Nichols receives Al Smith Fellowship
Morehead State University’s Jeffrey Nichols, ceramics instructor in the Department of Art and Design, has received the 
prestigious Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council.
This was one of only 15 fellowships awarded to outstanding Kentucky artists this year.
Nichols has a B.F.A. degree in crafts and a M.F.A. degree in sculpture from the University of Illinois.
With more than 20 years in the field of ceramics, he has taught at Parkland College, the University of Illinois, and the Springer Cultural Center in Champaign, Ill.
Nichol's studio pottery has appeared in numerous publications including Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, and Pottery Making Illustrated as well as two Lark books.
The $7,000 awards named for Al Smith, journalist and former Arts Council chair (1977-1980), alternate between two discipline groupings: writers, composers, choreographers, and interdisciplinary artists in one year and visual and media artists in the other.
Besides Nichols, 11 visual artists and three media artists were selected to receive the competitive award. They are: Matthew Albritton, photography, Campbell County; Ronald Davis, mixed media, Woodford County; Ben Durham, drawing, Woodford County; Joe Gray, media, Jefferson County; Bruce Linn, painting, Jefferson County; Marco Logsdon, experimental, Fayette County; Laura Mentor, glass, Fayette County; Michael Nichols, painting, Warren County; Mark Priest, painting, Jefferson County; Reba Rye, mixed media, Henry County; Nicholas Szuberla, media, Letcher County; Patrick Yen, media, Jefferson County; Jennifer Heller Zurick, fiber, Madison County; and David Zurick, photography, Madison County.
This year, a category for emerging artists has been added to the awards program to recognize artistic excellence for new and emerging artists including Kentuckians who are undergraduate seniors or graduate students in Kentucky college or
university fine arts programs.
These awards of $1,000 each went to three visual artists and one media artist: Erin Behling, wood, Jefferson County; Wilson Bessinger, media, Franklin County; Laura Marie O'Neal Segre-Lewis, installation, Jessamine County; and Michael Winters, photography, Jefferson County.
The Fellowship program utilizes a "blind jurying" process which does not provide the selection panel with applicants' names; the panel reviews the work samples and applications according to application numbers only. Criteria for the awards include artistic excellence, professional achievement and the potential of the fellowship award to enhance the artist's development and encourage the continuation of the artist's work.
In alternate years, the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowships and Emerging Artist Awards are available to writers, composers, choreographers and interdisciplinary artists.
For additional information about the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship Program or other Kentucky Arts Council opportunities for artists, contact Tamara Coffey, individual artist program director, at 502-564-3757 or e-mail her at tamara.coffey@ky.gov.
The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Posted: 8-26-09
