Visual Arts Fellowships

This Fellowship is Currently on Pause

Due to funding limitations, the Wyoming Arts Council has placed several grants and fellowships on temporary hiatus, including this one. The decision ensures that available resources are directed for the greatest statewide impact. Please check back for future updates regarding the reopening of this opportunity. (May 2025)

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Honoring Outstanding Visual Artists in Wyoming

Established in 1986, this fellowship celebrates the creativity and dedication of Wyoming artists through $5,000 merit-based awards in all visual arts media.

The Visual Arts Fellowship is a $5,000 award of merit, based on the artist’s portfolio, honoring the work of Wyoming visual artists whose work reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Artists working in any medium including painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and mixed media are eligible to apply.

Applications are reviewed by noted artists and curators from outside the state. Up to three fellowships may be awarded annually, with honorable mentions at the jurors’ discretion. Recipients participate in the biennial Wyoming Arts Council Visual Arts Exhibition, hosted at a major visual arts institution or museum in Wyoming.

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Fellowship History

Since its inception in 1986, the Visual Arts Fellowship has supported emerging and established visual artists in Wyoming. The program elevates the profile of visual art statewide and connects artists to audiences and institutions through the biennial exhibition.

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Grant Guidelines

• $5,000 award
• Based on artistic merit as demonstrated in portfolio
• Open to Wyoming residents working in any visual arts medium
• Up to three awards granted each year
• Honorable mentions may be selected

Eligibility and Funding Requirements

Before applying, all applicants must review the Wyoming Arts Council’s Grant Guidelines to ensure eligibility and understand the application process.

Eligibility

• Must be at least 18 years of age at time of application.
• Must not be a full-time student pursuing high school, college, or university art-related degrees.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have legal resident status (evidence of U.S. citizenship, resident status and state residency may be required).
• May not be affiliated with the Wyoming Arts Council either as a board member or staff member, including their families, whether full-time, part-time or contractual.
• May not be an employee of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
• Must have been domiciled within the state borders for a total of 20 months in the previous two years.
• Must remain a Wyoming resident for at least one year after award, living in the state for at least 10 months of the year.
• Applicants must register or update their information in the Wyoming Arts Council’s Artists and Venues Directory.
• Must not have received a Visual Arts fellowship within the last four years.
• May receive a total of two fellowship awards in your lifetime.
• You may enter the competition only once by the deadline. Jurors may choose not to award the number of fellowships or honorable mentions available.

What if you win an award?

• You’ll receive $5,000 up front.
• Fellowship recipients agree to participate in the 2025 Wyoming Arts Council Biennial Exhibition, and are included in the catalog produced.
• You’ll sign a contract that verifies you’re eligible to receive this award.
• You’ll need to supply a bio and a head shot for publicity.
• You will retain all rights to this work and the work you produce during the grant period.
• You must create an impact statement, due August 31, sharing with the Wyoming Arts Council how this award helped you and what you accomplished during the year you received it.

Submission Guidelines

• Applications must be submitted through CaFE (callforentry.org). Mailed or emailed submissions will not be accepted.
• Artists working in any visual media are invited to apply, including: experimental (conceptual/new media), graphic (printmaking/book arts), painting, sculpture, installation, photography (includes experimental, color, black & white, photocopy and computer), clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, paper, plastic, wood, mixed media, film or video.
• Artists may submit up to ten work samples, of which up to two may be detail images, if appropriate.
• Film/video applicants may submit up to 4 samples, and have the option to submit stills. Jurors will only be required to watch up to 10 minutes of a film/video submission.
• Work must have been created within the past 5 years.
• Applicants are asked to submit an artist’s statement and to verify that they meet the eligibility requirements.
• Please ensure your name does not appear anywhere on the application or work samples, except where specifically requested, to preserve the anonymous nature of the judging.

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2024 Visual Arts Fellowship Recipients

Bailey Russel of Laramie

Bailey Russel is a Professor of Photography at the University of Wyoming. Originally from New Jersey, Bailey received a BA from Princeton University and an MA in Photography from NYU before moving to Laramie, Wyoming in 2011. His photographic work mostly deals with issues of land usage and how this relates to photographic processes. He has worked with digital photography, traditional film processes, room sized camera obscuras, wet plate collodion and other early, alternative methods of image making, pairing them with subjects ranging from the Colorado River expedition of John Wesley Powell to the iconic monuments of the west. Currently Bailey is working on a photo project about extraction and energy development in Wyoming.

Sophie Barksdale of Lander

Sophie Barksdale is a twice Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Lander, Wyoming. With an extensive background in film and the arts, Sophie worked for Screen Ireland, numerous film festivals in the USA, Australia & Ireland, and spent several years at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, one of the Southern Hemisphere’s premier cultural institutions. She served on the Board of Directors for the Lander Art Center for 6 years and is Co-Founder of the Bossert Collective, a local public art initiative.

In 2022, she completed the film ‘Who She Is’ – a humanizing insight into the lives and legacies of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Wyoming with co-director and co-producing partner Northern Arapaho Filmmaker Jordan Dresser. The film was awarded Best Documentary at Flagstaff Film Festival, Best Social Justice Film at the Latino and Native American Film Fest, Best Animated Doc at Oregon Documentary Film festival,  Best Animated Documentary at the World Wide Women’s Film Festival, and was awarded a “Special Jury Award” at Frozen River International Film Festival. The film was broadcast Nationally across America on PBS after premiering on WORLD CHANNEL in May 2024.

Sophie co-produced the Emmy Nominated documentary ‘Home From School: The Children of Carlisle’ (2021) with Caldera Productions, which aired nationally on Independent Lens, garnering festival awards including Best Documentary at Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, and the Western Heritage Awards. Also with Caldera Productions (in partnership with WYPBS), Sophie produced the Emmy Nominated ‘The State of Equality  (2019) chronicling Wyoming’s role in the Women’s Suffrage movement.

Brittney Denham of Sheridan

Brittney Denham Whisonant is a multidisciplinary artist, born in California and raised in Wyoming. She earned an MFA at The Ohio State University in 2012. Currently she a Professor of Photography and Printmaking, as well as Gallery Director of Edward Whitney Gallery at Sheridan College in Wyoming.

Brittney has a background in traditional photography and printmaking but has allowed her research and affinity for process to stretch into other areas such as textiles, natural dyeing, and installation.

She primarily focuses her work on motherhood identity, body as environment, domestic labor, traditions/history of women’s work, and the dissections of maternal material. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including most recently in The Arrivals, at the Danforth Museum in Livingston, Montana, and an upcoming exhibition at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. She was nominated for the USA Artist Fellowship in 2023, received the Vermont Studio Center Windgate Fellowship in 2023, and most recently was invited to Arrowmont School of Arts & Craft PENTACULUM residency in 2024.

Honorable Mentions:

• Wendy Brendehoft of Laramie
• Blanche Guernsey of Gillette

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Meet the 2024 Jurors

Ginger Shulick Porcella is the Executive Director of Creative Growth Art Center, a leading institution for contemporary artists with developmental disabilities. She previously served as Executive Director and Chief Curator of Franconia Sculpture Park and co-founded the 4Ground: Midwest Land Art Biennial. Porcella has led arts organizations across the U.S. and curated critically acclaimed exhibitions reviewed by Frieze, The New York Times, and Hyperallergic. In 2015, she was named “Voice of the Year” by the San Diego press for her transformative impact on the Southern California and Baja arts landscape.

Libby Garon has served as Gallery Director at Walker Fine Art in Denver for seven years, where she connects collectors with contemporary artworks that resonate personally and emotionally. With a background in studio art and printmaking, Libby brings both artist and professional perspectives to her role. She has worked with renowned artists and continues to create her own work. A passionate arts advocate, she has spent over a decade contributing to Denver’s arts community through curating, jurying, and board service with numerous organizations and museums.

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Contact

For more information about this Fellowship, please contact Kimberly Mittelstadt at kimberly.mittelstadt@wyo.gov, or 307-274-6673.

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Previous Visual Arts Fellowship Recipients

2024: Bailey Russel, Sophie Barksdale, Brittney Denham

2023: Aubrey Edwards, Wendell Field, Adrianna Hinds

2022: Marcus Dewey, Susan Moldenhauer, Eileen Nistler

2021: Al Hubbard, DaleRae Green, Kyle Reed

2020: Diana Baumbach, Shawn Bush, Rachel Hawkinson

2019: Wendy Bredehoft, Garrett Cruzan, Favian Hernandez

2018: Elaine Olafson Henry Joe Arnold,  Andy Kincaid

2017: Margaret K. Hayden, Patrick Kikut, Robert Martinez

2016: Bailey Russel, Florence Alfano McEwin, Shelby Shadwell

2015: Susan Moldenhauer, Jennifer Rife, Georgia Rowswell

2014: Diana Baumbach, June Glasson, Thomas Macker

2013: Suzanne Morlock, Do Palma, Aaron Wallis

2012: Abbie Miller, Susan Thulin, John Haberman

2011: Joe Arnold, Chuck Kimmerle, Jenny Wuerker

2010: Jenny Dowd, David Klaren, Adrienne Vetter

2009: David Jones, Shelby Shadwell, Penelope Caldwell

2008: Florence Alfano McEwin, David Henderson, Leah Hardy

2007: Matt Flint, Doug Russell, Ricki Klages

2006: Ashley Hope Carlisle, Zane Lancaster, Jim Laybourne, Ginnie Madsen, Mark Ritchie, Jon Madsen

2004-05: Penelope Caldwell, Lorre Hoffman, Mike McClure, Connie Norman, Curtis Olson, Bronwyn Minton

2002-03: Elijah Cobb, Kaidi Morgan Dunston, Pat Jeffers, Melissa Malm, Laurie Thal, Adam Jahiel, Marta Amundson

2000-01: Leah Hardy, Ken Kidder, Ricki Klages, Bronwyn Minton, Jon Madsen, Linda Ryan

1998-99: Duane Brant, Francis Fox, Laura Guinan, Mark Ritchie, Steve Schrepferman, Sue Sommers

1997: Frederic Joy, Phyllis Kloda, Scott Torkelson

1996: Marta Amundson, Cindy Warnock, Laura Lacy

1995: Raphael Di Luzio, Adam Jahiel, Christine Karkow

1994: Mary-Alice Huemoeller, Sava Malachowski, Maurice Mayer, Devendra Shrikhande

1993: Pip Brant, Bettina Demetz, Jessica Holt, Susan Stone

1992: Christy Love, Kathy Gaye Shiroki, John Giarrizzo, Dean Johnson

1991: Jerry Rodriguez, Craig Satterlee, Deborah Throop, Sharon Waldron

1990: Patrick Christensen, Gregory Charles Gaylor, Lynne Hull, Linda Ryan

1989: Stan Dolega, Larry Friedman, Robert Seabeck, Laurie Thal

1988: Sandra Chupka, Richard Evans, Carl Niederer, Gary Poush

1987: John Giarrizzo, Brian Haberman, Elizabeth C. Howell, Dean Johnson

1986: Val Brinkerhoff, Bruce Dehnert, Laura Lacy, Sylvia Long