Fiber art is thriving in Minnesota, and the field’s growth as an artistic discipline now includes the McKnight Artist Fellowships Program, which provides two $25,000 fellowships to be awarded each year to individual midcareer fiber artists living and working in Minnesota.

In addition to the $25,000 unrestricted award and public recognition in support of their studio work and practice, McKnight Fiber Artist Fellows receive:

• Critiques/studio visits with curators and critics from the field.
• Exhibition at the end of the fellowship period in the galleries at Textile Center.
• Professional photographic documentation of work at the end of the fellowship period.
• Participation in a public discussion or presentation of their work and creative practices.
• Professional development support, such as attending conferences, workshops, and marketing advice for their work; plus consultation sessions from artist career consultants at Springboard for the Arts on topics of their choice.
• Participation in a 1 – 2 week artist residency in partnership with McKnight and Artist Communities Alliance.
• Membership to Textile Center and access to Textile Center’s resources, including library of more than 32,000 books and periodicals, state-of-the-art dye lab, and artisan shop opportunities.

The intent of the McKnight Fellowships for Fiber Artists is to recognize and support talented Minnesota fiber and textile artists whose work is of exceptional artistic merit. These fellowships are in support of individual artists who are at a career stage beyond emerging. 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 practice throughout the conception, execution, and resolution of their work. The fellowships are funded by the McKnight Foundation and administered by Textile Center.

ABOUT THE MCKNIGHT ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM

Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists thrive, the McKnight Foundation’s Arts & Culture program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Support for individual working Minnesota artists has been a cornerstone of the program since it began in 1982. The McKnight Artist Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 15 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines. Currently the foundation contributes about $2.8 million per year to its statewide fellowships. To learn more about McKnight Artist Fellowships, visit: mcknight.org/artistfellowships.

ABOUT THE MCKNIGHT FOUNDATION

The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in the Midwest; building an equitable and inclusive Minnesota; and supporting the arts in Minnesota, neuroscience, and international crop research. mcknight.org

A focus on racial equity is at the heart of the McKnight approach to funding. Along with Textile Center, our organizations value diversity and equity, seeking to be inclusive and accessible to all applicants. We welcome and encourage applications from artists representing diverse cultural perspectives.

Amber Jensen, 2024 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellow

“her words first written in blue ink, written in water”, photo: Rik Sferra

For Amber Jensen, “weaving is an almost universal language. It’s been a way for me and others to bridge cultural divides, share our own unique experiences and learn about one another’s histories.”

Jensen grew up in the Midwest, and spent much of her young adulthood immersed in other American cultures–from the Pacific Northwest’s ethos of innovation and independence to the tightly-held, family-focused and often hidden traditions of the Appalachian South. Experiencing the different weaving traditions of these regions gave her insight into their shared practices, as well as the unique expressions of each community.

For Jensen, sharing weaving techniques is not merely a historical act. These are vibrant traditions have evolved and been shared across cultures for thousands of years. This history informs her daily artistic practice and approach to making. She draws on historical patterns —blending, overlapping, coloring-in, mending — and then adds her own innovations.

In her finished pieces, woven experiments are carefully hand-knotted back together to create patchwork matrices that resemble layers of a topographical map. Heavy woolen cross-stitching brings the composition together. This meticulous process requires both time and space, as she patiently pieces together European-American woven coverlet patterns and finely detailed sampler embroideries. By integrating her own sensibilities, Jensen allows the work to spill outward across the cloth, giving meaning to the act of stitching together diverse traditions into a new cohesive whole.

Returning to the Midwest renewed her interest in Scandinavian weaving heritage, which some of her ancestors practiced in Minnesota. Jensen began sharing these weaving traditions as an instructor at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota, where she also explored other folk craft traditions and the maritime culture of the Upper Midwest. Her work parallels the evolving traditions of Northern crafts, blending Native culture with Scandinavian and Germanic influences. For Jensen, this cultural overlap reinforced the importance of learning through relationships with those who share the land and creating new, distinct traditions together.

An important experience that informed her thinking occurred during a cultural interchange at All My Relations Arts in Minneapolis. Jensen recalls,

Jensen’s belief in the power that art—and weaving in particular—to bring people together speaks to her passion for the medium. Weaving is her language, and through sharing this practice with others, she continually finds inspiration to create new work.

2024

“round and round we spring, rumbling and rambling, surrounded in perfect symmetry”, photo: Rik Sferra

For more about Amber Jensen, visit AmberMJensen.com

“covered with one age and another”, photo: Rik Sferra

Rick Kagigebi, 2024 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellow

“Little Frog Girl: Going to Grandmother’s”, photo: Rik Sferra

“A blanket is a stopped moment in time.” Rick Kagigebi creates appliquéd mural blankets that tell stories through fabric, thread, and yarn. His work incorporates elements of direction, movement, time, space, three-dimensional layering, and Ojibwe culture. Beginning with a single idea, he sketches on large sheets of taped-together tag board, translating his vision into textiles. Guided by the question of what the blanket can provide to the person who will receive it, Kagigebi seeks to offer support for a good life through his creations.

Many hours are spent in shops selecting the right materials—fabrics with shifting shades of color, shiny zig-zag threads, and thoughtfully positioned yarn ties—all connecting one dimension to another. The design evolves during the creative process, requiring patience and making him wait until the right changes reveal themselves.

Kagigebi first made blankets as a teenager for ceremonial gifts. In his early thirties, living at the Duluth YWCA, he began making appliquéd mural blankets using an embroidery hoop to hand-stitch designs. Since then, he has consistently made new blankets with a sewing machine. Images of his gifted blankets do not exist, and he shares only what is culturally appropriate. Kagigebi explains,

Culturally, we’re taught to not talk about certain aspects of what we do. Also, I often feel that people won’t accept the spiritual influence in my artwork. For many years, people have told me that the blankets I’ve made helped them. Many commissioned blankets are personal blankets. People will wrap themselves up in the blanket when they need help. I’ve been told that being able to make these blankets is a unique gift that comes with the responsibility to help in this way.

Blankets are central to Indigenous life, serving as robes, bedding, and symbols of care. Babies are swaddled in their first blanket; spouses are wrapped together in wedding ceremonies. Within ceremony, blankets are offered as a sign of respect to spirit helpers and sent to distant communities carrying prayers and healing. They are imbued with medicine and prayers for long, good lives. When people die, they are wrapped in blankets for their journey home.

Kagigebi lives in Detroit Lakes and teaches basic sewing and a unique checkerboard blanket process at White Earth Reservation and Fargo Indigenous Association. Teaching fulfills another cultural expectation: passing skills to the next generation. Blanket-making is also a personal form of healing, and he hopes others will carry forward this way of helping through blankets. Reflecting on becoming an Elder, he is grateful for the feeling that Indigenous people become more useful to their communities as they get older. He says, “Non-natives are surprised that a man dedicates his life to making blankets, but I’ll continue this work for as long as I’m alive.”

2024

For more on Rick’s work, visit Rick Kagigebi

“The Forest Guardian”, photo: Joseph J. Allen

“Portal Into the Wood”, photo: Joseph J. Allen