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 (AAEP), 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 at Urban Arts Space, a group exhibition featuring work selected from the scholarship recipients' applications.

Deadline:  TBD

Application: TBD

The John Fergus Family Scholarship was established with gifts from John C. and Elizabeth O. Fergus, and Robert H. Fergus, in honor of their mother, Edith Fergus-Gilmore.

Deadline:  TBD

Each spring semester, students submit their best work (not shown in prior scholarship exhibitions) for consideration 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 in full-time status (12 credit hours), have fees paid in full, and be 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

Please note:  Scholarships will be awarded for Autumn 2027; students graduating in Spring 2027 are not eligible. 

To apply, students must submit an artist statement, complete the application, and upload three images of their work via SlideRoom.

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

Department of Art Scholarships

• Fergus 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 supports 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: Fergus Materials Grant

Deadlines for application:  TBD

Funding Explanations and Exclusions:

• Funding requests must be for current semeter or the next concurrent semester events or projects. Funding cannot be requested for previous semesters.
• Software, equipment purchases, or travel will not be considered.
• Priority is given to those who have not received Fergus materials funds previously
• Students are typically not awarded funding twice in the same academic year. 

Materials for application: 

• 250-350 (3 paragraph) word project proposal. 
  • Describe your project
  • Discuss how the materials grant will support your project goals
  • Explain how your training, coursework, and additional experiences contribute to the project
• An itemized budget
  • List all items in your project budget
  • Specify materials grant request items
• Timeline for the project
  • Start date
  • Revision dates
  • Completion dates for each phase of the project
  • Final project completion date