Two U-M faculty members receive Guggenheim Fellowships

Say the word Guggenheim in artistic circles and its likely a head or two will turn. More than a few heads are turning toward a couple of University of Michigan faculty who have been awarded 2009 Guggenheim Fellowships.The world-recognized, prestigious honor went to a poet, Laura Kasischke, and an artist, Heidi Kumao. Kasischke is an associate professor in U-M’s Department of English and the Residential College, while Heidi Kumao serves as an associate professor in the university’s School of Art & Design. They are two of the 180 artists to make the Guggenheim in 2009 out of 3,000 applications.Kasischke will use her Guggenheim fellowship to take the year to write and revise a collection of poems tentatively entitled “Space, in Chains.” Kumao will continue to research and develop her current project of video sculptures called “Timed Release” for exhibition in 2010. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted more than $273 million in Fellowships to more than 16,700 individuals since 1925.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke