The artist residency program Ucross in north central Wyoming has created a new fellowship for Native American visual artists. Ucross President Sharon Dynak said they decided to pursue the fellowship because they haven’t seen as many applications from Native artists as they’d like, even though their ranch is located near both the Wind River and Crow reservations.
“So the Wind River and also the Crow Reservation is very close. So we very much want to connect with those people. It’s going to take a little extra effort because we’re not coming at it from the depth of those contexts right now,” said Dynak. “So we are going to be developing that as we go.”
They also made the decision because of the talent they’ve been seeing in galleries.
“Native American artists’ work that I’ve been seeing in museums around the country, whether it’s in Santa Fe or Portland, Oregon, etcetera, there’s a really great wealth of art happening right now, contemporary visual arts,” she said.
Dynak said the application fee has been waived to get the new program on its feet and photographers, printmakers, painters and visual artists of every stripe are encouraged to apply. It will offer a $1,000 stipend each to two artists and up to a month of residency. Publication and an exhibition at Ucross are included. The deadline is October 1.