School of Art + Design (A+D) is celebrating the awarding of a 2025 Windgate-Lamar Fellowship to Art student, Helios Heartstar. The Windgate-Lamar Fellowship annually recognizes top emerging craft artists and is awarded to 10 graduating college seniors to recognize their exceptional artistic talent and potential to make a lasting impact. As one of the ten fellows this year, Heartstar will receive $15,000 in unrestricted funds to support the transition from student to working artist while also creating an ambitious, individualized plan for personal and artistic growth. The program provides structure and means at an important first phase in an artist's professional journey.
“The Windgate-Lamar Fellowship is one of our signature programs, and we could not be more thrilled to support this incredible group of talented emerging artists,” says Center for Craft Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “These artists push the boundaries of their mediums, showing us that craft is both a reflection and a reimagining of the world around us.”
Since 2006, the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship has awarded a total of $3 million to 200 emerging craft artists, providing them with a network of support and creating a foundation for future success. Panelists for this year’s selection committee were artist Geoffrey Bowton; Alana Hernandez, senior curator, Arizona State University Art Museum; artist, educator, and independent curator Margaret Jacobs; and carole frances lung, executive director, Antenna, and retired Professor of Fashion, Fiber, and Materials, University of California, Los Angeles. Heartstar's work explores the inclusion and presence of queer identities in the contemporary jewelry world.
"Using digitally drawn images of people from my community, as well as traditional jewelry practices, the pieces meet at an intersection of tradition and forward momentum, creating artifacts of power," wrote Heartstar. "They are a metaphor for the potency of presence and the ability to evolve. I use metal to solidify the reality that queer people have been present since time unwritten, and that they will be around for the ever-present future. Color and the jewel-like essence of enamel are used to highlight the bountiful and diverse community that is LGBTQIA+."
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