Textile Center invited guests to join it for an evening celebrating 2025 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellows Christine Novotny + Shannon Lucas Westrum.

Thursday, March 19, 2026 • 6 – 7 pm • Textile Center’s Auditorium (3000 University Ave SE, Minneapolis)

Shannon Lucas Westrum
Shannon Lucas Westrum is a basketry artist whose work fuses locally sourced materials with rattan, to explore a blend of modern and traditional techniques. She began her practice in the late 1990s through community education classes and fiber art guilds, later expanding her studies with international basket makers. Highlights include a pilgrimage to Ireland to study with Joe Hogan and a 2018 residency at Shankill Castle in Kilkenny.

Westrum has received two Creative Individuals Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2021, 2023), two Arts Education Grants (2024, 2025), and a Region 2 Arts Council Fellowship (2018). Her work has been featured in group exhibitions across Minnesota, including the Armory Arts & Event Center in Park Rapids and the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids. She also teaches basketry workshops in partnership with regional galleries, guilds, and libraries.

When not in her studio in Bemidji, she can be found hunting for grasses, rushes, bark and antlers, or beachcombing nearby in search of rocks and driftwood.

Christine Novotny
Christine Novotny weaves vibrant and hearty textiles that explore the intimacy of labor, materiality, and the interplay of color within woven processes. Her practice investigates how colors interact, shift, and form unexpected chromatic kinships in woven form. Using bundled yarns and knotted techniques on her floor loom, she approaches weaving with a painterly sensibility, integrating bold shapes and atmospheric color blending.

Novotny holds a BFA in Painting from Indiana University and completed a two-year residency at North House Folk School, where she explored weaving and honed her craft. She has been awarded grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, and an Artist Fellowship at the American Scandinavian Foundation in New York. Her work has been exhibited widely across Minnesota, including a recent solo exhibition in the Artist Studio at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. She lives and works in Grand Marais.