Fellowships

Mission

The Fellowship program provides emerging and established furniture makers, carvers, and turners with a stimulating environment for research into new skills, new designs, and new perspectives.

 

Fellowship Categories

• Studio Fellowships provide free studio space and other benefits to individuals who are ready to commit anywhere from a month to a year to expanding their creative abilities.
• Endowed Fellowships provide all of the above, plus a stipend of $400/week.
  • • There is a limit of 12 funded weeks per applicant.
    • Alumni of our Intensives and Comprehensives should wait at least a year after graduation to apply.

See websites of previous Fellows.

Facility

Up to six Fellows share the 6,800-square-foot Thomas Miller Jackson Building which contains a machine room with full dust collection, and a bench room where each Fellow is provided a European-stye workbench and has use of additional worktables, surfaces, and hand tools. The machine room is equipped with 10″ tablesaws, a 12″ sliding table saw, 8″ and 12″ jointers, 15″ thickness planers, 14″ and 20″ bandsaws, Oneway 1640 lathes, a shaper, a CNC milling machine, a router table, stationary sanders, an oscillating spindle sander, a chopsaw, a scrollsaw, drill presses, grinders, and a horizontal slot mortiser.

Benefits

• Free studio space in a well-equipped facility
• Round-the-clock shop access, including weekends
• Attendance at demonstrations and lectures by more than 40 outstanding professionals who teach at the school annually
• Bi-weekly critiques by faculty and visiting instructors
• Access to the Center’s library and gallery
• Opportunity to participate in biennial Messler Gallery alumni exhibition
• Interaction with hundreds of professional and amateur furniture makers who participate in the Center’s instructional programs

Endowed Fellowships come with a stipend of $400/week, in addition to the above.

To see exhibitions of work by former Studio Fellows, follow this link:

1. • Alumni & Fellows 2021

Qualifications

Applicants must:

• be experienced furniture makers, capable and ready to explore new work on their own initiative
• possess good interpersonal skills
• know how to use machinery and hand tools competently and safely
• have a record of creative achievement
• All Fellows are responsible for their own housing, materials, and transportation.

Responsibilities

Fellows are required to be on campus, in the shop, Monday – Friday, 9-5.

Fellows are expected to contribute six hours per week to the school, helping out with tasks such as:

• facilities and grounds maintenance
• gallery staffing and cleaning
• special events, such as gallery openings

Application

Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis for periods ranging from one month to one year.

To apply for either type of Fellowship, please click on the button below to submit the application.

Deadlines

Studio Fellowship applications are accepted any time, with positions awarded as vacancies arise.

Endowed Fellowship applications are due by the following deadline:

• Priority Deadline is September 1, 2023, for participation starting on or after January 1, 2024
• After that applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.