As a continued expression of our shared commitment to advancing the next generation of artists, YoungArts partnered with Anthropologie to award five past YoungArts winners with the YoungArts x Anthropologie Leading with Creativity Award, now in its second year. Winners received $10,000 in unrestricted grants, mentorship from Anthropologie’s team of artists and designers and the opportunity to showcase their work on Anthropologie’s digital marketplace. The digital marketplace offers the winners an opportunity to display their creations commission-free, receiving 100% of the sales revenue.
Meet the Artists
Andie Aylsworth (2018 Visual Arts)
Andie Aylsworth is a London-based multidisciplinary installation artist. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Aylsworth fostered a deep respect for nature at an early age due to her matrilineal kinship to the Quechua people of present-day Ecuador. As an Indigenous artist, she uses traditional ecological knowledge and reciprocal foraging to create tapestries curated from nature.
Aylsworth collaborated with Anthropologie mentors Julie Gwin, Associate Design Director, and Jackie Chancer, Senior Buyer, to create 20 unique framed tapestries in various sizes, orientations and colors.
“The opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, share insights and contribute to a collective tapestry of inspiration was immensely inspiring and enriching.” – Andie Aylsworth
Walker Bankson (2017, 2018 Photography)
Walker Bankson is a Wilmington, North Carolina-based artist and educator. He uses photography as a tool to collaborate with underrepresented communities in the South, documenting how history is performed and fictionalized in contested spaces.
Bankson collaborated with Anthropologie mentors Julie Gwin, Associate Design Director, and Jackie Chancer, Senior Buyer, to create 20 framed art prints/collages exclusively for Anthropologie.
“I continue to be amazed by how the camera brings me to corners of the world I’d otherwise never find myself in.” – Walker Bankson
Tiarra Bell (2016 Design)
Tiarra Bell is a Philadelphia-based furniture designer. Bell is the founder of Bellafonté Studio, an internationally recognized creative art studio that specializes in sculptural furniture for luxury residential projects, interior designers, fine art galleries and collectors. The core of her work is an external reflection of her internal thoughts, resulting in furniture that not only focuses on aesthetics but also tells a spiritual story.
Bell collaborated with Anthropologie mentors Julie Gwin, Associate Design Director, and Caitlin Henry, Divisional Merchandising Manager, to create five unique decorative furniture pieces.
“I’m excited to create a collection that embodies the spirit of exploration.” – Tiarra Bell
July Londono (2014, 2015 Design)
July Londono is a Miami-based fashion designer fundamentally influenced by the array of domestic, street and natural scenery she has encountered in the four cities she has lived in – Cartagena, Miami, Paris and New York City. Building upon the interaction of designed objects, the human form, and the scenery in which they are placed, Londono creates her own multi-faceted vision of wearable designs; she reimagines childhood aesthetics to design whimsical wearables.
Londono collaborated with Anthropologie mentors Jessica Irick Peek, General Merchandise Manager of Accessories, and Katie Bistrian, Divisional Merchandise Manager of Accessories, to create several wearables, including bags and hats.
“I love to teeter-totter between art and design, the practical and impractical.” – July Londono
Maya Ragazzo (2013 Film)
Maya Ragazzo is a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist and fabricator. Ragazzo draws inspiration from folk art to curate a distinctive collection of recurring characters and motifs that resonate with the shared threads of human existence in her evocative paintings, drawings, sculptures and stop-motion animations.
Ragazzo collaborated with Anthropologie mentors Heather Mineau and Claire Elliott, Divisional Merchandise Managers of Apparel, to incorporate her designs into an apparel collection, including a graphic t-shirt and tote bag.
“I am fascinated by the subtle nuances of emotional expression.” – Maya Ragazzo
