Tennessee Craft invites artists to apply for 2025 Master Artist Apprentice Program

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Craft, in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission, announces the opening of the 2025 Master Artist Apprentice Program (MAAP) apprentice application process. This mentoring program offers artists a unique opportunity to learn traditional and contemporary craft skills firsthand from master craft artists.

All artists in the program choose challenging goals that will advance their skills and knowledge as craft artists. The MAAP was created to boost artists to the next level of their professional development during an intensive six-month one-on-one apprenticeship, not typically available in most learning environments.

Deadline for apprentice applications is November 7, 2024. APPLY HERE.

Meet the 2024 Master Artists

Brittney Boyd Bullock (Fiber/Textile) Memphis

Brittney is a visual artist living and working in Memphis, TN. As an artist working in fiber, mixed media, and abstraction, her practice explores the power and connection felt when we slow down to reimagine and reframe the observable world. She’s known for her use of color and repetition by using abstracted patchwork as a tool for sensory stimuli. Her two and three-dimensional collage and fiber works explore themes of ritual/rebellion, slowness, and wonder. Bullock’s practice of using traditional techniques and materials in a new way honors the unexpected and nostalgic.

Marty McConnaughey (Mixed Media) Sharps Chapel

Marty, a self-taught East Tennessee artist, was deeply inspired to explore a new medium while traveling with her husband to Michigan and later with her sister to Florida. Divine inspiration presented Marty with a muse resulting in a shift in medium from painting portraiture to working with found gourds from Michigan and the fiber from a harvest of long pine needles in Florida. This profound shift in medium has resulted in a growing body of nationally recognized, award winning sculpture using the shells of natural and dyed foraged gourds; harvested long pine needles; Tennessee and Florida sweet grasses; paper tree bark and many other gifts from nature. 

Tom Turnbull (Ceramics) Nashville

Tom’s journey in ceramics began before birth. His father, a WWII veteran, joined a ceramic materials company in 1946, and Tom was born in 1951. In 1960, his father founded Standard Ceramic Supply in Pittsburgh, where Tom grew up immersed in ceramics. At nineteen, Tom apprenticed with Charles Counts and Legatha Walston on Lookout Mountain, GA. After college at NYU and exploring various ventures, he founded Mid-South Ceramic Supply in 1986, became the US agent for RZM Zircon, and led the development of Opulence Glaze™. In 1999, Tom sold his company and the Opulence patents to focus solely on being a full-time potter.

To read the full bios of the 2025 Master Artists, visit tennesseecraft.org/programs/maap.

Awarded apprentices receive an $1,900 stipend to work with their chosen master from December 1, 2024 to June 15, 2025. For more information, email [email protected].  

Program supported by:

About Tennessee Craft: Tennessee Craft, formerly The Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA), works to continue and create Tennessee’s fine craft tradition. With more than 500 members throughout the state, Tennessee Craft serves as the premier connecting point for local, independent makers and their audiences through craft fairs, exhibitions, professional development, networking, mentorship and other educational programs. Visit tennesseecraft.org to learn more.

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