The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design Announces 2017 CCCD Windgate Fellows and Project Grant recipients

Each year, the Windgate Fellowship identifies ten undergraduate seniors with exemplary skill in craft. Awardees receive $15,000 - one of the largest awards offered nationally to art students. 

Now in it’s twelfth year, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design’s (CCCD) Windgate Fellowship marks $1.8 million awarded to 120 emerging craft artists nationwide. Nominated from a national network of 104 university art programs, these makers represent a skilled and motivated next generation for craft. 

The final four CCCD Windgate Project Grants were awarded this year to:
Josh Copus, 2006 Windgate Fellow, Ceramics, Marshall, NC
Brian Fleetwood, 2012 Windgate Fellow, Jewelry, La Mesilla, NM
Ani Geragosian, 2009 Windgate Fellow, Fiber, Salem, MA
Adam Ledford, 2011 Windgate Fellow, Ceramics, Philadelphia, PA

The 2017 CCCD Windgate Fellows are:
Audrey An, Alfred University, Ceramics
Rachel Chalik, The University of the Arts, Jewelry/Metalsmithing
Esther Cho, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wood/Furniture
Emelie Cleveland, Parsons, The New School of Design, Fiber/Textiles
Christina Dietz, Pennsylvania State University, Sculpture/Psychology
Christina Glover, Savannah College of Art and Design, Fiber/Textiles
Breana Hendricks, State University of New York at New Paltz, Ceramics
Amy Hoagland, University of Kentucky, Glass/Sculpture/Paper/Extended Media
Steven Kaplan-Pistiner, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Jewelry/Metalsmithing
Rosa Novak, California College of the Arts, Ceramics/Fiber

This Week at The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum

Apr 27, 2017 at 11:00 AM - SCHOLARS and SCONES:  The Steel Rails That Opened the High Country. Join Johnny Graybeal as he tells the story of the ET and WNC and the little engine known as "Tweetsie"; The railroad that transformed the High Country of Western North Carolina.

One hundred years ago the Lost Provinces of northwestern North Carolina were somewhat isolated from the rest of the country. It took steel rails coming from East Tennessee to open up the area to the outside world. The narrow gauge East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad and its sister company, the Linville River Railway, eventually connected Johnson City, TN, with the North Carolina towns of Elk Park, Newland, Linville, Foscoe, Shulls Mills, and Boone. Best known by its nickname "Tweetsie", this little train wound its way along rivers and ridges, and into the hearts of the people it served.

Economics and floodwater closed the railroad, but it came back as a theme park tourist attraction. Come hear the story of how a little train changed the destiny of the High Country forever The talk will be accompanied by locally-baked goods and coffee from Boone-based Hatchet Coffee Company.

The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum is located at 159 Chestnut Street in Blowing Rock NC.