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46 ORNAMENT 36.2.2012 RACHEL COLUMB, University of Georgia. In 2006, with support from the Windgate Charitable Foundation, a private family foundation established in 1993 and based in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, the Center began the Windgate Fellowship program. Each year the Center invites selected universities (over one hundred twenty in 2012) in the United States to nominate two graduating seniors with "exemplary skill in craft." They encourage universities to consider the following criteria: "work must in some way be informed by craft process, materials, traditions and/or sensibilities; work should demonstrate a balance of content and design, as well as a mastery of materials; and applicants should demonstrate innovation and curiosity, be committed to growth of their own work, and show evidence of how their work might stimulate creative thinking or dialogue among other artists." The nominees then complete online applications that are reviewed by a panel comprised of professionals affiliated with craft including educators, artists, curators, and gallery directors. The awards are announced in April of each year, and fellows have eighteen months to complete the activities they propose in their applications. By far the most common use for the funds is the most practical: purchasing tools and materials for studios. Recent fellow Rachel Columb (2012) explains, "My number one goal is to make sure that I have the tools and materials to keep on making jewelry no matter what." Elizabeth Staiger (2009) notes that investing in a metalsmithing studio enabled her to keep working and have a smooth transition from "an excellent school studio" to her own studio as she began her professional career. Rachael Nyhus (2010) has similar enthusiasm for this practical application of the fellowship, sharing, "First and foremost, the Windgate Fellowship has provided me with the resources to build a studio. This studio holds not only equipment but also excitement and possibility. It is where I make and where I want to be." Brian Fleetwood (2012) who is relocating from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Richmond, Virginia, for graduate school, is using most of his fellowship to purchase a jewelry bench, tools and materials. Fleetwood, a member of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, is influenced by his tribe's traditional craft practices as well as by a personal interest in science and the history of science, and the raw materials he plans to acquire for his jewelry range from organic materials including wood, antler, bone, shell, and coral, to more industrial materials like cast iron and glass; he will form these materials into sculptural, organic shapes, creating biologically-inspired jewelry. Another common use of the grant is to attend professional conferences, especially those offered by the Society of North American Goldsmiths [SNAG]. Columb attended the most recent SNAG conference, where she "was able to connect with other metalsmiths, learn about how the field operates on a larger scale, and also listen to an eyebrow raising talk from [dealer, historian, and critic] Garth Clark." Other fellows have attended SOFA (the Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design art fair), SCHMUCK (the international jewelry competition in Munich), and American Craft Council shows. Aaron Decker (2012) recently participated in the Garnet Symposium in Turnov, Czech Republic. Attending these gatherings helps the fellows develop professional contacts and encourages peer camaraderie. Rather than attending group events, Kathleen Janvier (2009) arranged for a series of one-on-one interactions by interning with six individual contemporary jewelers (Gésine Hackenberg, Evert Nijland, Manon van Kouswijk, Katja Prins, Andrea Wagner, and Lucy Sarneel) for overlapping lengths of time during a period of eight months—in Amsterdam. Of the experience, she writes, "Amsterdam showed me the inner workings of several successful studios where I slowly gained a sense of each artist's priorities in making. Conversations ranging from artistic influences to business ethics helped me learn something of the dedication and flexibility necessary in this field." Janvier's work from her time as a fellow features delicate drawings in enamel on copper suggesting fragile human interactions and isolation. Now a graduate student at Cranbrook Academy of Art, her jewelry emphasizes less traditional materials, but still is centered on the same issues of "loneliness and solitude, connection and twinning."