The West Virginia Commission on the Arts of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History has awarded $28,000 to a group of Mountain State artists who were selected as recipients of the 2008 West Virginia Artist Fellowship Grant Awards. The fellowships were presented on Monday, June 9, as part of the Governor’s Arts Awards gala and reception at the Cultural Center, State Capitol Complex, Charleston.
At the ceremony, eight Artist Fellowship Awards of $3,500 were made to artists from Berkeley, Boone, Cabell, Kanawha, Ohio and Preston counties. Works were chosen in the categories of performing arts/interdisciplinary performance art; literary arts/children’s literature/biography/memoir; and visual arts/sculpture/installation.
Fellowship recipients are Karin Fuller of Charleston; Kathleen Furbee of Independence; Karen Gergely of Martinsburg; Charles Jupiter Hamilton of Charleston; Marc Harshman of Wheeling; Teresa Newsome of Madison; Natosha Tillman of Martinsburg; and Carter Taylor Seaton of Huntington. Background information about each recipient can be found at the end of this news release.
The fellowships are intended to support working artists for the purpose of artistic development. Use of funds is up to the recipients’ discretion including, but not limited to, creating new work, purchasing supplies and materials, travel, research, and defraying expenses incurred in the presentation of work or documentation.
The West Virginia Commission on the Arts directs state policy and allocations for arts programs in West Virginia.
For more information about the Artist Fellowship Grant Awards, contact Jeff Pierson, director of arts for the Division, at (304) 558-0240, ext. 717, or by e-mail at jeff.pierson@wvculture.org. Information and application forms for all available arts grants are posted on the Division’s website at www.wvculture.org.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Cultural Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Cultural Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
2008 Artist Fellowship Recipients
Each name links to a photograph of the recipient
Karin Fuller of Charleston, Biography/Memoir
Karin Fuller has been a lifestyle columnist for The Sunday-Gazette Mail, West Virginia’s largest newspaper, since 1997, and has been recognized annually as one of the state’s top columnists by the West Virginia Press Association. In June of 2003, her columns were awarded first place in the United States (general interest category) by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Fuller won first place in Writers Digest’s genre short story competition, and she has twice made the top 10 in Glamour magazine’s annual “Story of My Life” essay contest. Her publishing credits include columns and short stories in Family Circle, Woman’s World, Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta Parent, and Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers, among others.
Kathleen Furbee of Independence, Biography/Memoir
Kathleen Furbee is a lifelong West Virginian and a current resident of Independence in Preston County. She is employed full-time as a nurse case manager, following a ‘near-year’ spent at home working on several writing projects, including a novel, and two essay collections. In addition to writing, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and kayaking on quiet rivers. Furbee lives in the country with her partner and several pets. She has two grown daughters. Furbee placed third in the 2003 West Virginia Writers Competition for “Inspirational Writing.”
Karen Gergely of Martinsburg, Installation Art
Karen Gergely is a native of Morgantown and received her bachelor of fine arts degree in painting from Shepherd University in 2003 and her master of fine arts degree in interdisciplinary 2-D from the University of Cincinnati DAAP in 2006. She currently teaches fine arts at Fairmont State University. Gergely served as a one-year ambassador to Debrecen, Hungary, in 1998-1999; spent time in Mali, Africa, for fine arts research in 2003; and received the Wolfstein Fellowship Grant for research in Ollyantambo, Peru, for six weeks in 2005. Gergely through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2002 and mountain biked the Continental Divide trail in 2004. These journeys play a dominant role in Gergely’s work where exploration, adventure and reenactment are investigated. Recent solo exhibitions include the University of Charleston; the Monongalia Arts Center, Morgantown; a thesis exhibition at the University of Cincinnati Downtown Galleries; and a group exhibition at the Torpedo Factory Target Gallery in Alexandria, Va.
Charles Jupiter Hamilton of Charleston, Sculpture
Charles Jupiter Hamilton creates captivating acrylic canvases, hand-built sculptures, carved and painted wood wall reliefs and self-pulled block prints that combine the vitality of contemporary art with a rich and resonant figurative imagery. Highly expressive and known for a satirical visual humor; his conflicting colors, elaborate patterns and painterly casualness, come together in a kind of “new world primitivism.” Hamilton’s many influences include growing up on a small dairy farm with a Hungarian mother, brother and strong-willed sisters; his travels and service as a Gunner’s Mate Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy, a spotty education at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; painting and traveling around in Mexico, Central America, India and the United States; and his many years at home among the “wildlife” of West Virginia. Hamilton has been the source of a documentary film. His work has received recognition within and beyond the borders of West Virginia, winning many prizes and awards. It has been exhibited and collected in Charleston, W.Va.; Boston, Mass.; New York City, Tampa and Miami, Fla.; San Diego, Calif.; Raleigh, N.C.; Savannah and Atlanta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; and Chicago, Ill.
Marc Harshman of Wheeling, Children’s Literature
Until a few years ago Marc Harshman taught fifth and sixth grades at the Sand Hill School, one of the last of the three-room country schools. Raised in Indiana, he has lived his adult life in West Virginia with his wife, Cheryl Ryan, author of Sally Arnold, Cobblehill, 1996, and his teenage daughter, Sarah. The author of 10 picture books for children, he is also a poet and storyteller. His children’s books have been published in Spanish, Korean, Danish, and Swedish. Only One was a Reading Rainbow review title on PBS-TV and The Storm was a Junior Library Guild selection, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, a Children’s Book Council Notable Book for Social Studies, and a 1995 Parent’s Choice Award recipient.
Teresa Newsome of Madison, Children’s Literature
Teresa is an award-winning children’s book author from Madison. She has won several awards for her writing including first place at the 2001 and 2003 West Virginia’s Writers Spring Competition. Her published works include The Meanest Teacher, Deadly Promises, Hardly Blended and Speders, to name a few. Newsome is a member of several writers’ organizations including the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Carter Taylor Seaton of Huntington, Sculpture
Carter Taylor Seaton studied with master sculptors Paul Lucchesi at the Loveland Academy of Fine Arts in Loveland, Colo., and with Peter Rubino, Eugene Daub, and Steven Perkins. In 2000 she received a scholarship from the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair and a Professional Development Grant from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts to further her studies in sculpture. Seaton has exhibited statewide including, Tamarack, Renaissance Gallery, West Virginia Juried Exhibition, West Virginia Art and Craft Guild First Annual Competition and the Mountain State Art and Craft Fair.
Natosha Tillman of Martinsburg, Interdisciplinary Performance Art
Natosha Tillman graduated with a bachelor’s degree with honors in dance from Hollins University. She then moved to New York to show her work and dance for friends Emily Wexler, Sam Kim, and Ann Liv Young. While in the city she had the pleasure of performing both locally and abroad. Upon moving back to the mountains, she began working with the Goose Route Arts Collaborative. Through the collaborative, she has taught a myriad of classes, administrated a modern dance festival, performed in other members’ work, began a New Live Arts showing series, and has shown her own work. Additionally, Tillman teaches at The Arts Centre during the Young Artist Summer Workshops. She also is collaborating with visual artist and friend Colleen Tracey. They are creating a series of interdisciplinary art experiences inspired by Italo Calvino’s book Six Memos for the Next Millennium to be performed in Shepherdstown beginning July 14th through the 19th. Tillman aims to explore dualities and make visible bits of authentic human experience for the viewer and herself. Her work explores these ideas through the mediums of movement, visual art, and video.
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