Press Release from the NDCA on the Artist Fellowship

The North Dakota Council on the Arts (NDCA) has awarded two artist fellowships in the amount of $2,500 each. The Individual Artist Fellowship recipients in Visual Arts are Guillermo Guardia of Grand Forks; and Ryan Stander of Minot. Both were recommended by a review panel and their selections were approved by the NDCA’s Board of Directors.

Guillermo Guardia

2015 opens as a new challenge for Guillermo as an artist. He has made the decision to become a full time studio artist. As of April 1, his focus has been on his artwork and his self-employment. During this year NDCA funds will assist with new sculptures being produced, a new body of work that will be created, and a series of stronger pieces that will take his artwork to the next level. Characters such as the Baby Devils and Puzzle Sculptures will evolve. The quality of the new sculptures will allow entering to more national and international exhibitions. These exhibits are located hundreds of miles away from Grand Forks and crates will need to be built for shipping of artwork. In October of 2015 Guillermo will have a solo exhibition at the Uptown Gallery in Fargo, ND. It will be the first time where most of this new body of work will be displayed. This year will be challenging, stimulating and productive for Guillermo, however he is determined to make it a successful story.

Ryan Stander
In the middle of Brad’s tenure at the University of North Dakota, he began experimenting with forms of alternative photographic processes. With an interest in concepts of memory and place, the antiquated printing processes seemed a natural fit. Brad began making increasingly experimental pieces, moving from the standard cotton based papers toward ephemeral Asian papers, as well as an opposite trajectory of wood panels. The former, once waxed, conveyed memory as a light and fragile thing. The latter, in contrast to today’s digital world, suggested photography’s roots of printing on substantial materials of glass and metals emphasizing its nature as a physical object. NDCA grant funds will allow him to return to these experiments, while expanding upon them and hopefully perfecting them. The grant will provide necessary funds to purchase appropriate tools needed to work with the wood and purchase the printing supplies of chemicals, films, and substrates. Since the graduate school experiments, many new digital coating polymers for printing have been developed which would need to be tested. Expanding upon these processes will greatly expand Brad’s repertoire as an artist, and extend the life of this current body of work while shifting it into a new and exciting direction. The newly created work that will emerge will be offered to North Dakota Art Gallery Association (NDAGA) for a touring exhibit, as well as Minot State University’s own Northwest Art Center in the upcoming Faculty Biennial (Spring 2016).

The Individual Artist Fellowship program recognizes practicing artists residing in North Dakota with a monetary fellowship award. This program is designed to support professional artists with outstanding talent and ability to improve their artistic skills and enhance their career opportunities. Fellowships for Music and Literature artists will be awarded in 2016.

For more information on NDCA’s grant programs please visit http://www.nd.gov/arts/grants or call 701-328-7590.