Scholarships for Scholars; photo by Jacob LambertEvery February, the Scholarships for Scholars Celebration coincides with the opening of the 1st Year MFA Exhibition, open studios, silent auction, and raffle drawings. Some $300,000 has been raised to help support the education of 53 MFA candidates. This helps us to continue to recruit the outstanding students who form the core of our program, with most of them establishing studio and/or teaching careers following graduation.

With the support and vision of arts enthusiasts Dale and Doug Anderson, Scholarships for Scholars was created in 2000 to provide much needed funding for the UW Ceramics graduate students. The UW Ceramics Program has played a unique and leading role in contemporary ceramics for some fifty years and is nationally ranked by U.S. News and World Report. In 2005 the program was honored to receive the Brotman Instructional Award by the University. The strength and vision of the clay tradition at the UW was established by the outstanding contributions of Robert Sperry, Howard Kottler, and Patti Warashina. The current faculty—Doug Jeck, Akio Takamori, and Jamie Walker—continue to encourage experimentation and promote the use of clay as a basis for individual artistic expression.

In 2009, after eight years of having this as a Ceramics event, Scholarships for Scholars IX highlighted the new 3D4M consortium which includes ceramics, glass, and sculpture. The faculty, including recent hires Amie McNeel/Sculpture and Mark Zirpel/Glass have been working on this collaborative endeavor as a way to restructure our program to better reflect the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary art, embrace the introduction of Glass, and provide the most stimulating studio environment possible. In particular, the graduate students are very excited by this change and we are looking forward to attracting an even more diverse and talented pool of graduate candidates to study at the University of Washington.

Raffle Prizes and Winning Ticket Holders

I  Akio Takamori…..Judi and John Clark
II  Doug Jeck…..Rebecca and Jack Benaroya
III  Jamie Walker…..Dale and Doug Anderson
IV  Patti Warashina…..Alison and Glen Milliman
V  Howard Kottler…..Alida and Chris Latham
VI  Robert Sperry…..Mary Kay McCaw
VII  Jeck, Takamori, Walker…..John Taylor, Betty Lou and Irwin Treiger, Mike Peck
VIII  Jeck, Takamori, Walker…..William Reinhardt, Layne and Jack Kleinhart, Steve Walker
IX  Jeck, Amie McNeel, Mark Zirpel…..Ana Mari Cauce, Betty Lou and Irwin Treiger, Linda Nordberg
X  “5 Drawings”, Jeck, McNeel, Takamori, Walker, Zirpel…..Allison Manch
XI  “5 Plates”, Jeck, McNeel, Takamori, Walker, Zirpel…..Jane and David Davis
XII  “5 Heads”, Jeck, McNeel, Takamori, Walker, Zirpel…..Doug Wadden                                         XIII “5 Pieces of Gold”, Jeck, McNeel, Takamori, Walker, Zirpel…..Joanne Hayakawa, Joan Carter

Graduate Students Supported

2001  Sarah Lindley, Paul Metevier, Jodi Rockwell
2002  Carrie Kaufman, Debbie Reichard, Tony Pazzi
2003  Julia Cole, Kris Lyons, Tammie Rubin, Timea Tihanyi
2004  Drew Daly, Ryan Horvath, Tim Roda, James Sumey
2005  Katie Cox, Eric Eley, Satomi Jin
2006  Ben Hirschkoff, Susie Lee, Matt Mitros
2007  Amy Johnson, Mike Simi, Matt Van Horn, Kristine Veith
2008  Alicia Basinger, Evan Blackwell, Rachel de Conde, Kinu Watanabe
2009  George Rodriguez, Arun Sharma, Ben Waterman
2010  Jacob Foran, Rumi Koshino, Alwyn O’Brien, Lisa Rickey, Bryan Schoneman
2011  Kate Clark, Gustavo Martinez, Christopher McElroy, Nuala Ni Fhlathuin
2012  Adam Matthews, Tony Sonnenberg
2013  Jared Bender, Lacy Draper, Meg Hartwig, Stephanie Klausing                                           2014 Hesheng Cheng, Becca Chernow, Andrew Hoeppner