In an effort to continue enhancing Tulsa’s arts scene, the George Kaiser Family Foundation recently awarded 27 artists from across the U.S. the opportunity to live, work and create in Tulsa, Oklahoma as part of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Launched in 2016, the TAF is a Tulsa-based artist recruitment and retention program that provides artists with a $20,000 stipend and, in most cases, free housing and studio work space. This year, based on demand and increased applications, the TAF expanded its fellowship to include not only visual artists but also writers.

“The inaugural class of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship was an immense success, and interest in the program continues to grow across the U.S.,” said Julia White, TAF program director. “The expansion to two classes will allow even more collaboration among the fellows in the program as they immerse themselves in the Tulsa art community through festivals, gallery shows and First Friday Art Crawls. This year’s artists are incredibly ambitious and talented, and we are proud to not only support them, but welcome them to Tulsa.”

With more than 575 applications from 40 states total, the selected fellows hail from 13 states and include graphic novelists, play/screenwriters, poets, painters, ceramics artists, photographers, street artists and more. The fellowship will begin on January 9, 2017.

“As a native Tulsan, I’m especially proud to be selected for the Tulsa Artist Fellowship,” said Sterlin Harjo, American Indian filmmaker and member of the 2017 TAF writers’ class. “As a filmmaker, writing is a huge aspect of what I do. I’m excited to get to stay in my hometown and continue to pursue my passion with the support of George Kaiser Family Foundation and my fellow artists.”

The selection panel for the 2017 TAF writers includes Rilla Askew (University of Oklahoma, professor), Brando Skyhorse (George Washington University, writer-in-residence), Dr. Tyrone Williams (Xavier University, professor), Nozlee Samadzadeh-Hadidi (The Morning News, editor) and Josefine Kals (Alfred A. Knopf and Pantheon Books, associate director of publicity). The selection panel for the 2017 TAF visual artists includes Kathleen Ash Milby (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, associate curator), Andy Grundberg (arts critic, curator and educator in Washington, D.C.), James Pepper-Henry (Gilcrease Museum, executive director), Jane Sauer (gallery owner and Honorary Fellow of American Craft) and Monica Ramirez-Montagut (Tulane University, gallery director).



“The TAF fellowship comes at a time in my career where I’m looking for financial freedom to ask new questions in my work,” said Joel Phillips, member of the 2017 TAF visual artists class. “I’m looking forward to diving into a new communal space and being surrounded by unfamiliar question and inspirations. Equally exciting is the opportunity to join the creative conversation in Tulsa and take a step back from the financial pressures to explore new avenues in my own practice.”

The 2017 class of writing fellows includes Anna Badkhen, Creative Nonfiction, Alpine, Texas; Melanie Gillman, Graphic Novel, Denver, Colorado; Arigon Starr, Graphic Novel, West Hollywood, California; Dan Musgrave, Creative Nonfiction, Saint Louis, Missouri; Allison Hedge Coke, Poetry, Arcadia, Oklahoma; Simon Han, Fiction, Nashville, Tennessee; Adrienne Dawes, Play/Screen Writing, Chicago, Illinois; Jennifer Hope Davy, Fiction, Millburn, New Jersey; Colleen Abel, Poetry, Beach Park, Illinois; Laurie Thomas, Play/Screen Writing, Tampa, Florida; April Freely, Creative Nonfiction, Cleveland, Ohio; and Sterlin Harjo, Play/Screen Writing, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 2017 class of visual artist fellows includes Anita Fields, Ceramics, Stillwater, Oklahoma; Rachel Hays, Fiber Arts/ Public Installation, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Adam Smith, Painting/Street Art, Pasadena, California; Yatika Fields, Painting/Murals, Stillwater, Oklahoma; Megan Mosholder, Fiber Art/ Public Installation, Atlanta, Georgia, Ohio; Antonius Bui, Paper/Installation, Sugar Land, Texas; Cynthia Brown, Painting, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Tali Weinberg, Fiber Art/Weaving, Berkeley, California; Carrie Dickason, Large Scale Installation, Johnson, Vermont; Jave Yoshimoto, Printmaking, Omaha, Nebraska; Joel Daniel Phillips, Drawing, Oakland, California; Jen Liu, Performance/Public Installation, Staten Island, New York; Emily Chase, Paper/Printmaking, Fayetteville, Arkansas; Miranda Brandon, Photography, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Adam Carnes, Painting, Brooklyn, New York.