South Arts has named the ten visual artists (eight individual artists and one team) receiving the 2021 State Fellowship awards. Each fellowship – one per state in the South Arts region of AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, and TN – comes with a cash award of $5,000 and inclusion in an exhibition opening this fall at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia.
The State Fellows are also now in consideration for the two larger Southern Prize awards. One fellowship recipient will be named the Southern Prize winner receiving an additional $25,000 cash award, and another fellow will be named the Southern Prize Finalist receiving an additional $10,000; both Southern Prize recipients will also receive a two-week residency at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. The two winners will be named at a virtual ceremony on June 14 celebrating the work of all ten State Fellows.
Meet the 2021 State Fellows Read More About the Southern Prize and State Fellowships
The 2021 State Fellowship recipients are:
- Tameca Cole. Mixed Media. Birmingham, Alabama.
- Marielle Plaisir. Mixed Media. Hollywood, Florida.
- Myra Greene. Craft. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Joyce Garner. Painting. Prospect, Kentucky.
- Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun. Photography. New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Ming Ying Hong. Drawing. Starkville, Mississippi.
- Jewel Ham. Painting. Huntersville, North Carolina.
- Fletcher Williams III. Mixed Media. North Charleston, South Carolina.
- Raheleh Filsoofi. Multidisciplinary. Nashville, Tennessee.
“The 2021 Southern Prize and State Fellowship recipients represent the amazing creativity of our region,” explained Susie Surkamer, President and CEO of South Arts. “Although they each speak with a unique voice through their work, their combined diversity is a great showcase of what it means to be an artist living, working, creating, and thriving in the South.”
Launched in 2017, the Southern Prize and State Fellowships acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality art being created in the South. More than 850 artists applied for consideration this past fall and winter, and jurors reviewed each application to recommend the State Fellowship recipients. Another national panel of jurors will review the State Fellows to determine the Southern Prize winner and finalist, both of whom will be named at a virtual ceremony in June 2021.
Visual artists living in South Arts’ nine-state region and producing crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and multidisciplinary work were eligible to apply.
To view work by the 2021 State Fellowship recipients and register to attend the June 14, 2021 Southern Prize ceremony, visit www.southarts.org. An exhibition featuring the 2021 Southern Prize and State Fellowship recipients will be open at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia, from August 20 – December 20, 2021.