FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suzanne Čada
PO Box 2506
Knoxville, TN 37901
(865) 523-7543
sc@knoxalliance.com
www.knoxalliance.com
Arts & Culture Alliance Announces Six-Month Artist Residency Opportunity
(08/09/2010/Knoxville) – The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to announce availability of the next Betsy Worden Memorial Artist Residency at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street in downtown Knoxville. Deadline for receipt of application is Friday, September 17, 2010. The dates for the next Residency are September 29, 2010 - March 29, 2011. Available to college students and other young and emerging artists, The Betsy Worden Memorial Artist Residency includes:
The resident artist is required to occupy the studio and be present for at least 15 hours per week and to show new work each First Friday of the month, spend a significant amount of time creating work in the Emporium studio, and help hang monthly changing exhibits in the Emporium galleries if necessary. Artist may also offer curatorial input and be eligible for curatorial opportunities in programming gallery space.
The Emporium’s current Artist-in-Residence, Rafael Casco, was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras where he received a degree as an art teacher from the National School of Fine Arts in Honduras and studied psychology at the National Autonomous University. He has participated in different art events in Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, and throughout the United States. He uses his art to design pottery, furniture, and to create and install custom murals; his collection also includes carving, molds, caricatures, and drawing. Casco taught art to at-risk children and adults in Latin America and the U.S., including his work with the YMCA in San Jose, CA, where he used art as a gang prevention strategy with low-income Hispanic youth. Casco sends some of his paintings to the Institute of International Languages in Honduras to be sold for scholarships for children who want to learn to speak English but cannot afford the tuition. He currently shows work at Earthspeak Studio and Creative Spirit Crafts in Gatlinburg and for the past three years has participated in the Artist-on-Location and Latino Art Exhibition at the Knoxville Museum of Art.
Betsy Worden, an artist, teacher, and Knoxville Civic Leader, was perhaps best known for her works in watercolor and weaving, and she contributed greatly to Knoxville’s visual arts community in numerous ways throughout her life. She received her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Tennessee and did post-graduate studies at Atlanta School of the Art, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and the University of Tennessee. A painter, tapestry weaver, and printmaker, she was a longtime instructor at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, and she taught watercolor classes for the Knoxville Museum of Art. A leader in the Knoxville arts community, Worden served on the boards of many arts organizations, including the Arts & Culture Alliance and the Art Market Gallery, of which she co-founded. She also co-founded the Community School of the Arts in Knoxville. She served as a past president of the Knoxville Watercolor Society and actively participated in the Tennessee Watercolor Society, the Art and Antiques Gallery, Southern Highland Craft Guild, the Foothills Craft Guild, and Tennessee Women in the Arts.
Applications must include resume, letter of recommendation, artist’s statement, and CD of digital images of artist’s work. Deadline for receipt of application is Friday, September 17, 2010. Submit applications to the Arts & Culture Alliance, PO Box 2506, Knoxville, TN 37901. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or e-mail sc@knoxalliance.com.
About the Arts & Culture Alliance
The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions. The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission.
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