Early Career Artist Residencies

Early Career Artist Residencies

Applications open January 27, 2023. Applications are due Friday, March 31, 2023, by 5 pm CT.

Each residency recipient will have a furnished studio space with 24/7 access to NCC’s facilities. In addition to the workspace, each fellowship includes an annual materials and firing stipend as well as professional development and enrichment opportunities through NCC’s education, exhibitions, and sales gallery programs, for qualified and interested fellows. A group exhibition featuring work produced during the fellowship period will take place in January 2025, at Northern Clay Center, following conclusion of the grant period. Additionally, recipients have the opportunity to present a brief slide lecture on their work in conjunction with the exhibition.

Please note: you must indicate which of the three awards you are applying for. One application may be submitted for multiple opportunities and eligibility varies for each opportunity.

Anonymous Artist Studio Fellowship
The Anonymous Artist Studio Fellowship will be awarded to two early career ceramic artists working in a functional, sculptural, relational, or installation-based manner. Fellows will share a furnished studio space with 24/7 access to NCC’s facilities from September 1, 2023, to August 31, 2024.

BIPOC Studio Fellowship
The BIPOC Studio Fellowship will support one early career ceramic artist of color who is working in a functional, sculptural, relational, or installation-based manner. The 2023 recipient will share a furnished studio space from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024 and will be provided additional resources to pursue mentorship opportunities including participation in the NCECA conference, support more robust materials and firing use, and to buttress the cost of living.

Fogelberg Studio Fellowship
The Fogelberg Studio Fellowship will support one early career ceramic artist working in a strictly functional manner, who is a Minnesota or Wisconsin resident, and interested in pursuing a career in studio pottery. The 2023 recipient will have access to a furnished private studio space from September 1, 2023, to August 31, 2024.

2023 Selection Panel
For this years grant application cycle, the panelists for NCC’s early career artist opportunities will be Adam Chau, Sharbani Das Gupta, & Janina Myronova.

Chau works primarily in ceramics and operates a studio in Cold Springs, NY. Adam produces blue-and-white porcelain objects which draw parallels with both historic craft with loaded histories of globalization via the silk road as well as a material that is used in the electronics industry. Adam has exhibited and lectured internationally with a wide publication list on his research into ceramic technology. 

Das Gupta is a ceramic artist working from her studio in Las Cruces, NM. The focus of Sharbani’s art lies in the interconnected issues of land, identity, and ecology. The dramatic landscape of her New Mexico home is a constant source of inspiration. Sharbani has exhibited extensively around the world and is a founding member of the Indian Ceramics Triennale.

Myronova is a Ukranian ceramic artist based in Poland. Janina’s figurative sculptural ceramic works focus on a different personality, a personal story, a graphic novel featuring her favorite motifs: images of family relationships, parents and children, partners, and pets. Janina has exhibited her ceramic work around the world and is currently a resident at the Archie Bray Foundation. 

These programs are made possible by generous contributions from several anonymous donors, as well as various secondary market sales at Northern Clay Center, with the intention to nurture the creative expression of aspiring ceramic artists.

Eligibility

• Eligibility is restricted to clay artists who have completed all formal academic training by the start of the grant period (September 1, 2021), who are not currently enrolled full- or part-time in a degree-granting institution (including BA, MFA, or a teaching certification program), and who are not employed full-time as a ceramics teacher at the college level.
• Please note: a college degree is NOT required to apply for this or any NCC award. We encourage applicants who would like to make clay and creativity a continuing part of their lives, even if they do not or have not pursued it in a post-secondary institutional setting.
• You CAN APPLY for all, but CANNOT RECEIVE any combination of the Emerging Artist Residencies, or the Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award.
• Current Early Career Artist Residents cannot apply again until three years after the date of their award. (A 2022 residency recipient could not apply again until the 2025 grant cycle.)  

Application Process

Applications open January 27, 2023.
Applications are due Friday, March 31, 2023, by 5 pm CT. 

Application materials will be reviewed by a three-member panel, who will select the recipients on the basis of perceived merit. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process by mid-May of 2023.

There is no fee to apply. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.