2025 Dianne Komminsk Scholarship |
The Dianne Komminsk Scholarship originated with a generous donation from Ohio Art Patron and philanthropist Dianne Komminsk. Mid-South Sculpture Alliance is honored to continue her legacy of giving and promoting the arts by continuing to provide this scholarship to students across the US. The scholarship is open to all students currently enrolled in any higher education art program (BA, BFA, and MFA candidates are all welcome to apply). Students who apply need to provide a sponsor (someone who is a current member of MSA). Applicants may nominate themselves if their own membership is current. The goal of the MSA scholarship is to provide monetary support, networking, and exhibition opportunities to students in order to promote a supportive environment for sculptors as they advance through their academic studies.
Scholarship recipients will receive:
$300
Mentorship sessions with an MSA Arts professional
Exhibition of work at Confab 2025
Presentation of work at the MSA Confab 2025
6 scholarships will be awarded.
Applications are due on May 30th at 11:59 PM CST and will be juried by Mary Neubauer and Albert Paley.
Application and Exhibit Timeline
Call opens: 4-30-25
Deadline for submission: 5-30-25
Artists to be notified: 6-30-25
Information regarding the exhibition at MSA Confab 2025 will be sent to recipients after notification of award.
Artist Eligibility
This opportunity is open to nominated student artists actively enrolled in BA, BFA and MFA programs.
Applicants must be nominated by a current MSA member or may self-nominate if a member themselves.
Each applicant may enter 5-10 artworks; all entries must have been conceived and created by the artist submitting the artwork.
Application formembership can be made when submitting for this exhibition.
Application is free to applicants.
Jurors
Mary Neubauer
Mary Neubauer creates prints, sculptures and interactive artworks addressing metro and geophysical phenomena. Her digital production is combined with traditional fabrication and casting methods to dimensionalize contemporary environmental, civic, and scientific data. Mary has a deep interest in the rhythms and cycles of nature as well as contemporary urban systems, and has completed many projects visualizing municipal and geophysical input. Her cast metal sculptures and digital prints artworks utilized computer coding to drive the textures and surfaces. These works have a natural beauty and clarity that express hidden and long-term aspects of our environment.
She has shown her sculpture and prints nationally and internationally, and was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, a Fulbright Fellow (Cambridge, UK), and a Ford Fellow. She has completed numerous public artworks in the western states, including collaborative environments utilizing interactive light and sound. Mary is a President's Professor at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Mary serves on the Board of Directors for the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix and also for the Digital Stone Project, based in Tuscany, Italy, and has participated in the Digital Stone Project for the past ten years. Her art endeavors include two Arctic Circle remote-site expeditionary residencies, service as a visiting artist at the Anderson Ranch Center for the Arts, the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Ireland, and the John Michael Kohler Arts and Industry Iron Foundry program.
Albert Paley
Albert Paley, an active artist for over 40 years at his studio in Rochester, New York, is the first metal sculptor to receive the coveted Institute Honors awarded by the American Institute of Architects, the AIA’s highest award to a non-architect. “The allure of Paley’s art comes through its intrinsic sense of integration of art and architecture,” as one noted architect stated. Paley, Distinguished Professor, holds an Endowed Chair at the College of Art and Design at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Commissioned by both public institutions and private corporations, Paley has completed more than 50 site-specific works. Some notable examples are the Portal Gates for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, Synergy, a ceremonial archway in Philadelphia, the Portal Gates for the New York State Senate Chambers in Albany, Sentinel, a monumental plaza sculpture for Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as a 65-foot sculpture for the entry court of Bausch and Lomb’s headquarters in Rochester, NY.
Recently completed works include three sculptures for the National Harbor development near Washington DC, a 130’ long archway named Animals Always for the St. Louis Zoo, a gate for the Cleveland Botanical Gardens in Cleveland, OH, a sculptural relief for Wellington Place, Toronto, Canada, Threshold, a sculpture for the Corporate Headquarters of Klein Steel, Rochester, NY, and Transformation, a ceremonial entranceway for Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Artworks by Albert Paley can be found in the permanent collections of many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Broadly published and an international lecturer, Paley received both his BFA and MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester in 1989, the State University of New York at Brockport in 1996, St. Lawrence University, in Canton, New York in 1997, and the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden in 2012.
Site
Selected artists will exhibit at the MSA Confab 2025 in Huntsville, AL.
Artwork Themes
This scholarship application requires no theme nor specific media or subject matter. Innovative, new, excellent examples of formal, process-driven, transformative and strong conceptual or technical works in sculpture are desired.
Limitation & Restrictions
All work must be original and completed within the last 5 years.
Wall mounted artworks must be ready to hang upon delivery and include anchoring hardware appropriate for masonry walls.
All shipping or hand delivery and the return of work for the exhibition is the responsibility of the artist.
MSA reserves the right to reject works that are misrepresented in the application process or are not properly outfitted to display in the gallery.
Notification: Both selected and not accepted artists will be notified of their selection by email.
For further information regarding MSA and this exhibition, please visit www.midsouthsculpture.org, or contact Chelsea Moulder, Administrative Assistant, at admin@midsouthsculpture.org.
Application Requirements
Completed entry form
Artist statement - about artwork conception. Submissions should be no more than 400 words in length. Save in .doc format as artist name and statement (DOE_STATEMENT.doc).
Artist biography statement - 100 to 150 words in length. Save in .doc format as artist name and bio (DOE_BIO.doc).
Resume/CV Save in .doc or .pdf format as artist name and resume or CV (DOE_CV.pdf DOE_RESUME.doc)
Images - please submit 5-10 artworks. Detail images are encouraged with a maximum of up to 25 image files total. Works in progress will be considered only if images clearly depicting where the sculpture is to this point and a detailed technical drawing are included. For work better suited for representation by video (installation, kinetic sculpture, etc), post a video and include a link in the application form.
Image upload directions - each image must be:
Saved in jpeg format
Set color to RGB
Image size should not exceed horizontal pixel dimension of 1600 pixels or vertical pixel dimension of 1200 pixels
each file must be less than 1MB
Saved as the artist's last name and image title.
Example: DOE_UNTITLED.jpg
Image list - for each image, include:
Title
Date completed
Media
Dimensions (please be as accurate as possible)
Weight of artwork
Description of how the artwork is installed/hung etc.
Optional description about the artwork
Saved in .doc format
Saved as the artist’s last name and “image list”
Example: DOE_IMAGE_LIST.doc
Submitting your application indicates that you have read and understood all guidelines and criteria contained within this prospectus. To the best of your knowledge, you are eligible to be considered for The Dianne Komminsk Scholarship. Your application contains your work and the information in your statements is complete and true. You understand that if accepted, it will be your responsibility to ship/deliver your exhibition-ready artwork to the correct location and on time, concurrent with any schedules given to you upon acceptance.
No person will be excluded from participation in or otherwise subjected to discrimination in regards to services, programs and employment, provided by MSA based on color, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age or religion