X2MCAD

MINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN

Thursday, February 9Springboard for the Arts (with 2016 fellow Erik Benson) Monday, February 13 MCAD, Auditorium 150 (with 2016 fellow Tia-Simone Gardner)

2017 McKnight Information Session

About the McKnight Artist Fellowships

The McKnight Artist Fellowships were established in 1981 to help artists set aside time for study, reflection, experimentation, and exploration; take advantage of opportunities; and work on new projects. McKnight contributes nearly $1 million per year to individual artists through ten fellowship programs. The Foundation delegates management of the fellowships to arts organizations that tailor programs to the unique challenges of different creative disciplines.

Purpose of the McKnight Fellowships for Visual Artists

This program, made possible by a generous grant from The McKnight Foundation, seeks to identify and reward eight outstanding Minnesota visual artists who have an established record of artistic success. The program supports such mid-career artists by providing financial assistance, professional criticism from visiting critics, publicity, and the opportunity for other professional development.

McKnight Visual Arts Fellowship Components

•  $25,000 cash award that can be used however recipient chooses.

•  Studio visits from six visiting critics (can be curators, artists, other arts professionals) selected by the fellows.

•  Opportunity to invite four of the visiting critics back to participate in a McKnight Discussion Series where two fellows work with a selected critic to develop a discussion on the topic of their choosing.

•  Opportunity to use additional funding towards individually-focused professional development, such as travel, exhibition expenses, website creation, etc.

This program pairs a visiting critic with two McKnight Visual Artist Fellows and offers attendees an opportunity to learn more about the fellowship recipients as well as how their work intersects with broader contemporary art ideas and concerns.

McKnight Discussion Series Schedule •  April 4, 2017: Cesar Garcia, founder, director, and curator of the Mistake Room,

Los Angeles, in conversation with Kristina Estell and Selma Fernández Richter

•  April 11, 2017: Claire Gilman, curator at the Drawing Center, New York, in conversation with Scott Nedrelow and Kelly O’Brien

•  April 18, 2017: Michael Rooks, curator at the High Museum, Atlanta, in conversation with Tracy Krumm and Alexandros Lindsay

•  April 24, 2017: Michael Ned Holte, independent curator and co-director of the Program in Art at the California Institute of the Arts, in conversation with Gregory Euclide and Luis Fitch

Eligibility •  Visual artists (primary means of expression cannot be solely video,

film, or theatre-based performance since there are other McKnight artist fellowships in those areas)

•  Must be a resident of Minnesota, and have lived in the state at minimum the 12 months prior to the application deadline

•  Okay to reside outside of the Twin Cities, though most studio visits will happen here

•  Beyond emerging status (minimum of eight years of professional exhibition experience, such as inclusion in regional or national gallery and museum exhibitions, and evidence of having received other awards, grants, and fellowships)

•  Non-students only

•  Collaborative groups okay

Application Process

Deadline: Friday, March 24, noon (12:00 p.m.) CT

Online Application only: Visit http://www.mcad.edu/mcknight to apply

Application materials: •  Ten images (longest dimension must be 1920 pixels, smaller than

1.8MB, preferably 72 ppi) •  Video (optional, 2 videos uploaded to YouTube, 3 min. ea.) •  Résumé •  Artist statement (please include a brief description of what you hope to

accomplish during your fellowship year) •  Additional PDF (optional for artists’ work that involves text, book arts,

didactics, or texts that are unreadable in the images submitted. Five page max.)

Selection Criteria

•  High quality work, as evidenced in submitted materials, most importantly work samples.

•  Evidence of serious commitment to artistic practice, i.e., accomplishments to date as well as promise for continued development.

•  Impact the fellowship will have on the artist.

•  Panel will be asked to consider breadth of artistic practice among Minnesota artists, which include a wide range of media, aesthetics and traditions that might be influenced by ethnicity, gender, and geography.

Sampling of Jurors’ Selection Criteria

•  Looking for aesthetic and conceptual depth and substance. Responded AGAINST formula, something that didn't seem like 10 different examples of the same theme. Working with materials in interesting way while maintaining consistency.

•  Looking for work that was innovative and pushed boundaries. Particularly conscious about making sure the art work presented was recent, that the artist had an active practice, not just showing older work. Seemed to be a mid-career level.

•  Looking for work that read as contemporary. Looking for surprise or

something unexpected.

•  Looking for robustness in the practice; a liveliness; variations of work samples yet a cohesiveness; needed to be immediately struck by the work visually; diversity of practices and background important.

Review Process: Important Dates

•  Application Deadline: Friday, March 24, noon (12 p.m.) CT –  First Round: Jury of three arts professionals reviews all submissions in the form

of digital images viewed on a monitor. Scores applicant 1 to 5, decisions are tabulated, top 30 to 40 move onto second, semi-final round.

–  Second Round: Jurors review top 30 to 40, review artist statement and resume, make comments in jurying interface. During conference call jurors have to narrow down applicants to 16 for studio visits.

•  Studio Visit/Email Notification: Friday, May 5

•  Jury Studio Visits: Sunday, May 21 or Monday, May 22 –  Jurors convene in Twin Cities to do studio visits. Only 20 minutes per applicant.

Alternative arrangements made for finalists not living in Twin Cities metro area.

•  Fellowship Announcement: Monday, June 5

Image List as it appears on screen:

ErikBenson,2016McKnightFellow-applica=onsample

Tia-SimoneGardner,2016McKnightFellow-applica=onexample

Importance of High Image Quality

2016 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Erik Benson, Golden Tower, 2016

Julie Buffalohead, The Trail, 2015

2016 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Leah Edelman-Brier, The Kiss, 2012 Tia-Simone Gardner, Fault Line, 2009

2016 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Monica Haller, Silt House, Plaquemines Parish, 2014

Jay Heikes, Inanimate Life, 2010

2016 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Pao Houa Her, Valentine couple, 2016 Caroline Kent, Procession, 2015

2015 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Kristina Estell, if you can’t see…, 2015

Gregory Euclide, Meaning I learned my false floating from propped up modes, 2013

2015 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Scott Nedrelow, Untitled (Afterlight) 6 and Untitled (Afterlight) 7, 2014

Kelly O’Brien, Residue, 2012

2015 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Selma Fernandez Richter, Kamilo Mohamud Noor, Minneapolis, MN, (from the series The Ache for Home), 2011

Alexandros Lindsay, Highway, 2014

2015 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Luis Fitch, Blind, part of a street art project called Welcome to the Border, 2010

Tracy Krumm, Pinched (Squares), 2014

2014 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Tetsuya Yamada, Atlas, 2014 Sam Gould, For Starters, a neigborhood geodesic greenhouse, spring 2014

2014 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

David Bowen, Growth, 2010

Alexa Horochowski, Cochayuyo, 2012

2014 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Joe Smith, Untitled, 2012

Ali Malone, Bethel 21, Butler, PA, 2008

2014 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Michael Hoyt, One Another, 2013

Lamar Peterson, Dawn, 2014

2013 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Amy Toscani, Patsy, 2013

Catherine Meier, The Distance of Horizon, 2010

2013 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Joe Sinness Shining Indiscretions (detail of triptych), 2012

Dyani White Hawk, Cante Skuya (Sweetheart), 2012

2012 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Jim Denomie, Untruthful, 2011

Chris Larson, Heavy Rotation #5, 2011

2012 McKnight Visual Arts Fellows

Ruben Nusz, Untitled, 2011

Natasha Pestich The Opening Act: A Survey of Jan Xylander Exhibition Posters (installation view)

Poor Image Quality

Online Application Process – Technical Aspects

www.mcad.edu/mcknight

Formatting Images

Questions?