By Laura Spencer
Kansas City – Guggenheim Fellows are selected based on achievements and their promise for continued accomplishments. 190 fellowships totaling more than $8 million were awarded this year to scientists, scholars and artists.
Elijah Gowin is an assistant professor in UMKC's Art and Art History Department and directs photographic studies. With his fellowship, Gowin plans to add to his series of photographs called "Of Falling and Floating" where cliff divers in Mexico are pictured drifting in the water or falling through the air.
Paul Rudy is a composer and performer of electroacoustic music. Rudy is also an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Composition for UMKC's Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Interim Dean of the Conservatory and composer Jim Mobberley says the fellowship comes at a perfect time in Rudy's career. "His work has taken giant leaps," says Mobberley. "He was already a gifted composer, but this is a whole new level and I'm sure this is exactly why the Guggenheim panel chose him."
As part of the fellowship, Rudy expects to take a semester off to write the second in a series of electroacoustic symphonies.
You can listen to an interview with Kansas City's 2006 Guggenheim Fellow Wilbur Niewald here .