Student16_letter Of Intent

Letter of Intent My name is Shaun Griffiths and I am a MA Glass student at the University of Sunderland in northeast England. I was previously at San Jose State University in California where I completed a BFA in Spatial Art. Upon graduating I was lucky enough to receive the prestigious Fulbright Postgraduate Award that has enabled me to finance the one-year MA degree I am currently enrolled in. My awarded proposal was to research methods of combining image and glass and to develop their application in design and sculpture, my end goal being to appropriate the information available here and return to America to disseminate it as an instructor. The University of Sunderland is uniquely suited to this research. The leader of the program is Kevin Petrie, the author of Glass and Print, and under his supervision is a cadre of artists pursuing similar veins of research, including Bullseye artist Jeffrey Sarmiento. My desire to attend this year’s GAS conference in Corning is both personal and professional. As a glass artist, I relish the opportunity to reunite with other members of the community. I enjoy the demonstrations, the lectures, the technical display, and of course the activities. Corning, as an important location to glass history, is a place I have wanted to visit in it of itself, as it provides an opportunity to both witness the heralded facilities and glass collection. While providing for my personal enjoyment, these activities simultaneously educate me, broadening my understanding of both the history and applications of glass. This is consequently passed on to those I instruct now and those I intend to instruct in the future. As I will be graduating at the end of July, the GAS conference also offers critical access to a network that can provide visibility to potential employment, residencies, and other opportunities that are not as readily available in any other format. These connections can be critical to emerging artists such as myself and have an increased importance in these financial times when the quantity of such opportunities correspondingly shrinks. As a Fulbright recipient, I have an obligation to promote the organization, but more important is the need to raise awareness of the opportunity it can provide within the glass community. Its importance to the American glass movement is well documented; Dale Chihuly and Richard Marquis were recipients very early in the studio glass movement. As an organization that provides financing to graduating student artists and established artists alike, the Fulbright Organization is an outstanding opportunity to study abroad, a wide variety of proposals have been financed in an ever-increasing number of countries. I hope to evangelize the benefits of this program to my peers. As a student at the University of Sunderland, I see first hand the need for awareness of this program to be increased. While well off the beaten path in the northeast corner of England, the facilities at the university are world class, owed in part to their collaboration and shared facilities with the National Glass Centre. If enabled to attend the conference, I intend to raise awareness of this university by participating in the school presentations segment of the GAS conference. I have also begun the process of becoming the Student Liaison for my university to facilitate the exchange of information

regarding opportunities and the like for the students here in Sunderland. Promoting myself and my affiliations, broadening my knowledge of the material’s history and techniques, and experiencing Corning as an avid glass artist and enthusiast can only be possible through some form of subsidy. As an American on a student visa, I am unable to earn money. My grant provides for tuition and living expenses, but leaves me with little for anything else but small quantities of frugally chosen materials. I hope that those who review this letter will receive in earnest my desire to become a teacher. Consequently, I hope that you will view a decision to award me with this scholarship as not money spent, but money invested. Please know that if enabled to attend that I will also volunteer to work the event, both to lower the cost and to give back to the organization. Thank you for your consideration.