity to appreciate the talents of these exceptional artists.

For more details about the Individual Artist Fellowship program, visit our Grants page.

To view previous Artist Fellows, visit: 2011 Fellowship Recipients | 2010 Fellowship Recipients | 2009 Fellowship Recipients