Five area artists, Celia Gray, Liisa Jasinski, Janet Orselli and Ford and Mara Smith were honored with artist’s grants during the Upstairs Artspace Annual Meeting in Tryon on Monday, February 28.

The Upstairs Artspace Artists Grant Program was established last year to provide modest financial support to visual artists who have exhibited at the Upstairs since its founding in 1978. The purpose of the program is to help artists grow and develop professionally. Recipients were chosen by a selection committee in December, using specified guidelines to evaluate the merits of all submitted applications.

Asheville resident Celia Gray plans to use her grant award to introduce monoprint and silkscreen into her current encaustic painting process. Her plan is to add pattern and imagery to upcoming projects, using printmaking techniques.

Lisa Jasinski of Newberry, S.C., will use her grant stipend to purchase supplies including copper foil acrylic paints, digital image transfers, linen, gels, oil paints and silver leaf for a new body of mixed media work.

Janet Orselli, a Columbus artist, plans to create large numbers of “Heartsoles” from old shoe soles, shoestrings and felt. These “Heartsoles” will be partially funded by her grant award and will become part of a large installation, which will be exhibited in a number of venues around the Southeast.

Well-known Tryon artists Ford and Mara Smith applied for their grant in order to help fund their planned long-term project of interviewing and photographing 40 to 50 working Polk County artists and craftsmen. The Smiths plan to turn the project into a major exhibit.

Funds for the Upstairs Artspace Artists Grant Program come from a percentage of annual membership revenues. In that way, those who become members of the Upstairs Artspace are helping support the non-profit Upstairs Artspace, as well as the very artists whose works are on display in the gallery throughout the year.