UA News

The Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Project allows writers to complete current projects.

University of Arizona alumni and faculty members have been honored with 2009 Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Project grants.

The grants went to 18 artists throughout the state, according to a news release issued by the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

Among those who received grants were Fenton Johnson, a UA associate professor of creative writing, and Adela Licona, an assistant professor of English. Susan Berger, Jessica Drenk and Niki Herd, each UA alumni, also have received grants from the Commission.

The Commission's Artist Project Grants are offered annually and aid in the professional development of artists throughout the state of Arizona. Grant amounts total up to $5,000.

"Competition for these awards is fierce, and thus only the most exceptional and well-crafted applications with the strongest work samples receive funding," the Commission added, noting that more than 170 people applied for the grant this year. "Artists may receive only one Artist Project Grant in a lifetime."

The Commission issued a release stating how the artists intend to use their grants.

Johnson is set to use his grant to complete a book of nonfiction, "Desire and Solitude: A Singular Vocation," which is about the lives of other writers who were completing their major life's work. Johnson also received the Commission's Bill Desmond Writing Award "for the best nonfiction submission," the release noted.

In a statement, Afaa Michael Weaver, who served on the panel of judges, said: "Fenton Johnson's deft way of capturing detail brings the reader to the intimate space that is the hallmark of exemplary writing."

The award comes with an additional $700 that Johnson can use toward his project.

"His choice of subject shows not only a breadth of knowledge but a depth of compassion," Weaver continued. "He chooses what to write based on a genuine desire to contribute to our lives. This is an admirable selflessness from a gifted writer."

Berger, who began taking photography courses at the UA in 2007, intends to travel to take images of roadside memorials that have been established on secondary roads for her project, "The Side of the Road."

Berger "sees these memorials as honoring life rather than mourning death," the release noted. She works as an assistant to UA photography professor Frank Gohlke, a noted landscape photographer.

Drenk, who graduated from the UA with a master's of fine arts in 2007, intends to create an instillation piece that "reimagines the traditional natural history museum using disposable household items," the release noted. The project is titled "Archaeologica."

Drenk's prior work has been shown in Los Angeles, New York, Serbia and elsewhere.

Herd, who graduated from the UA with a degree in creative writing in 2000, will use her grant for a project that she is currently working on titled "To Sleep with Forks and Knives." Herd is completing a section of a book of poetry celebrating women of the past.

Also, Licona is collaborating with filmmaker Jamie A. Lee, founder of visionaries filmworks, inc., to produce a documentary titled "Aguamiel: Secrets of the Agave" that is about women cooperatives along the border.