Cathy Wright: Decorative Arts Trust Scholarship

“First of all, an official thank you to the Decorative Arts Trust grant program for the opportunity to attend the FAE Seminar and increase my knowledge and understanding of decorative arts.  The 2018 FAE Seminar was an excellent program and meeting so many helpful appraisers was a bonus.  The presentations were all appropriate and timely.  I’m grateful for the grant assistance provided by the Decorative Arts Trust for helping me to better understand the field of decorative arts and develop my connoisseurship and appraisal skills.  Thank you.”

Stephanie Daugherty: Gloria Moroni Scholarship

“This is the first scholarship I have received from the Foundation for Appraisal Education. I am immensely grateful to have been awarded the Gloria Moroni Scholarship, which has given me the opportunity to attend ISA’s Appraisal of Fine Art course in Naperville, IL. I have a great passion for learning about Fine Art and am confident that the class will help me contribute to the personal property appraising field in a meaningful way, both scholarly and educationally. Throughout my academic career, I have taken advantage of one-on-one meetings with my professor and discussions with my peers. I am confident this course will be indispensable for my fine art knowledge and career objectives.”

Sharon Berlin: Ruth Isgrow Scholarship

“I am very honoured and humbled to receive the generous Ruth Isgrow Scholarship from the Foundation for Appraisal Education. In 2004, after working in the auction business for many years, I decided to take the leap to start my own business and become a personal property appraiser. I truly love what I do. I love handling objects, seeing incredible works of art, researching, preparing reports, working with a wide variety of clientele…it is ever changing and I am always learning.

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Over the past almost 15 years, I have taken or attended numerous courses, seminars, conferences and meetings and have updated my credentials as required. These requirements are necessary to maintain the integrity of this industry and to ensure that there is consistency and uniformity. This award is graciously accepted and will assist with my continued education. My sincerest thanks once again to the Foundation and those involved in bestowing me with this honour.”

Katie Silva

“I am so thankful for this scholarship! The FAE General Scholarship is jump starting my journey to becoming a qualified appraiser. As a young mother of three and running my own art brokerage business this scholarship is both necessary and timely. I’ll be using it to cover the cost of the Core Course in Appraisal Studies course. I am very excited to get the process started and ultimately join ISA as an Accredited Member.”

Jillian Van Volkenburgh

“Thank you Foundation of Appraisal Education!  As a recipient of the FAE scholarship it will help me further a career that I love. I recently made the leap to leave my position as Director of Education at a large art non-profit and into self-employment to focus on building my appraisal career. In making that decision, I knew that continuing my education in the near future would not be financially feasible. The timing of the FAE scholarship could not have been more opportune. It is important that an appraiser’s education is ongoing. It is my goal to be an exemplary representative of the personal property appraisal field.”

Monica Bryant

“This endeavor came about as an accident.  While working at a gallery, I was typing up art appraisals for my boss.  My background in art history and museums revealed that I have a natural inclination for this work and, better yet, genuinely enjoy it.  I feel like the Sherlock Holmes of art history when I engage with an object and gather information to decipher its value. This scholarship will greatly impact my understanding on the methods and principles of fine art appraisals.  This is an important opportunity that will educate me on how to become an effective art appraiser and continue to motivate me to stay on top of art market activities. Thank you ISA for this opportunity to take the 1st step towards achieving this goal.  I am incredibly for this journey!”

Lourdes Ranero

“I am truly grateful to the Foundation for Appraisal Education for awarding me with this scholarship. My educational background is in archaeology and museum studies, and professionally, registration has always been a great portion of the work I do. For the last 18 years I’ve been fortunate to work as a Registrar and Collections Manager with different types of collections in museums, federal agencies, and private collectors in Puerto Rico and New York City. I really enjoy what I do and being able to accomplish another step towards my professional goals is very significant and important to me. This opportunity will allow me to focus on one of the most important aspects of my life: learning. With no doubt this scholarship will play a key role in becoming an accredited member within the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) and expand my skills, as well as the services I can provide to my clients.”

Heather Dawson

“I am encountering interesting original works of art on all of my assignments and while I am apt at researching the archives and reaching out to curators, I would love to strengthen my own foundation of knowledge in that field. I enjoy researching and learning about different artists and seeing what has been created over decades and centuries. I spent years as a special education teacher and loved incorporating art and creativity into the work I did with students. I left teaching  a couple years ago to pursue working in the antiques and collectibles industry. I grew up in a family run auction company in Morris Plains, New Jersey called Dawson’s. My mother grew the business from a small tag sale company to a successful auction house. My father was an engineer and joined her full time when he was 45. Ironically, his passion became appraising art. He passed away unexpectedly at 68 years old a few years ago. Today, in my own journey as an appraiser, I feel happy having discovered an interest that I share in common with my dad.”

Brittany Boyd-Pyman

It is an honour to have been selected to receive a scholarship from the Foundation of Appraisal Education.  As someone who has been working in the fine arts for only five years and who is very new to appraising in particular, this scholarship provides me with an opportunity to take my career to the next level.

I have recently become involved in the Appraisals and Consignments department at Waddington’s Auctioneers and Appraisers in Toronto, Canada.  With this scholarship I intend to pursue the Core Course in Appraisal Studies offered by the International Society of Appraisers, which will enhance my overall understanding of the field of appraising, and therefore enhance my contributions at Waddington’s and to our clients.  I would like to thank the FAE and their directors for selecting me to reap the rewards of this exceptional opportunity.

Christine Marques

“I am ecstatic to be the recipient of a scholarship that will facilitate me going to Naperville for the Antiques, Furnishing and Decorative Arts course. While taking the Core Course and USPAP online was very convenient, I knew that connecting with other appraisers in person would be an essential tool towards my success in this field. I attended Assets 2018 and wow, what an experience! I met knowledgeable, resourceful, collaborative, interesting appraisers and knew the next step would be to take an in depth course in person. The generous scholarship will most definitely help me achieve that goal.

Education is key and the International Society of Appraisers has proved a high value in the courses I have taken so far. I am very passionate about all aspects of appraising, from research to analysis, determining value, establishing and maintaining relationships with key players in the industry, maintaining a level of integrity and ethics in the appraisal practice. This course will help build additional skills, such as identification of quality, age, and design characteristics of periods and styles. Also, appraisers are such an interesting group of people, I can hardly wait for this terrific opportunity to be among them.”

Mason Riddle

“With deep gratitude and delight, I am so appreciative to be selected to receive a scholarship for the 7- Hour USPAP update with Tim Luke in August. This gift lessens the financial burden and allows me to accomplish the USPAP requirement early into the 2-yr. update window. I am also looking forward to taking it with Tim. Each time I work with the ISA instructors (Kirsten Smolensky, Mickey Logan, Cathy Peters and Tim Luke), I learn more about both the macro and micro aspects and details of writing and assembling an appraisal report. This FAE scholarship comes at a very opportune time, and I am honored to receive it. Many thanks to the selection committee as this is extremely helpful in advancing my nascent appraisal practice.”

Catherine Stergar

“I would like to express my immense thanks to the Foundation for Appraisal Education for the generous scholarship in honor of Wendell Garrett (1929-2012). The scholarship enabled me to attend the 2018 Ceramics Up Close: Hands-On Study Days program at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in late April. The conference was very beneficial for my research and professional interests, and I was thrilled to be able to attend it as a young professional in the decorative arts field.

I am a recent graduate of the master’s degree program at Bard Graduate Center in New York City, where I focused my coursework and research on American decorative arts and material culture. Since June 2017, I have been working as the Tiffany and Co. Foundation Curatorial Intern in American Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In this year-long position, I have been assisting the museum’s curators of American decorative arts with exhibition and collections research in addition to administrative and curatorial tasks. My professional goal is to be a curator of decorative arts, and I am particularly interested in specializing in the study of ceramics. I was delighted to be able to attend the Ceramics Up Close conference and further my education in the history of ceramics. I met and learned from multiple specialists in the field over the course of the program and gained more experience with handling and close looking techniques that are necessary for the study of ceramics. Thank you again for this generous scholarship and the others that you have awarded to young professionals in the field.”