2024 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellowship Exhibition

About the Artists:

Amber Jensen combines the labor-intensive process of handloom weaving with her own improvisations to alter surface and form, drawing stories out of thread and cloth in an ongoing search for sense of place, self, and belonging. Her new work explores weaving in combination with form, to reflect on the traditions of storytelling, basketry, and a developing interest in working sculpturally with textiles.

Amber Jensen, Minneapolis, is a weaver, painter, and teacher who combines traditional techniques with her own bespoke improvisations. Devoted to her daily art practice, she weaves, constructs, stitches, paints, and draws, embellishing cloth with stories and symbols, inspired by nature around her and the through-line she traces from ancestral weaving to her own work today. For Jensen, whether people share the same language or not, woven cloth holds history.

Rick Kagigebi creates appliquéd mural blankets incorporating elements such as direction, movement, time, space, 3-dimensional layering, and Ojibwe culture. These blankets, which serve as ceremonial gifts, offer a window into his creative practice, as every detail — including design, color, fabric selection, and yarn ties —holds storytelling significance.

Rick Kagigebi, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe, engages in a creative practice that considers the symbolism of every aspect, from sketch to hand-tying. He thinks about a person that the blanket will go to, often yet unknown, always considering what can be provided through the blanket for them to have a good life. Since 1980, hundreds of blankets have been made for ceremony, gifting, and private commission. In 2018 he began to show his work publicly in exhibitions. Of this work, Kagigebi says, “Why do I do what I do? Because the people are worth doing it for.”

Gallery Hours:

Tuesdays - Saturdays: 10 am – 4 pm
Thursday evenings until 7 pm.