Michael Romanik is Creative Workforce Fellowship Recipient

American Goldfinch Brooch / Pendant 

Cloisonne' enamel, fine and sterling silver 

2.5" x 1.75" x .25"

Photo:  Larry Sanders

Michael Romanik, a 1989 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and an East Cleveland resident, received a one-year, $20,000 fellowship for his outstanding work as a craft artist in Cuyahoga County, OH.

Out of 310 applicants in craft, design, media and visual artists, Michael was announced on December 10, 2010, as one of 20 artists to receive a Creative Workforce Fellowship. The Community partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC), the organization that operates the program, convened a panel of seven experts from around the country to judge the applications. After six weeks of studying the entire application pool at home, followed by a four-day public adjudication session they unanimously approved the 20 finalists. Applications were anonymous to the panel, and were judged based on artistic merit and a written statement about how the artists would use the Fellowship.

"This Fellowship is a tribute to the benefits artists bring to Cuyahoga county," said Tim Mueller, chair of CPAC’s Board of Trustees, "and our community’s investment in these artists shows our commitment to a strong and vibrant economic future."

In addition to the financial award, Fellows receive a one-year membership to the COSE Arts Network, and a tuition waiver to CPAC’s Artist as Entrepreneur Institute. Fellows are also featured in a professionally-designed catalogue at the conclusion of the Fellowship year.

Michael writes: "Having been chosen to receive this Fellowship has been an amazing honor! I have been a self-employed jewelry artist and enamelist since 1992. This Fellowship will give me the opportunity to concentrate on my work and expand my business more quickly in ways that I normally couldn’t afford to do.

I plan to purchase a new enameling kiln and, in pursuing my interest in creating more sculptural work, purchase metal-forming stakes and hammers. Setting up a website and purchasing/replacing items for my retail art and craft show display are also planned.

With the immense rising cost of precious metals, I’ll be able to more easily afford the silver and gold to create my work without too much apprehension! I am truly grateful for this opportunity."

For more information about the Creative Workforce Fellowship, including biographical information of the fellows and links to their web sites, please visit www.cpacbiz.org/business/CWF2.shtml.

To read more about Michael and see images of his work, please visit www.crafthaus.ning.com/profile/michaelromanik

Michael Romanik is a local jewelry artist whose work has been shown on Waterloo.

Michael Romanik

Local jewelry artist.

Read More on Art News
Volume 3, Issue 2, Posted 11:10 AM, 04.04.2011