Tennessee Craft Invites Artists to Apply for the 2021 Master Artist/Apprentice Program
From Julia Canada Wilburn, Communications Manager, TN Craft –
Tennessee Craft, in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission, announces the opening of the 2021 Master Artist/Apprentice Program (MAAP) application process. This mentoring program offers artists a unique opportunity to learn traditional and contemporary craft skills firsthand from master craft artists.
All artists in the program choose challenging goals that will advance their skills and knowledge as craft artists. The MAAP was created to boost artists to the next level of their professional development during an intensive six-month one-on-one mentorship, not typically available in most learning environments.
Pam Bullard (Clay), 2020 Apprentice to Master Clay Artist Carrie Anne Parks, says, “Carrie Anne’s dedication as both artist and an educator make her an asset to the craft movement. In addition to being a fount of technical knowledge, she has an irrepressible curiosity to explore and solve problems. Without such encouragement, my work might have turned out differently. Although our styles differ greatly, our approaches to working were complementary. In working with her, I was able to see what it was like working with myself, and consequently develop more ways to challenge myself to be a better artist.”
Meet the 2021 Master Artists
Jeanne Brady (Fiber/Textile) Smithville, TN
Jeanne Brady is a Professor Emerita from Tennessee Tech University’s School of Art, Craft & Design at the Appalachian Center for Craft where she was head of the Fibers Studio for 19 years. Jeanne works primarily on fabric using textile pigments, and her work revolves around functional textiles and content-based pieces. Text is an important element in her work. A signature of Jeanne’s artmaking process is her pursuit of the ideal visual analogy of her ideas.
Alan LeQuire (Clay to Bronze Sculpture) Nashville, TN
Best known today for his monumental sculptures in Middle Tennessee, Alan LeQuire began his artistic career at the age of 11, when he crafted his first objects in copper and tin. LeQuire’s first mature work involved found materials, mostly wood, which required only slight modification to suggest a representational form. During his apprenticeship in Italy with American sculptor Milton Hebald, LeQuire rediscovered the versatile plasticity of clay, a material which, instead of defining and thus limiting its own form, can express any texture or form and transfer it to other media such as bronze. Since then most of LeQuire’s work, from the miniature to the monumental, has first been modeled in wet clay.
Rick Murray (Wood) Erwin, TN
Rick Murray stumbled into the art world after spending 10 years owning and running a whitewater company. While in college obtaining a Liberal Arts degree, Rick studied the Greek classics which has tempered his sense of what forms are pleasing to his eye. Using the speed and power of the lathe allows him to work with unusual growths of trees such as wood with voids and decay to make the shape he like. Living on a wild river adjacent to a National Forest, Rick finds myriad materials to harvest and turn.
To read the full bios of the 2021 Master Artists, visit https://tennesseecraft.org/programs/maap/.
Awarded apprentices receive a $1,800 stipend to work with their chosen master from December 1, 2020 to June 15, 2021. For more information, email info@tennesseecraft.org. Deadline for apprentice applications is November 1, 2020.
APPLY HERE: https://www.cognitoforms.com/TennesseeCraft1/maapapprenticeapplicationfy2021
