Congratulations to Cherille Williams, recipient of this year’s JGS “Imagining America” Fellowship.
Cherille is one of eight undergraduate students from across the nation chosen for the award.Congratulations to Cherille Williams, recipient of this year’s JGS “Imagining America” Fellowship. Cherille is one of eight undergraduate students from across the nation chosen for the award.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), Imagining American (IA) annually selects a cohort of student artists for a community arts project, attending the IA National Gathering, and professional development opportunities affiliated with a national working group of engaged photographers and digital media makers. The goal of the IA/JGS Fellows Program is to elevate photography and digital media as a pathway for students to pursue their careers and make a difference in their communities.
“JGS is proud to continue our partnership with IA to bring together some of the most promising young artists in the country,” says Wayne Maugans, JGS Director of Education and Outreach, “Now more than ever, we need the voice and vision of new leaders who will engage their communities in a shared mission of truth-telling through the arts.” IA Faculty Director Erica Kohl-Arenas shares, “Over the past couple years Imagining America’s JGS fellows have organized powerful art and media-making projects on the most urgent issues of our time. I am grateful for the depth and growth of this critical IA undergraduate student program (…). The significant contributions of our mostly first-generation college student fellows advance the IA mission and engaged and activist work in our national network.”
Cherille Williams graduated from UNM-Gallup in December 2019 with an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts degree and currently, she is a junior at UNM College of Fine Arts, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Art Studio. Cherille describes the photographs that she submitted for the award featuring her grandmother, Francine Williams:
“The first sample is of an image I took for a narrative project where I want to focus on the beauty of old age and embracing what comes along with it. The second sample is another image I took for a portrait project where I wanted to focus on the stereotypes Native Americans face when doing simple daily tasks like making fried bread. The third sample is from the same portrait project where I wanted to showcase the reality of the modern Native Americans doing the same task, but this time in everyday clothes.”
UNM Artists Take the Spotlight in Southwest Contemporary Vol. 12: Obsession
Southwest Contemporary Vol. 12: Obsession features some incredible work from several of the amazing people who comprise the Art Department. Current second-year MFA students Luka Berkley and Justine Kablack, recent MFA graduate Taylor Engel, and instructor Jessamyn Lovell all have work featured in this most recent issue of Southwest Contemporary.
Spotlight on Art Studio & Art History Faculty: Featured Exhibitions
Art History Professor Ray Hernández-Durán was recently featured in two articles and interviewed by the Latin American and Iberian Institute. UNM News published “UNM Professors Create Exhibition, First-Ever Scholarship of Local Chicano Artists’ Work” by Anna Padilla, highlighting an exhibition curated by Hernández-Durán and Dr. Irene Vásquez. The show, now on view at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, features six talented New Mexican Chicano artists whose work has been historically underrepresented in academic scholarship.
Art Faculty: Awards, Residencies & Revisited Projects
Distinguished Professor Jim Stone is an exhibiting artist who uses photography. His photographs have been published in three monographs and exhibited internationally; they are represented in the permanent collections of over 30 major museums and public archives.