View Cig Level Ii Grant From Arizona Commission on the Arts

PHOENIX – Dozens of Arizona artists are expanding their creative horizons, thanks to 30 $v,000 enquiry and development grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

The grants were for artists at any stage of their careers to help them experiment with techniques, create new works and more. To fund the grants, the commission partnered with nonprofits.

Cronkite News spoke with several recipients to find how they're spending the money to further their artistic visions and skills in public fine art, performance fine art, picture, music and dance.

Stephen Fairfield examines the metallic sculpture he'southward making for the Avondale Fire Section at his home exterior St. David on March 5, 2022. (Photo past Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Stephen Fairfield has a Ph.D. in biomedical research and ran the manufacturing program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until he switched to art nearly two decades ago. Photo taken in his home workshop exterior St. David on March 5, 2022. (Photo by Troy Colina/Cronkite News)

With the plate roller, sculptor Stephen Fairfield already has assembled half the sculpture he'southward making for the Avondale Burn down Department. Photo taken at his workshop outside St. David on March 5, 2022. (Photograph by Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Stephen Fairfield'south statue, which was commissioned past Avondale, sits outside his home near St. David on March 5, 2022. (Photo by Troy Colina/Cronkite News)

Public artist Stephen Fairfield adjusts the angle of his new plate roller, which can bend steel plates, at his habitation exterior St. David on March 5, 2022. (Photo by Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Stephen Fairfield

Stephen Fairfield of Cochise County, 78, is working on a sculpture that'due south to be displayed in front of Avondale Fire Station 175. Information technology'south a large outline of a heart made of twisted stainless steel plates with a quote from Cesar Chavez in English and Spanish: "Grant me courage to serve others; for in service at that place is true life."

For the project, Fairfield needed a specialized plate roller that can bend steel plates, and that's where the grant came in handy. With the roller, Fairfield already has assembled half the sculpture.

Fairfield has a Ph.D. in biomedical research and was head of the manufacturing program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but almost 20 years ago, he quit to pursue a career in sculpting.

Fairfield focuses on art created for public spaces, sometimes through a public process. He appreciates public art considering each project is vastly unlike from the previous one and tin can exist appreciated by everyone.

Grace Rolland-Redwood, through a mirror, sits at her piano and works on one of her songs in her home studio in Mesa on Feb. 27, 2022. (Photo by Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Grace Rolland-Redwood jots down notes as she works on a song in her home studio in Mesa on February. 27, 2022. (Photo by Troy Colina/Cronkite News)

Grace Rolland-Redwood plays guitar as she works on a song in her dwelling house studio in Mesa on Feb. 27, 2022. (Photo past Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Grace Rolland-Redwood

Grace Rolland-Redwood is a musician in Mesa who goes past Rising Sun Daughter and recently released her first EP, "I Run into Jane." She practical for the grant so she could invest in new equipment and stay adrift while she took some time to focus on developing new skills and music.

She used the $5,000 to upgrade her home studio and purchase a photographic camera to incorporate video into her music-writing procedure.

"It opens upwards the avenue for expression, when you lot have a certain tool," said Rolland-Redwood, who has been performing music since she was 7. "An creative person is only as adept equally his tools. That's not always truthful, but you can brand a bunch of stuff."

Rolland-Redwood sings and plays piano, guitar and cello. She besides has played violin, viola, mandolin and banjo at times. She comes from a family of artists and musicians and considers the arts a deeply ingrained part of her identity.

Sumana Sen Mandala begins her dancing routine past praying in her abode studio in Scottsdale on April 6, 2022. (Photo by Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Sumana Sen Mandala looks through some of the enquiry she has compiled on her dance artform in her domicile studio in Scottsdale on Apr 6, 2022. (Photo by Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Sumana Sen Mandala dances in her abode studio in Scottsdale on April half dozen, 2022. (Photograph by Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

A pile of research that Sumana Sen Mandala has been compiling about her traditional Indian dance artform in her dwelling house studio in Scottsdale on Apr 6, 2022. (Photograph past Troy Hill/Cronkite News)

Sumana Sen Mandala

Sumana Sen Mandala, 49, is a Phoenix dancer and trip the light fantastic toe instructor of an Indian classical dance style called Bharata Nrityam. She has used the grant money for research and critique on her form of dancing to explore what information technology ways for modernistic women.

"I've been very interested in a feedback process that's called the critical response process," she said. "It's a process that helps bring different perspectives. So I want to kind of use that procedure in the documentation by inviting people around me in the customs and fifty-fifty outside to help me as I develop whatever this research is going to exist."

She wants to utilize the research to make this fashion and tradition of dancing fit with her identity as an Indian American woman.

"If information technology's something past a 16th century male person composer from India from an Indian village, there are certain universal values, but there are certain things that just don't reflect me," Mandala said.

Jisun Myung steps into the part of a traditional Korean housewife for her production "Miyeokguk Projection" on March 15, 2022, in Tempe. (Photo by Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

Jisun Myung shows phrases from women's stories about reproduction while Jemima Choong dances in the groundwork during the outset production of the "Miyeokguk Project" Jan. 21, 2022, in Phoenix. (Photo courtesy of Ri Lindegren)

Jisun Myung uses this pot to make miyeokguk – the altogether soup – on March 15, 2022, in Tempe. (Photo past Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

Jisun Myung

Jisun Myung, 36, is a Valley theatrical artist, performer and director from Southward Korea who uses theater and food as tools to explore traditions and civilization. Her latest work, a participatory operation chosen the "Miyeokguk Projection," leads the audience on a journeying of tradition, nutrient and women'due south stories about reproduction.

"I was curious to see other Korean women's experiences and talk about how did they know they desire kids or not as we discussed it over a bowl of miyeokguk," Myung said.

Miyeokguk is a seaweed soup that Koreans consume on their birthdays and after giving birth. The soup forms a strong connexion between mothers and daughters, Myung said.

Her motivation for the project is "annoyance of the cultural and family pressure to have children."

She plans to employ the grant to aggrandize her production of the project, including a larger production, venue and props for a more immersive experience.

"The ideal vision for the show is that when the audience comes in, there is a actually night room and at that place is a giant pool filled with seaweed and you need to walk through information technology," Myung said. "Make it uncomfortable, that's the whole point – walk equally if this is the tradition that the Korean women have to go through."

Myung will have a small showing of the food performance at Arizona State Academy in Tempe on April 27. The larger production of "Miyeokguk Project" is expected to take place in Oct and next Feb.

Stephanie Rose Figgins transcribes audio she made almost her dreams on March 24, 2022, in Phoenix. (Photo past Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

For her curt documentary "Dreaming of Rosa," Stephanie Rose Figgins is compiling images to create her family tree. This photo, taken on March 24, 2022, in Phoenix, shows an image of her great-grandmother, Marina, at the bottom of the stairs. (Photo by Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

Stephanie Rose Figgins has been learning Quechua, an Indigenous Peruvian language that is mostly spoken at Caja Espiritu, Peru, where her family is from and where she'll record for her brusque film. Her language notes are pictured at her Phoenix home on March 24, 2022. (Photograph by Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

Stephanie Rose Figgins holds a photo of Marcelina Araujo, her great-great-grandmother, and her great-grandmother, Marina Tutaya, at Caja Espiritu in Republic of peru, where Figgins will practise initial shooting for her film. This photograph was taken at her Phoenix home on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

Stephanie Rose Figgins has a dream altar next to her desk, pictured on March 24, 2022, in Phoenix. (Photo by Monserrat Apud/Cronkite News)

Stephanie Rose Figgins

Stephanie Rose Figgins, 33, of Phoenix, is a camera operator for documentaries and an independent filmmaker. Her Peruvian family inspired her to create the experimental documentary "Dreaming of Rosa," which will explore connections between dreams and ancestral wisdom.

"Having someone put their faith behind your projection is a huge conviction boost, and I feel extremely grateful for it," Figgins said. The grant is helping fund her trip to Peru for two months to do research and start initial filming.

Figgins left Apr seven for a village in the highlands of Republic of peru chosen Caja Espiritu (Spiritual Box), where Figgins' swell-grandmother, Rosa, was born and the ruins of her house remain.

Before Figgins' trip, she journaled about her dreams, took dream piece of work classes and researched her family unit ancestry.

"I'one thousand committed to the exploration of who I am and the constant unfolding of my ancestors with my own dream landscape," Figgins said. "Almost people don't really retrieve their dreams, but it'southward one of the oldest ways for u.s.a. to know ourselves, to get direction, to heal, to get the best versions of ourselves, and then I'm only interested in exploring through flick really how far dreams can take us."

Troy Hill

News Visual Journalist, Phoenix

Troy Hill expects to graduate in May 2022 with a available'due south degree in journalism and a modest in motion-picture show production. Hill, who works for the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, is working for the Phoenix news bureau.

Monserrat Apud de la Fuente

News Visual Journalist, Phoenix

Monse Apud expects to graduate in May 2022 with a available's degree in journalism. Apud, who has interned every bit a photojournalist at The Arizona Commonwealth and Phoenix Magazine, also was an international radio correspondent for La Cadena Raza. She is working for the Phoenix news agency and Cronkite Noticias.

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Source: https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2022/04/29/arizona-commission-arts-grants-funding-30-artist-projects/

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