Artists apply by submitting a one-page statement. This year 24 people applied.

“Each year the Stranded Art Fund is faced with the agonizing decision of selecting from many worthy applicants, the few recipients for whom our limited fund can provide,” the donors said in a press release.

This was the third time Jannetta applied. She said she thought she would have to apply at least five times before she won a Stranded Art Fund grant.

“I’m so excited,” Jannetta said. “I’m just absolutely ecstatic at getting it already.”

Her sculptural ceramic work has already gained attention. Last spring she exhibited in the Masters of Mud show at the Anchorage Museum of History and Fine Art, selling one of her works to the permanent collection. Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, exhibits her work this month.

“Maygen’s ceramic work is powerful and evocative,” the Stranded Art Fund said. “She is a rising talent, and we are happy to give her this opportunity to help toward her dream of transitioning to a full-time artist.”

An art teacher at Homer High School, Jannetta also teaches ceramics at Kachemak Bay Campus. The grant allows her to take time off this summer to work on her sculptural ceramics.

“I’m just really excited about having that time to focus — so I can just make art,” she said.

A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, Ohio, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Senungetuk grew up in Fairbanks

A violinist and music teacher, she has been a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra.

Senungetuk said she plans to use her grant to attend the Fairbanks Suzuki Institute this summer, where she will study with master teacher Edward Kreitman of the Western Springs School of Talent Education.

“Becoming a better teacher is always going to help them,” she said. “The better I become at teaching, the better the students will become.”

Senungetuk performed recently with Anchorage musician Steven Alvarez at the Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.

“I’m tickled. I feel honored,” Smogor said of receiving a grant. “What a wonderful gift.”

A few years ago Smogor photographed about 25 local people for the Pratt Museum’s permanent exhibit, “Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People and Place.” She asked for funds to help her continue doing portraits of people.

“I thought I just scratched the surface,” Smogor said. “It would be great to put together a body of work of people in this area: their hands, their hearts, their heads.”

Smogor’s photographs are currently on exhibit at Two Sisters Bakery and at Bunnell Street Gallery.

“We agree this work should be seen by a wide audience, and we support helping her in the endeavor,” the Stranded Art Fund donors wrote.

The Stranded Art Fund neither seeks nor accepts public funding, believing that artistic communities can be self-supporting. It does not accept donations, but invites emulation.

“Please do what you can to support an artist you know or admire,” the donors wrote.

“I really appreciate it when anybody’s supporting the arts here in Alaska,” Senungetuk said. “I’m just so appreciative.”