Undergraduate Scholarships and Funding for Current Students

John Fergus Family Scholarship and Exhibition

The John Fergus Family Scholarship is a juried art competition open to studio-based visual art and design students at The Ohio State University. Students submit their work for review by a jury of faculty from the departments of Art; Arts Administration, Education and Policy; Design; and History of Art. Scholarship winners receive a $1,000 scholarship applied to their student account and exhibit their work at the annual Fergus Scholarship Award Exhibition, a group exhibition featuring work selected from the scholarship recipients' applications.

Applications for the John Fergus Family Scholarship closed on November 13, 2023. The exhibition will take place in January 2024 at Hopkins Hall Gallery. Applications for the 2025 show will open in the Autumn of 2024


Undergraduate Juried Scholarship Exhibition

Each spring semester, students submit their best work (not shown in prior scholarship exhibitions) to be considered for scholarship awards and inclusion in the annual Department of Art Undergraduate Juried Exhibition. Members of the faculty and outside jurors select student work for a variety of awards. In general all awards require students to be full-time status (12 credit hours) with fees paid in full and in good academic standing (3.0 GPA).

Here is the criteria to be eligible for an award:

  1. You must be a full-time undergraduate student (12 credit hours)
  2. Have a 3.00 or above GPA
  3. Be a current student of the Department of Art (Studio Art Major -- BA or BFA)
  4. Fees must be paid for the current semester

The following is a list of scholarship awards through the Undergraduate Juried Show Exhibition.:

Department of Art Scholarships

  • Fergus Diversity Undergraduate Scholarship, art majors
  • Mary Martin Picarillo Scholarship, art majors: Preference given to a female graduate from Whetstone High School
  • Hoyt L. Sherman Memorial Scholarship Award, art majors
  • Aida Cannarsa Snow Endowment Scholarship Award, art majors
  • Department of Art Scholarship Award, art majors
  • Department of Art Faculty and Staff Scholarship Award, art majors

Area-specific Scholarships (BFA)

  • Arthur E. Baggs Memorial Scholarship Award, Ceramics major emphasis
  • Brian Bradesca Memorial Scholarship Award, Art and Technology major emphasis
  • David J. L. Firestone Photography, Photography major emphasis
  • Robert Marion Gatrell Undergraduate Scholarship Award, Drawing and Painting major emphasis
  • Susie Gehring Gudenkauf Art Scholarship Award, Drawing and Painting major emphasis
  • Charles W. Massey and Ola Belle Massey Printmaking Award, Printmaking major emphasis

Fergus Undergraduate Materials Funding

The Fergus Undergraduate Materials Fund support all levels of BFA or BA art students in their creative research and expression, except for the final semester of thesis exhibition, for grants of up to $300 

Application: Rolling applications accepted until April 1 (Spring or summer projects; November 1 (Autumn semester projects)

For more information about the materials fund, including how to apply, please review the following document:


External Residency and Grant Finding Tools:

Rivet

Transartists

Res Artis

Artist Communities Alliance

Creative Capital

Greater Columbus Arts Council

Ohio Arts Council

NYFA

BOMB


College Level Opportunities:

Office of Academic Enrichment: 

Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) 

Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry Funding Opportunities 

 

Undergraduate Fellowship Office: 

Fellowship Finder 

 

Global Arts and Humanities: 

Undergraduate research apprentice 

 

College of Arts and Sciences: 

Undergraduate Research Small Grants 

Arts Undergraduate Research Scholarship