National grant winner hopes to enrich Richmond arts community
Faculty grand winner to sponsor art grad
Sonya Clark will give one fifth of her $50,000 unrestricted grant to a graduate stipend. The chosen graduate student will assist Clark in her studio.
Mark Robinson
Assistant News Editor
A typical Friday afternoon in the studio for Sonya Clark was disrupted by a shock-inducing phone call and a pact of secrecy: She had been named a United States Artists Fellow but couldn’t tell anyone until the official announcement was made.
“I couldn’t believe it. It just wasn’t where my brain was at the time,” said Clark, chairwoman of the craft and material department for the VCU School of the Arts.
Clark was nominated for the award and submitted her body of work to the United States Artists Fellows Program for consideration before being named one of the 50 USA Fellows this past December.
Aside from recognition within the art community, USA Fellows receive an unrestricted grant of $50,000. This year, more than 300 nominees were considered across the disciplines of architecture and design, crafts, dance, literature, music, theater and visual arts.
In six years with VCUarts, Clark has received recognition on both the state and national level. She was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Award in 2006 upon arriving at VCU, a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in each of the last two years and a Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship in 2011.
Joe Seipel, dean of the VCU School of the Arts, said Clark’s achievements bring visibility to VCUarts as a whole and could attract potential students who see her work online to apply to the School of the Arts.
“Everyone who sees Sonya’s success will not only understand the quality of her work and how important her career is, but by extension, understand the opportunities that rise because of her connection to VCU and the craft and material program,” Seipel said.
Although she appreciates the recent publicity, Clark is quick to recognize her colleagues at VCUarts as equally deserving of the attention.
“I have the privilege of working with some of the most talented and creative people I’ve ever worked with,” she said. “I expect some of them will be receiving recognition any minute now; they deserve it.”
Clark said she plans to use the money from the unrestricted grant to benefit the greater Richmond arts community.
In an effort to maximize the money, Clark said she will also donate one fifth of it to a VCUarts graduate stipend. The university will then match that amount with a tuition remission, and a selected student will be chosen to receive the award and assist Clark in her studio for the year.
Photos courtesy of Sonya Clark
