Yeiser Art Center receives NEA grant to support artist-in-residence program

Grant part of NEA announcement of 863 grants and $22.543 million in funding nationwide

Paducah, KY—The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman today announced that the agency will award 863 grants to organizations and individual writers across the country. The Yeiser Art Center is one of the grantees and will receive $10,000 to help support an artist-in-residence program. The 863 grant awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields, and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

For the past two years, the Yeiser Art Center has collaborated with the Paducah Arts Alliance, an artists’ collective, which initiated the residency pilot program funded by the city of Paducah. Discussions between the two entities led to the realization that developing a collaborative residency was a natural outgrowth of the success already enjoyed by the pilot program, which was viewed in a very favorable light by residents, local and area artists, the city, and community residents. Monica Bilak, on behalf of the Yeiser Art Center and the Paducah Arts Alliance, wrote the grant proposal for the artist in residence program.

Each artist-in-residence will receive a stipend, studio space and living space at AIR Studio in the LowerTown Arts District in Paducah, Kentucky. Artists participating in the residency program will engage with the community through exhibitions, workshops, public lectures and/or collaborative projects with local artists. Exhibitions and workshops will be held at the Yeiser Art Center, the residency space, or other location depending upon type of activity and space requirements. All Yeiser sponsored activities will be free and open to the public.

A call for artist in residence proposals will be released in January 2012. Applications will be reviewed each month until all slots are filled. The first artist will arrive April 2012 and the last available space will be March 2013. A year-end exhibition of all the residents’ work produced during the residency period will be held at the Yeiser Art Center.

“Art Works is the guiding principle at the NEA,” said agency Chairman Rocco Landesman. “And I’m pleased to see that principle represented through the 823 Art Works-funded projects included in this announcement. These projects demonstrate the imaginative and innovative capacities of artists and arts organizations to enhance the quality of life in their communities.”

“This NEA grant will definitely provide us the opportunity to promote the development and appreciation of the visual arts to a greater number of people in this area, which is part of the mission of the Yeiser Art Center,” stated YAC Board President Johanna Rhodes.

In March 2011, the NEA received 1,686 eligible applications for Art Works requesting more than $84 million in funding. The resulting funding rate of 49 percent of eligible applications reflects both the significant demand for support and the ongoing vitality of the not-for-profit arts community despite current financial challenges. Art Works grants are awarded based on the applications received by the NEA and how those applications are assessed by the review panels.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA web site at arts.gov.

Located in downtown Paducah, the Yeiser Art Center is a non-profit visual arts organization celebrating more than fifty years of serving the community through exhibitions and education throughout the Tri-State Region.

The Yeiser Art Center is open Tuesday – Saturday 10:00am to 4:00pm. Free and open to the public. The Yeiser Art Center is wheelchair accessible.

Space Includes:

Work Space
Studio with concrete outdoor deck
Skylight(s)
Utility sink
Rear door entrance accommodates large work
Front window gallery space

Living Space
Kitchen
Bath
Sleeping area
Washer/dryer

Additional features
A/C and ceiling fan(s)
Computer w/internet access
Front, side and rear entrances
Non-smoking

A.I.R. is spacious enough for a couple. Length of stay is negotiable. For additional information or to arrange a residency, please email inquiries to residency@theyeiser.org.

Colorado artist Jane Paul Angelhart is offering a workshop focusing on watercolor portraits. Jane’s commissioned portraits are featured in the latest edition of American Artist magazine’s The Best Of Watercolor. The course will cover Jane’s techniques from her DVD, taking great photos for watercolor portraits, how to paint from a computer screen, color theory, and many techniques to result in a great watercolor portrait. The workshop runs March 14-16, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. with a break for lunch. Class size will be very small for individual attention and critique and lots of painting! Call or email Jane to reserve your spot! 303.910.3739

For this project, 12 artists will do a piece an a slice of a tree trunk. We will individually paint them, carve them … or whatever… and on August 11th we will connect the different pieces together in an sculpture at Etcetera Coffeehouse, behind the labyrinth.

Join us throughout the day as we construct our collaborative sculpture! We will begin at 6 am and work until it is finished.

Come to see how 12 artists work together to make one cohesive sculpture with pieces that each artist created.

Please forgive us if we take a break during the hottest part of the day.

Originally published on iList Paducah.

It’s not every day that you meet someone in Tunisia and follow him back to Paducah. But that’s exactly what the gorgeous Swiss artist with the heartbreakingly charming French accent Corinne Spielewoy did. Spielewoy, originally from France, was in Tunisia earlier this year when she met LowerTown artist Paul Lorenz at an international art show.

“He told me about the Artist Relocation Program and that a new group, the Paducah Arts Alliance, had an artist-in-residence program,” Spielewoy says. “It sounded interesting, so I applied.”

Applied and accepted with great enthusiasm from LowerTown artists and residents, Spielewoy arrived in Paducah in November. She’s been staying at A.I.R. Studio, 621 Madison St., painting and recruiting artists for a group project. An introductory email to the neighborhood and a welcome party resulted in instant friendships. And before long, 15 artists accepted her artistic challenge.

Using the theme of communication, Spielewoy wanted to see what would happen if she created a piece of art and then two other artists created pieces in response. And then she wanted to have yet two more artists create pieces responding to those pieces — and so on, much like the childhood game of telephone.

The artists embraced the idea and have been working on the project for the past month. The result: Ripple Effect will open 4-7 p.m., Sunday, December 21, at Maiden Alley Cinema.

In addition, hottie writer Niaz Khadem created a piece he’ll read in response to the art, and several musicians have written songs. The performance part begins at 5 p.m.

The Paducah Arts Alliance that Spielewoy refers to is a group of LowerTown artists who are working together to fuel the creative energy among one another as well as to expose Paducah to emerging artists and innovative approaches to the creation of art.

One of the first projects the group put together was the 48-Hour Artists/Writers Lock-In in October. The artist-in-residence program is designed to attract artists of national and international reputation as well as emerging artists. The group also hosts collaborative art sessions and jam sessions with musicians. A.I.R. Studio has become PAA’s community arts center.

“We wanted the name Paducah to mean more in the art world and to entice people who are well-known artists to come here and create art,” says Freda Fairchild, multimedia artist. Fairchild, Lorenz, Teri Moore and Nikki D. May are the co-founders of PAA. “We want to make Paducah a good place to make art. It’s already a fantastic and unusual place and we want to make it more so.”

Reaching out to other artists is a critical part of that considering the often solitary nature of creating art.

“It’s easy to get caught up in your own stuff and only think of things in your own way,” says May, a mixed-media artist, graphic designer and iList Paducah designer. “Just the experience of working with people who do similar, but different things, is energizing. Artists in our community were leaving to lead workshops in other cities and had done artist-in-residency programs themselves, feeding off of each other’s creative energy. We wanted to bring that to Paducah.”

For more information on PAA’s programs and events, please send an email or visit the Web site!

With reporting by Erica Moore — thanks, Erica!