The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design (CCCD) is launching ENEWS to keep you current with all our programs, exhibits and events. ENEWS will be sent out monthly with most news linking to more lengthy information found on our website www.craftcreativitydesign.org. Announcements cards will still be mailed for upcoming exhibits and talks. If you are on our mailing list to receive an announcement card for exhibits and would prefer to receive the information through ENEWS, please let us know and it will save us a stamp!

Hillary Brett, Gallery Director at the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design for the last three years is leaving in August to become Curator for Western Carolina University’s Fine Art Museum. We wish Hillary the best in her new endeavor.

Applicants interested in applying for the position vacated are directed to www.unca.edu website, to Human Resources/Personnel at Inside UNCA. CCCD is an inter-institutional Center of the University of North Carolina serving the three mountain campuses and a major national agenda to advance craft. The University of North Carolina at Asheville is the administrative unit for CCCD and as such processes applications for CCCD positions. CCCD is located in Hendersonville, North Carolina, approximately 22 miles south of Asheville.

The second international residency sponsored by the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, under the direction of Danish clay artist Nina Hole and her assistant Ann-Charlotte Ohlsson, involves students, faculty and area professional ceramic artists constructing a 15-20 foot architectural-inspired sculpture between September 9 -23. Students and faculty in three teams are from UNC Asheville, Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University, Haywood Professional Crafts Program, and Penland School of Craft.

The sculpture is built of clay with a fire box at the base. The last three days of the residency, the sculpture is wrapped in a space-age material able to withstand temperatures over 2000 degrees to create a kiln, and wood fired through the fire box at the base. When the sculpture reaches temperature on September 23, the material is removed from the sculpture as an exciting climax and dedication of the FIRE SCULPTURE.

The public is invited to the “Unveiling of the FIRE SCULPTURE” at Wey Hall, on the Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Saturday, September 23rd with “lift-off” scheduled for 8pm, if weather and temperature cooperate.

2007 Guidelines and Applications are now available at www.craftcreativitydesign.org for research and critical writing on U.S. Craft. Project awards up to $15,000 are available for curators, faculty, independent scholars and Graduate Research awards of up to $10,000 for students with thesis or dissertations relating to U.S. Craft research. A summary of the topics of grants awarded in 2005 and 2006 are found at the Research area on the website. Deadline of applications is January 8, 2007 with awards announced in April.

2006 Fellows are contributing images and updates in an on-line journal about their experiences after receiving the $15,000 Windgate Fellowship. Photographer Jenny Fine, a University of Alabama graduate, spent the summer in Rochester studying with Mark and France Osterman at the George Eastman House. Josh Copus, a UNC Asheville graduate, is using Fellowship to purchase land on which he can build his own woodfire kiln. The last issue of Studio Potter includes an article by Josh on digging “wild clay.” Rachelle Lim, a San Diego State University graduate, posted in her online journal her explorations into Chicago and San Francisco Chinatown’s as she researched her ancestry. As a metalsmith she attended the SNAG conference in Chicago and is now attending a three week course at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. From the Research section of www.craftcreativitydesign.org take a look at the images of the work of the 2006 Windgate Fellows, their application that appealed to the jury, and follow their journey over the next year.