News

The Cleveland Institute of Art extends special congratulations to the recipients of its President’s Traveling Scholarships. CIA remains one of the few—if not the only—art schools to offer students scholarships upon graduation to fund travel and study related to their artistic interests.

The winners of the 2011 President’s Traveling Scholarships came from diverse majors: Industrial Design, Glass, Sculpture, Painting, and Printmaking. And they’ll pursue their art in Japan, the American West, Indonesia, Denmark, Italy, and Massachusetts.

Wendy Birchfield, Industrial Design
The First Agnes Gund Memorial Scholarship, $4500
Wendy plans to travel to Kawaguchi, Japan, a city just north of Tokyo, to study how Japan’s media-saturated culture affects its people. This work will extend her BFA thesis research about digital media’s negative effects on family and community. She will also serve in earthquake and tsunami recovery efforts.

Ben Greene-Colonnese, Glass
The Second Agnes Gund Memorial Scholarship, $4500
Ben proposes to spend the summer visiting the great natural rock formations of the American West—from Yosemite to Yellowstone to the South Dakota Badlands. He will collect rock specimens to incorporate in his glass projects, and photographs to inspire his work.

Jesse Hill, Industrial Design
The Third Agnes Gund Memorial Scholarship, $4500
Jesse intends to travel to the island of Sumba, off of the eastern coast of Bali. Through direct observation, he will study traditional Sumbanese techniques of creating everyday objects in order to find the best way to apply their traditional values to his own modern design approaches.

Amanda Orlando, Sculpture
The Helen Greene Perry Traveling Scholarship, $4000
Amanda will spend six weeks exploring defunct amusement parks in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. east coast. She will also visit the world’s oldest amusement park, still operating in Denmark. After returning, she will create work that addresses feelings of loss and nostalgia in these environments which were constructed for escape and fantasy.

Brittany Filko, Painting
The Mary C. Page Memorial Scholarship, $3500
Brittany plans to spend a month in Florence, Italy, studying in person the Renaissance, Baroque, and Neo-Classical paintings that have informed her BFA thesis. While there, she will attend a studio artists’ residency that will help her develop her portfolio for graduate school applications.

Rachel Shelton, Printmaking
The Nancy Dunn Memorial Scholarship, $3000
Rachel proposes to travel to Massachusetts to work for a month at Zea Mays Printmaking, a nontoxic print shop. She will take workshops about nontoxic and no-acid etching so she can employ an environmentally friendly studio practice in her own work.