A Carthage artist has received a 2008 William R. Kenan Jr. Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts.

Brianna Gribben, who received the fellowship in visual arts, will be studying "The Figure in Space," with McArthur Freeman, the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts and the Visual Arts Program at the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) announced

The goals of the Kenan Fellowships are to promote life-long learning, stimulate experimentation and skill development, extend NCSA students' and artists' career development opportunities through Penland's network of peer professionals, and share its model educational learning environment, a news release said.

"Each year our ties to the Penland community grow stronger," said Dr. Margaret S. Mertz, executive director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts. "The commitment of the Penland staff and artists to nurturing our young artists as they make their first professional career steps is critical to their futures. We are indeed fortunate to have such great partners in the Penland School of Crafts."

Greg Shelnutt, director of the Visual Arts Program at NCSA, said: "What is so wonderful about the Kenan Fellowships is being able to see and hear about where our students have gone. In general, I find the formal interview process -- even for those students who apply while still enrolled at NCSA -- to be very informative. All of our applicants this year really put forward strong work and spoke very well about their dreams and aspirations."

Penland School of Crafts, a national center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, offers residential workshops in books and paper, clay, drawing and painting, glass, letterpress, metals printmaking, photography, textiles, wood and other media. The school also sponsors artist residencies, community education and a craft gallery. More information about Penland is available at www.penland.org.

"The Kenan Fellows Program enables Penland School of Crafts (or Penland) to introduce bright young artists from the North Carolina School of the Arts to our national network of instructors and a community of artists committed to helping students as their careers evolve and grow," said Jean McLaughlin, director of the Penland School of Crafts. "Our retreat environment, and our focused attention on materials and craftsmanship, simulates experimentation across media and innovative ideas."

The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fellowships at Penland is a project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, which builds partnerships to support creative projects, many of which are associated with the North Carolina School of the Arts.

More information about the Kenan Institute is available at www.kenanarts.org.