Ashland resident receives Fields Artist Fellowship

ASHLAND, Ore. – Oregon Humanities and the Oregon Community Foundation are announcing the 2024 Fields Artist Fellowship.

One of the four recipients is an artist right here in Ashland.

Chava Florendo is a photographer, multidisciplinary artist, performer and educator. Chava, an SOU alum, puts a large focus on facilitating art and cultural opportunities for indigenous youth in artists. Along with her passion for teaching, Chava practices many forms of art, including traditional beadwork, painting, and even using power tools to make a large-scale artwork.

Florendo said, “I jokingly say I have ‘Creative ADHD’ because I have to try something once I see it. And so, I’ve tried a little bit of everything. But along the way, really what I always focused on was sharing whatever information or knowledge or skill that I had with young people in particular.”

Chava says that the Fields Fellowship is unique because it not only recognizes an individual’s artistry, but also the work they do for their community. There were about 300 applicants for this two-year fellowship.

OCF says that this is a long-term investment in artists meant to help them further develop their careers and engage their communities.

Jerry Tischleder from the Oregon Community Foundation said, “The artists can use the funds however they want. They can use it to just sustain them as income. They can use it for materials. They can use it to commission other artists or projects. It’s fully flexible. We know from the work these folks have been doing that they’re going to do incredible work in their community if they have time, space and resources to do it. So really, it’s just unrestricted funds to say keep doing what you’re doing and go as big as you can.”

Each of the artists will receive $150,000 over the course of two years, along with eight other finalists who will receive $10,000 each.