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.

Each year approximately 10-15 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 the Grants for Individual Artists page.

To view 2009 Fellowship recipients, click here.

2010 Delaware Individual Artist Fellows

	Larry S. Anderson Established Professional Visual Arts: Painting "I still use my engineer's scales. I still use my triangles and T-squares. It's mathematical. Art is math."		Christopher Childers Established Professional Literature: Poetry "... [a poem's form] is both an insight into its subject and the architecture that makes that insight possible."
	Hunter Clarke Emerging Artist Visual Arts: Painting "Without this cycle of becoming part of another, there would be nothing."		Cybèle Clark-Mendes Emerging Artist Visual Arts: Photography "As a woman of mixed heritage... the topic of skin color and appearance is at the forefront of my work."
	Viet Dinh Established Professional Literature: Fiction "I haven't been there, I haven't lived that life. What do I imagine it would be like?"		Maribeth Fischer Established Professional Literature: Fiction "I have had people who have said to me [in free-write sessions], 'I hate your character. I don't even want to read that book.'"
	Tery Aine Griffin Emerging Artist Literature: Fiction "But it's kind of like breathing—if I don't write, I'm not happy. So I just write, really, because I always have."		Allison Haug Emerging Artist Visual Arts: Crafts "Since I am a scientist, I'm used to working within certain conditions."
	Michael Kalmbach Established Professional Visual Arts: Painting "[Art] ultimately needs to be radically free of any constraints"		Felise Luchansky Emerging Artist Visual Arts: Work on Paper "It's always been there, this idea to cut and paste and to rearrange."
	Ashley John Pigford Established Professional Visual Arts: Sculpture "Things like clock radios, computer hard drives, doorbells... and remaking that into a different type of experience"		Heather Siple Established Professional Visual Arts: Photography "It's just a matter of poking around the hardware store and finding something that'll bend the light to 180 degrees."
	Michael Sterling Smith Emerging Artist Music: Composition "My music, I guess it doesn't use too much traditional harmony... It's more counterpoint than harmonically based."		Nina Spencer Established Professional Folk Art: Visual Arts "I will dream or see the picture before I paint it, I'm just the instrument. I'm just a vessel."
	L. J. Sysko Emerging Artist Literature: Poetry "I read poetry that seemed to grant itself, and by extension, all of us, permission to be real, physical, and contemporary beings"		Crabmeat Thompson Established Professional Folk Art: Music "I could play for weeks and not repeat myself, I find it a lot of fun to record like this... I don't delete much."