Alfred University alumni awarded Artist Fellowships
Two Alfred University alumni and a former Robert C. Turner Teaching Fellow in the University’s School of Art and Design have been awarded Artist Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)/New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
The fellowships, announced Tuesday, Sept. 19, were awarded to Alfred alumni Ian McMahon ’04 (BFA), and Linda Sormin ’03 (MFA, ceramic art). The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a $8,000 unrestricted cash grant available to artists living in New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein.
Also awarded a fellowship was Ashley Lyon, who served as the Turner Teaching Fellow from 2011-14. The Turner Teaching Fellowship in Ceramic Art was created in 2005 as part of a gift from Marlin Miller ‘’54, H ’89 and ’19, which established the Robert C. Turner Chair of Ceramic Art in honor of the late Robert C. Turner, M.F.A. ’49. Robert Chapman Turner was an internationally regarded ceramic artist and a highly distinguished professor at Alfred University. The Turner Teaching Fellowship is a non-tenure, three-year position that recognizes an emerging artist in the field of ceramic art.
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are awarded in 15 different disciplines over a three-year period (five disciplines each year). Lyon and McMahon, from Orange County, and Sormin, from Allegany County, received fellowships in the craft/sculpture category. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is not a project grant but is intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, at all levels of their artistic development.
Rebekkah Palov M.F.A. ’09, former research administrative assistant in the School of Art and Design’s Institute for Electronic Arts (IEA) served as a panelist (juror) in the Digital/Electronic Arts category for the 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships.