ALFRED, NY — Alfred University is proud to announce that Summer Escaño Aquino, a senior in the School of Art & Design at the New York State College of Ceramics (NYSCC), has been awarded the highly competitive 2026 NCECA Regina Brown Undergraduate Fellowship - one of the nation’s most distinguished recognitions for emerging ceramic artists.
The Regina Brown Fellowship honors undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional creativity, initiative, originality, and sustained accomplishment. Summer exemplifies these qualities through a practice that bridges art, science, and civic engagement in profound and innovative ways.
“Summer emerges as a maker of original and intellectually dynamic content,” said faculty in their nomination. "Her work demonstrates a rare integration of creative imagination, rigorous research, and deep civic consciousness—qualities that embody the very spirit of this Fellowship.”
A multidisciplinary artist whose work traverses ceramics, sculpture, performance, writing, and digital design, Summer’s ongoing project Moon Dust has garnered significant attention for its groundbreaking approach. By transforming data from NASA’s Apollo and Luna missions into ceramic glaze research, she turns empirical information into poetic material exploration. The project—shared publicly through an open-source database—reflects her commitment to democratizing knowledge and fostering a collective culture of discovery.
As an immigrant from the Philippines, Summer brings an expansive understanding of belonging, citizenship, and interdependence to her creative practice. Projects such as FRUITBODY and I am a body, & so on invite communities into layered conversations about ritual, embodiment, and shared vulnerability. Her entrepreneurial and curatorial initiatives—including co-founding SOUP [ceramics], and organizing community-driven exhibitions with PICNIC and Culture Hole—demonstrate a commitment to cultural stewardship beyond the studio.
Summer’s scholarly achievements match her creative accomplishments. She has contributed to research at the NYSCC Space Materials Institute, bridging art, engineering, and environmental materiality.
Her growing national profile includes recent features in Nasher Sculpture Center Magazine and PICNIC Issue No. 4, highlighting the relevance and resonance of her work in contemporary dialogues surrounding sustainability, technology, interdisciplinary research, and open-access artistic practice.
“We are extraordinarily proud of Summer,” said Lauren Lake, Michele & Martin Cohen Dean of the School of Art & Design and Performing Arts. “Her work stands at the forefront of emerging practices that seamlessly integrate material science with conceptual rigor. This fellowship recognizes not only her accomplishments, but also her capacity to shape the future of the field.”
