Scholarship

by Arnie Fenner



You might think we'd forgotten: we haven't. Dan's post about enrollment opening to the 2012 Illustration Master Class (June 9-15) got your attention: now it's time to turn it up to 11.



With the cooperation of the gracious Dean Rebecca Guay, Spectrum Fantastic Art will award a scholarship to an artist—young, old, or in between: age doesn't matter—to attend the IMC.



Getting to Amherst, Massachusetts and back home (as well as securing any materials needed for the workshop) will be the responsibility of the artist: the scholarship pays the tuition to IMC, which includes food, a dorm bed, and an unparalleled intensive learning experience with some of the most amazing artists working today. Though there will be all manner of workshops and lectures covering every aspect of a career in the arts, the emphasis will be on drawing and painting with traditional media: count on long days that are both exhilarating and exhausting—and definitely plan on getting some paint beneath your fingernails.



We'll keep the process simple: send Cathy and me one or two jpegs (say 7"x9" or so, 100dpi) of your best work and a few lines about yourself (not a lengthy term paper, just a few sentences about who you are and what you want to accomplish by attending the workshop) via e-mail to: director (at) spectrumfantasticart.com



In the subject line of your-email, put "IMC." The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2011. We will announce the recipient of the scholarship on the Spectrum website December 5, 2011.



Don't send us everything you've ever done. Don't feel like you have to drop everything and create something new to submit. Don't spin tales of woe ("Life is not a comparison of Chambers of Horror," as Harlan Ellison says). Do visit the IMC website and read through the info and what is needed to participate: then decide if it's something you have a passion to be a part of. The Illustration Master Class isn't a vacation, it isn't a social club (though there will be lots of camaraderie), it isn't a convention: it's a place to work the craft, to have a personal learning experience with some of the best instructors you'll ever have. We're looking for an artist with "promise," a promise that can be nurtured and hopefully advanced through this opportunity.



Ladies and Gentlemen: the ball is in your court. Show us what you've got!