VCU news

By A. Nikki Ahmadi-Nabi
University News Services

A Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts alumna has received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, marking the third time in the last four years that a graduate or faculty member of the school has received the honor.

Bonnie Collura, who graduated in 1994 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture, received one of the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship honors. Collura is an artist in New York City and an adjunct professor of sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Guggenheim Fellowships are grants made to advance professionals in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and creative arts who have a significant record of exhibition or performance of their work. Since 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation has made the annual awards to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts."

Each year the foundation makes multiple awards in each of the two foundations: one open to citizens and permanent residents of Canada or the United states and the other open to citizens or permanent residents of Latin America or the Caribbean.

U.S. Sen. Simon Guggenheim and his wife established the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1925 as a memorial to their son who died in 1922. The foundation offers fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by helping them to engage in research.

Elizabeth King, professor in VCU's School of the Arts, was a recipient in 2002. Teresita Fernandez, a 1992 graduate with a master’s degree in fine arts in sculpture, has also received the Guggenheim Fellowship.