Artist Trust Announces 2018 Fellowship Award Recipients

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June 18, 2018 – Artist Trust is proud to announce the names of the 16 recipients of the 2018 Fellowship, an unrestricted grant program that awards $7,500 to practicing professional artists of exceptional talent and ability. Recipients were selected based on merit by a panel of multidisciplinary artists and art professionals based in Washington State.

Prior to 2018, eligible artistic disciplinary categories rotated every year. In response to feedback from artists, Fellowships were opened up to allow artists working in all disciplines to apply each year. In their grant application, artists were asked to self-define their work in a discipline statement rather than selecting one disciplinary category under which their work would be reviewed. Read more about the programmatic shift here.

This year, a total of 349 applications were received from artists living and working throughout Washington for consideration of the award. Of the 2018 Fellowship recipients, 14 of 16 recipients self-identified as a person of color, while six of the awarded artists reside outside of King County.

“Receiving this Fellowship has singlehandedly validated the decision to leap without a safety net, and it has given me the extraordinary gift of peace of mind,” said multidisciplinary artist Tessa Hulls from Port Townsend. “Over the years, Artist Trust has supported me both as an individual and as a member of a larger creative community, and it means everything to know that Artist Trust is out there helping artists make their best work.” A daughter of first-generation immigrants, Hulls is currently working on a nonfiction graphic novel drawn from family stories that will explore themes including mother/daughter relationships, cultural divides, mental illness, and the American fascination with the frontier.

“In the post-9/11 world of Neo-orientalism and Islamophobia… I also wanted to tell the world that my country is not like what they see on TV,” stated Salome MC, a musician and multimedia artist residing in Bothell, in her Fellowship application. Lauded as the first female hip hop artist in her home country of Iran, Salome MC released her latest album after immigrating to the United States in 2016. “To me, this award, more than anything, is acknowledgment that I am a local Washington State artist. As a new immigrant during this tumultuous time in America, it means a great deal to me, and I am honored to call this beautiful state my home,” she said upon receiving a 2018 Fellowship award.

First presented in 1987, Fellowship is Artist Trust’s longest running award. In 2018, the award provided a total of $120,000 in funding to individual artists across the state. Fellowship awards are made possible through the support of our community including generous individuals, foundations, and corporations that believe in the importance of the work of the individual artist. Learn more about how you can support Washington’s artists by contributing to our Spring Campaign.

The names of the 2018 Fellowship recipients and selection panelists are listed below. Fellowship award recipients’ biographies and images of their work can be viewed on the Artist Trust website.

2018 Fellowship Recipients
Literary
Cathy Linh Che, King County
Laura Da’, King County
Mattilda B. Sycamore, King County
Diana Xin, King County

Multidisciplinary
Tessa Hulls, Jefferson County
Eliaichi Kimaro, King County

Music
Christopher Icasiano, King County
Grace Love, Jefferson County
Salome MC, King County

Performance
Jade Solomon Curtis, King County
Haruko Nishimura, King County

Visual
Ryan Feddersen, Pierce County
Christopher Paul Jordan, Pierce County
Taiji Miyasaka, Whitman County
Barbara Sternberger, Whatcom County
Tariqa Waters, King County

2018 Fellowship Selection Panelists
Andre Bouchard, Arts WA Commissioner & Founder of Walrus Arts Management & Consulting, LLC, Clark County
Bill Carty, Poet & Editor of Poetry Northwest, King County
Amjad Faur, Photographer & Professor at Evergreen State College, Thurston County
Elliat Graney-Saucke, Documentary Filmmaker, King County
Veronica Lee-Baik, Choreographer & Founder of The Three Yells, King County

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