Meredith Goins
photo by Sarah Terpstra Hanson
South Arts, the nonprofit regional arts service organization advancing Southern vitality through the arts, announces the recipients of two fellowship programs. Meredith Goins of Dunlap has received a fellowship for violin luthiery.
Nine visual artists (one per state from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) will each receive a $5,000 State Fellowship. Additionally, they are now in competition for the $25,000 Southern Prize with a residency at The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences as well as the $10,000 Southern Prize Finalist awards.
Another nine traditional artists and culture-bearers from Central Appalachian counties in Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee will each receive $9,000 Folk & Traditional Arts Master Artist Fellowships to continue their lifelong learning and practice.
The 2020 State Fellowship recipients are:
Carlton Nell. Drawing. Opelika, Al.
Alba Triana. Experimental. Miami, Fl.
Fahamu Pecou. Painting. Decatur, Ga.
Letitia Quesenberry. Multidisciplinary. Louisville, Ky.
Karen Ocker. Painting. New Orleans, La.
Ashleigh Coleman. Photography. Jackson, Ms.
Sherrill Roland. Multidisciplinary. Morrisville, N.C.
Kristi Ryba. Painting. Charleston, S.C.
Bill Steber. Photography. Murfreesboro, Tn.
The 2020 Folk & Traditional Arts Master Artist Fellowship recipients are:
Roger Cooper. Old-time music. Garrison, Ky.
Charlene Long. Willow & honeysuckle basket making. Upton, Ky.
Octavia Sexton. Storytelling. Orlando, Ky.
Janet Calhoun. Pottery. Lenoir, N.Ca.
Susan Leveille. Handweaving. Webster, N.C.
Bobby McMillon. Ballad singing. Burnsville, N.C.
Meredith Goins. Violin luthiery. Dunlap, Tn.
Jordan Hughett. Ballad singing. Winfield, Tn.
Mark Newberry. Chair-making. Red Boiling Springs, Tn.
“South Arts is immensely proud to support every one of these artists, craftspeople, and tradition-bearers,” said Susie Surkamer, executive director of South Arts. “Especially as our country enters the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, artists are among those most vulnerable to losing income. Yet their creativity, work, and stories are what carry us forward and will be integral to rebuilding our communities.”
Applications were open for both fellowship programs in the fall of 2019. The State Fellowships application pool was reviewed by a panel of experts including Ndubuisi C. Ezeluomba of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Edward Hayes, Jr. of The McNay Art Museum, independent art historian and consultant David Houston, and Marilyn Zapf of the Center for Craft. The panel made their recommendations based on the artistic excellence of their work and inclusiveness of the diversity of the Southern region. The Folk & Traditional Art Master Artist Fellowship applications were reviewed by a panel including Native American potter and storyteller Beckee Garris, Zoe van Buren of the North Carolina Arts Council, Mark Brown of the Kentucky Arts Council, and Evangeline Mee of the Tennessee Arts Commission. The panel made their recommendations based on the artists’ history and mastery of their respective tradition as well as the proposed lifelong learning opportunity.
The nine State Fellowship recipients will be featured in an exhibition that is scheduled to open at the Bo Bartlett Center at Columbus State University in Columbus, Ga. in May; due to the current closures of facilities, this date may be postponed. The announcement of which State Fellowship recipients will also be named as the Southern Prize winner and finalist will be announced at a ceremony surrounding the opening of this exhibition.
“I would like to thank each and every one of our donors and sponsors,” said Ms. Surkamer. “Their support and investment in the arts, culture, and tradition of our region is vital even in the best of times, and their ongoing generosity is more important than ever before.”
Meredith Goins from Sequatchie County is an accomplished fiddler turned violin luthier. She has apprenticed with master violin luthier Jim Humble from Ooltewah to learn violin building and repair for several years. In addition to building violins, she has become skilled at re-graduating violin tops, varnishing unfinished student model violins, and repairing violins for clients. Music is an essential component of the region’s cultural identity, but there are few violin luthiers left to support up-and-coming musicians.
Through this fellowship, Ms. Goins will be able to continue working with Mr. Humble who is nearly 80 years old. Ms. Goins hopes to share her work with musicians in her community with the skills she learns. In this way, she hopes to honor her father who passed away a few years ago.
She says of his influence on her, “My dad was really supportive and introduced me to those who were knowledgeable in the violin luthier community. This is very important for me to continue because it’s something my dad was proud and supportive of. He was a very loving generous person who always tried to help anyone he could, and I’d like to do that in the future.”