MSU students earn prestigious art fellowships
Morehead State University Bachelor of Fine Arts students Maija Wehr and Miana Ratcliff were selected for Windgate Fellow Scholarships. They will participate in one-week workshops in a medium of their choosing for this summer at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Arrowmont is a renowned art school specializing in artist residencies and summer workshop opportunities. The fellowship program is a matching fund. MSU and Arrowmont split the cost for students to attend a one-week workshop of their choosing, which includes tuition, meals, and residence hall-style housing during the workshop. The Windgate Fellow Scholarship award also consists of a $300 stipend to each student, to be used to offset materials fees and travel expenses.
Ratcliff, a Morehead native who earned an associate's degree in art from MSU in 2024, is a junior BFA candidate. She said that after considering many options for courses instructed by skilled artists, she decided on Meg Morley's Sculptural Basketry course due to her interest in textile arts and sculpture.
"From this opportunity, I hope to build skills, my portfolio, and a community," Ratcliff said. "I am very honored to have been selected for this scholarship and look forward to attending the workshop at Arrowmont this summer."
Wehr is a junior BFA candidate from Dry Ridge. They will participate in a five-day workshop with artist Jenny Day, who creates hand-built, mixed-media ceramic animal sculptures.
"I am excited to see this artist's style and building process, as I have interests in hand-built ceramic and mixed media sculptures as well," Wehr said. "I am hoping to gain more knowledge and ideas of not only how to better build my sculptures, but to also make my work unique and expressive to myself and my style."
Morehead State Instructor of Ceramics Quinn Maher knows the value of these types of artistic opportunities. As an undergraduate student, he interned at the nationally renowned Anderson Ranch Art Center, where he met and worked with accomplished artists. When he learned about the Arrowmont School of Arts, he immediately began exploring ways to connect MSU students to its Wingate Fellow Scholarship.
"Ultimately, I selected two of our most dedicated BFA students: Maija and Miana. Both have developed a mature and unique skill set that they have worked tirelessly to achieve," Maher said. "I believe this experience will support and inspire their final year of study and into their BFA exhibition."
To learn about MSU's Department of Communication, Media, Art & Design programs, email cmad@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2457.
