Warren Wilson College grad Karen “Rudy” Rudolph has accepted the role of craft initiative director at the local college. She will “coordinate Warren Wilson’s work program craft crews [and] facilitate ways in which all academic departments can access craft in an effort to enhance student learning,” in addition to other responsibilities, according to a press release.
From the Warren Wilson College website:
Karen “Rudy” Rudolph, formerly program officer overseeing all arts and culture strategic investments for the Lyndhurst Foundation in Chattanooga, Tenn., has assumed the new position of craft initiative director at Warren Wilson College.
The position, funded by the Windgate Charitable Foundation, was created to plan, support, execute and evaluate programming in the material arts and craft media. As director, Rudolph will coordinate Warren Wilson’s work program craft crews; facilitate ways in which all academic departments can access craft in an effort to enhance student learning; serve as liaison to The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD); and foster the development of relationships with other external partners that further the study and practice of art and craft.
“In Karen Randolph the college is fortunate to have an individual who took her experience from an academic class at Warren Wilson and created the college’s first craft crew, blacksmithing,” WWC Dean of Work Ian Robertson said. “And her experience since leaving Warren Wilson has prepared her for this new challenge.
“Rudy is already meeting with all stakeholders as she strives to understand the history and aspirations of the craft crews and studio craft areas. I see an individual who knows how to wrap her mind around the whole program and the individuals who are so important in its success.”
Funding for the position is part of a $2.1 million grant awarded to Warren Wilson in 2013 by the Windgate Charitable Foundation. The grant, spanning a three-year period, is intended to enhance Warren Wilson’s art department with the addition of studio craft and material arts, and advance a close partnership between Warren Wilson and CCCD to help make western North Carolina a recognized center for craft study.
“Warren Wilson College was provided an amazing opportunity by the Windgate Foundation to ramp up the presence of traditional and contemporary craft on the campus,” Rudolph said. “The grant serves as one more way to bridge the academic, work and service programs that form the Warren Wilson College Triad. I look forward to facilitating opportunities for the entire campus to participate in the growing renaissance of craft at WWC.”
After graduating from Warren Wilson in 2002, Rudolph was resident blacksmith at John C. Campbell Folk School and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines before joining the Lyndhurst Foundation.
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