KU News Release

KU senior wins $15,000 fellowship for her plan to open nature-conscious art studio

Stephanie Sato

LAWRENCE — Stephanie Grebel Sato, a University of Kansas senior studying textiles, was recently named a recipient of the 2008 Windgate Foundation Fellowship Award, administered by the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design at the University of North Carolina-Hendersonville. Only 10 fellows were selected nationwide from a pool of almost 90 applicants.

Sato received the $15,000 Windgate fellowship after she was nominated by the Department of Design at KU and submitted a detailed project proposal, budget and timeline describing how she would use the grant money. Images of Sato’s works and two letters of recommendation were also required.

“My proposal involved setting up a weaving and natural dyeing studio in my rural residence,” said Sato. “This studio, which would be located on the upper floor of a large cow barn, will include a garden for cultivating dye plants.”

Sato added, “I have wanted to create a nature-conscious art studio for a few years. Art and nature have been dear to me since my childhood. My art practice is aimed at cultivating conscious interactions with nature, which are lacking in humans’ modern-day lives, and acknowledging our dependence and interconnectedness with nature.”

Sato hopes eventually to work with communities and provide children with opportunities to interact with nature through the art-making process.

Sato is the daughter of Rick and Fran Grebel of St. Louis, Mo. (63128), and a graduate of Nerinx Hall High School.

The Windgate fellowships are given to graduating seniors or fifth-year students on the basis of artistic merit, future promise of their work and potential to make a contribution to the advancement of their fields. The program is open to students with a focus in book arts, ceramics, design, drawing, fiber, glass, metals, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles or wood.

Jurors for the awards included Kelly H. L’Ecuyer, the Ellyn McColgan Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; Michael Sherrill, sculptor, North Carolina; Grace Cochrane, author and past director of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia; Alan C. Elder, curator of Canadian crafts, decorative arts and design, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec.

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