Friday, October 26, 2012

OMG, MRAC!

You guys! I'm so excited! I am the proud, thrilled, giddy and nervous recipient of a...
2013 Next Step Fund Grant from the Minnesota Regional Arts Council / McKnight Foundation!

Carousel Cat, 24x24", mixed media
(My collaboration with Michael Cina, Joseph Belk and Carly Shoen for Working Title.)

This is a super big deal for me- my first grant ever
and I am sooooo over the moon about my project!
My grant is for "funding to research, create, and document a body of large-scale paintings based on vintage carousel animals and traditional carousel vignette paintings.
(AKA: ROAD TRIP!!!)

I'm cuckoo for carousel animals.

This spring I'll be taking my fascination (obsession?) with vintage carousel animals on the road to visit old school carousels throughout the US.

See how crazy I am about carousels? 
This is me and my friend Ngoc on the carousel in Central Park. Thanks for the pic,  Amy Crickenberger Oeth.

AND THEN- I'm going to make some big paintings and have a solo exhibition at the soon-to-open Public Functionary gallery in Northeast Minneapolis. 

Will you donate via Kickstarter to help give Public Functionary wings?
Limited edition prints of my painting, "Stampede", at the $100 level:


Thank you for reading. I'll post more about my travel/project here soon.



9 comments:

stephanie claire said...

you deserve it girl! hope you're celebrating all weekend.

congrats. can't wait to see what comes of this.

Jennifer Davis Art said...

Thank you, Stephanie.

kristin said...

that is really wonderful news Jennifer!! congratulations!! sounds like a trip to the House on the Rock is in order.

you are a most deserving recipient of such a grant.

Jennifer Davis Art said...

Thank you, Kristin! You are the second person to suggest a visit to House on the Rock. Adding it to my list!

Unknown said...

Congratulations! It sounds very exciting. As far as the grant goes, you had to put an application/request in for it right? Just curious how that works.

Jennifer Davis Art said...

Thank you, Denise! Yes- I have applied for many grants in the past but since I am not very confident about my writing skills I only applied for the ones without a written/proposal component. This time I took a chance because I was so excited about my idea- and it worked! In MN we have several great resources for linking artists with grants (http://www.springboardforthearts.org/, http://www.arts.state.mn.us/, etc.) I bet your region has something similar. Go for it!

Jo James said...

Woohoo! Congrats!

Margaux Lange said...

Congrats congrats! That is just wonderful and I can't wait to see what magic you create out of it all! You may already know about this, but there is a Carousel Museum in Bristol, CT that might be worth adding to your road trip list of places to visit: http://www.thecarouselmuseum.org/

Jennifer Davis Art said...

Thank you, guys! Marggaux- I am bookmarking your link for when I plan my road trip. THANK YOU!