UW–Madison student Lauren Aria is one of 10 university seniors nationwide who were selected for the Center for Craft’s prestigious Windgate-Lamar Fellowship for emerging craft artists for 2022.
Aria is expected to graduate from the School of Education’s Art Department, concentrating on glass, in August 2022.
“My work explores flow, viscosity, and corporeality through performance and a variety of glassmaking processes,” says Aria in an artist’s statement. “The skin on our bodies is the only barrier we have between ourselves and the material world around us, and is the most significant surface foregrounding our physical experiences of the outside world. This binary between internal and external drives my explorations of flow and the body within my work.”
This year’s recipients were selected from a national pool of 71 applications by a review panel consisting of artists, curators, and professionals. The 10 fellows were awarded for their notable artistic merit and demonstrated potential for contributing to the field of craft.
Each artist will receive $15,000 from the Center for Craft to support their personal and artistic growth in this crucial phase of their early career, building the foundation for future success. Historically, artists who receive this prestigious award often move on to become working artists establishing successful studios, exhibitors at world-renowned museums and galleries, MFA students, or full-time faculty.
Now in its 17th year, the Center for Craft’s Windgate-Lamar Fellowship marks $2.5 million awarded to 170 of the most prestigious and innovative emerging craft artists nationwide. This endowed program promises to support the next generation of craft artists for years to come.
The Windgate-Lamar Fellowship is supported by the Stoney Lamar Craft Endowment Fund, established in 2018 and named in honor of renowned wood sculptor and Center for Craft Board Member Stoney Lamar.
“It’s a great honor for the UW Glass Lab to be home to a Windgate Fellow,” says Helen Lee, an associate professor with the Art Department and the director of its glass lab. “Lauren Aria is an exemplary student whose practice models an expansive vision of contemporary glass practice. I’m thrilled for her to have earned this national recognition.”
Learn more about Aria’s work and the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship.