Each year, the Minnesota State Arts Board presents grants to artists in various stages of their career. The grants are meant to support artistic development, foster creativity, and recognize individual contributions to the arts in Minnesota. Awards are given to artists from different disciplines ranging from dance to visual arts.
Four alumnae were among this current year’s grantees:
Sarah Peters ’00 will build The Floating Library, a project that will bring artists’ books to unconventional places for public use. The collection of artist-made publications will travel to four Twin Cities area lakes in summer 2014 onboard a custom-designed raft.
Desiree Olson ’02 will complete a series of portraits of her father who spent 23 years in prison. The photographs explore his complex reintroduction into society. Through a Volunteers of America program, the photographs will be shared with youth and young adults who have an incarcerated parent.
Sara Udvig ’08 will lead The Westside Mural Project, a body of work that seeks to engage the community in physical and virtual places.
Paula Cisewski ’98 is using her grant to work on a prose project. Additionally, she will revise and complete her lyric memoir and give a reading from its manuscript in Minneapolis.
Established in 1903, the State Arts Society was created to “advance the interests of the fine arts, to develop the influence of art in education, and to foster the introduction of art in manufactures.” Renamed as the Minnesota State Arts Board, the agency strives to promote all forms of public art.
By Ashley de los Reyes '15