The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) has awarded the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Fellowship to Sharon Norwood of Dunedin, Florida. Supported by the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the fellowship provides a fully-funded three-week residency which includes a private bedroom, individual studio, and all meals in a community of more than 20 visual artists, writers, and composers. The fellowship also includes a $1,000 honorarium.

Sharon Norwood is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans several media including painting and ceramics. Norwood holds an M.F.A. in studio art from Florida State University and a B.F.A. in Painting from the University of South Florida. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Kansas, New York, Canada, South Korea, Jamaica, and Germany. She is the recipient of numerous honors from Florida State University, including the Exceptional Opportunity Award, the Andy McLaughlin Memorial Award, and the Jim Boone Endowed Art Scholarship. In 2016, she was recognized as an emerging artist by the Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts and the Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Best of the Bay. “Sharon Norwood’s work aims to create dialogue on issues of race, gender, class, and difference,” said VCCA Executive Director Joy Peterson Heyrman. “We look forward to welcoming her to VCCA, where she will have uninterrupted time to advance her work in a dynamic community of artists.”

VCCA is a unique Virginia-based organization of national stature and international impact that provides time and space for national and international writers, visual artists, and composers of talent and promise to bring forth their finest works. VCCA hosts over 400 artist-Fellows annually at its Mt. San Angelo facility in Amherst, Virginia, and its Moulin à Nef Studio Center in Auvillar, France. The artists who come to VCCA, whether emerging or established, are selected through competitive peer review on the basis of the important or innovative work they are doing in their respective fields. Since its founding in 1971, VCCA has hosted over 6,000 writers, visual artists, and composers.

 

Because the arts are vital,

diversity is a strength, and creativity is essential.

For more information visit vcca.com