Adrienne M. Grafton-Kanazawa, the winner of the third annual Judy G. Cheteyan Scholarship at the Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC), begins her three-month internship this week.   Grafton-Kanazawa, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University, will focus her efforts on SCC's many outreach and education programs including Artist+Kids and Art: Inside/Out .

Now in its third year, the Cheteyan Scholarship was established by Sewickley businessman Michael Cheteyan in honor of his wife and her devotion to contemporary craft.   The Cheteyan Scholarship is yet another example of the growing opportunities and programming at SCC made possible by a strong and active Board of Directors as well as dedicated volunteers and staff.   A member of SCC's Board of Directors since 1999, Judy Cheteyan serves as Board Vice President, chairs of the Board Excellence Committee and chair of the Human Resources Task Force.   She is President of ABDI/Global Fulfillment, Inc., a Sewickley-based full-service product warehousing, customer service, order processing and fulfillment organization.

"We are delighted with Adrienne's selection as this year's scholarship recipient," said SCC Executive Director Janet L. McCall. "Her facility as a metal artist and a teacher made her the ideal candidate for this position and we know she will make important contributions to SCC over the course of her internship."

Grafton-Kanazawa will spend her three-month internship working in the areas of outreach and education, particularly Artist+Kids , an intensive arts program for middle-school students offered by SCC in conjunction with its Museum/School Partnership program.   She will assist in planning and implementation of Art: Inside/Out , SCC's annual Community Day celebration, and will also teach a metals workshop in SCC's education facility, The Studio, entitled "Surface Embellishment: Stamping & Kumboo," offered Saturday, July 10 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Grafton-Kanazawa expects to receive her M.F.A. from East Carolina University in May 2005. She holds a B.F.A. Magna Cum Laude in Metalsmithing/Jewelry from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where she was very involved in the local metals community.   At East Carolina University she has distinguished herself through her technical ability in metalwork and her teaching abilities demonstrated in her work as the teaching assistant for 3-D design and metals courses.   This summer she will be working with celebrated metalsmiths Robert Ebendorf and Tim Lazure for a ring workshop at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC. Grafton-Kanazawa has exhibited her artwork in galleries and conferences in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, California, Virginia and Massachusetts.   Her work will be featured in 500 Rings , a Lark Books publication due to come out in Fall 2004.

The Society for Contemporary Craft is a nonprofit visual arts organization that has been presenting regional, national and international contemporary art in craft media since 1971.   SCC's main exhibition gallery, education center and retail store are located at 2100 Smallman Street in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, PA. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibitions and informal, hands-on art activities in a drop-in workshop are always free to the public.   For more information, visit www.contemporarycraft.org or call 412-261-7003.

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