Textile Center is pleased to announce the fourth year of McKnight Fellowship for Fiber Artists. The intent of this program is to recognize and support midcareer (and beyond!) fiber and textile artists living and working in Minnesota who demonstrate a sustained level of accomplishment, commitment, and artistic excellence in the field.
Donor Name: Textile Center
State: Minnesota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Fellowship
Deadline: 11/21/2022
Size of the Grant: $25,000
Grant Duration: 1 year
Details:
Fiber art is thriving in Minnesota, and the field’s growth as a creative discipline is generously supported by the McKnight Foundation’s McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists, as part of McKnight’s Arts & Culture Program.
McKnight Artist Fellowships Program Goal
The goal of the McKnight Artist Fellowships Program is to catalyze the creativity, power, and leadership of Minnesota working artists and culture bearers.
McKnight’s Arts & Culture Grantees do the Following:
- Support and advance the distinctive practices of Minnesota’s working artists and culture bearers
- Enable unique developmental and leadership opportunities for artists and culture bearers
- Facilitate meaningful relationships between artists, culture bearers, and their communities
- Demonstrate a deep understanding of their field
- Work to eliminate deep and persistent social, economic, and racial barriers
The strategy of McKnight’s Arts & Culture program is to fund organizations, programs, and projects that provide support structures for working artists and culture bearers to develop and share their work, and to lead in movements and communities.
Fiber Artists, as defined for the purposes of this fellowship, are artists who use textile and fiber arts materials, processes, histories, traditions, and/or sensibilities in their artistic and creative practice throughout the conception, execution, and resolution of their work.
In addition to the $25,000 unrestricted award in support of their creative work and practice, McKnight Fiber Artist Fellows will receive:
- Critiques/studio visits with three experts from the creative field.
- Exhibition at the end of the fellowship period in the Joan Mondale and Mary Giles Galleries at Textile Center, January – March, 2024 with exact dates TBD
- Participation in a public discussion that features fellows and an invited critic or expert from the field.
- Professional development support, such as attending conferences, workshops, marketing, or assistance for an exhibit during the fellowship period.
- Professional photography of work and the installation at Textile Center
- Presence on Textile Center’s website, including a virtual exhibition to accompany the onsite exhibit.
- Access to Textile Center’s resources, including library, dye lab, and artisan shop opportunities.
- Professional support sessions from consultants at Springboard for the Arts.
- Opportunity to apply to McKnight Foundation’s new residency partnership with the Artist Communities Alliance, following the fellowship year.
Benefits
$25,000 (unrestricted) fellowship funding. Fellowship support may be used for the enhancement of any aspect of the fiber artist or culture bearer’s life, including but not limited to purchasing materials and equipment; studio and creativity assistance; collaborating with others; pursuing workshop, exhibition, or travel opportunities related to the creation of studio and creative work; and other living expenses. Awards are subject to state and federal income tax guidelines.
- Critiques/studio visits with three experts from the creative field.
- Exhibition at the end of the fellowship period in the Joan Mondale Gallery at Textile Center, extending to the Mary Giles and Community Galleries, as necessary.
- Participation in a public discussion that features fellows and invited critic or expert from the field, or an additional critic visit.
- Professional development support, such as attending conferences, workshops, marketing, or exhibition assistance for an exhibit during the fellowship period above.
- Professional photography of artwork and installation at Textile Center.
- Presence on Textile Center’s website, to include a portfolio of images, interview/narrative about work, and a virtual exhibition to accompany the physical exhibition at Textile Center.
- Textile Center membership for 2 years, with access to Textile Center’s resources, including library, dye lab, and artisan shop opportunities.
- Professional support sessions from consultants at Springboard for the Arts.
- Opportunity to apply to McKnight Foundation’s residency partnership with Artist Communities Alliance, following the fellowship year.
Fellowship Period
The Fellowship period for 2023 will run from March 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.
Criteria
Eligibility Requirements for all Fellowships, per the McKnight Foundation
- Must have Minnesota residency for at least 1 year prior to the application deadline (or since November 21, 2021).
- Must maintain Minnesota residency for the duration of the fellowship period, March 1, 2023 – February 29, 2024.
- Must be midcareer (or beyond), with a body of work that demonstrates a sustained level of accomplishment, commitment, and artistic excellence.
- These fellowships are a recognition of the recipient’s significant body of work, creative achievement, and their sustained contribution to their artistic field and to Minnesota’s arts ecosystem.
- Applicants can only apply to one McKnight Artist Fellowship in ANY artistic discipline within a given fellowship year.
- Applicants to this fellowship program will NOT be eligible to apply for any other 2023 McKnight Artist Fellowship.
- Please carefully consider which program best fits your work. To view all of McKnight’s fellowship funding opportunities for the year
- Must not have been a recipient of a McKnight Artist Fellowship within any artistic discipline in the last 5 award years. (All 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 McKnight Fellows are ineligible.)
- Must demonstrate growth and ongoing artistry and creativity since their most recent McKnight Artist Fellowship, if they received one previously.
- Applicants must not be current staff, board, or immediate family of the McKnight Foundation, or McKnight’s fellowship administrative partner in the discipline for which you are applying.
- Independent contractors and faculty are not considered staff and are therefore eligible to apply.
- Must not be enrolled full-time in any academic program. (Low-Residency MFA programs and Ph.D. candidates who have completed all requirements except their dissertations are not considered “full-time” students.)
Eligibility Requirements for the Fiber Artist Fellowships, specifically
- Must be midcareer (or beyond) with an extensive, independent body of creative work created over a period of at least 8 years—not including work done during a degree seeking academic program–representing a sustained investigation and maturation of personal creativity, accomplishment, and commitment to the field of fiber art.
- Must currently be producing work that falls within an art or cultural context, related to the field of fiber and textiles through materials, process, history, tradition, or sensibilities.
- Must demonstrate a high aesthetic level of ability, strong consistency of expression, and an established personal voice over the course of a sustained career.
- Must have made a significant impact in the field of fiber art in the region, state, or nation as demonstrated by respect of peers and community, contributions to excellence, and public recognition of the art/creative form through exhibiting, teaching, preserving, and/or advocacy.
For more information, visit Fiber Artists.
