McKnight Artists

This exhibition, supported by the McKnight Foundation, showcases the success of each artist’s fellowship.

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 and culture in Minnesota, neuroscience, and global food systems.

About the Artists:

Chotsani Elaine Dean is an artist and assistant professor of ceramics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She received her BFA in ceramics from Hartford Art School (CT) and her MFA from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis (MO). The many, complex, layered realities of her communal ancestry’s history and visual archives set forth the foundations of creative purpose in her studio practice and research. She strives to sustain and honor the many gifts of her personal and collective history embedded in her communal ancestry’s chronicles. She has been in residence at the John Michael Kohler Artist Residency (Sheboygan, WI) and is the recipient of a Teaching/Research Fulbright Scholar grant. Dean was the inaugural MJ – DO GOOD resident at the Red Lodge Clay Center (MT), held the position of studio manager at Wesleyan Potters (Middletown, CT), and is the recipient of a Connecticut Arts Grant. She has lectured and exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions and has taught at institutions including Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi, India), University of Connecticut (Mansfield), Connecticut College (New London), and Hartford Art School (CT).

Anna Metcalfe lives, maintains a studio practice, and currently teaches at Minneapolis College (MN), in addition to parenting a toddler. She earned her BA in English at College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) and her MFA from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Her work exists at the junction of community activism and craft, and she’s inspired by water, agriculture, food, and community. As a teaching artist, Metcalfe loves to promote collaboration and interdisciplinary learning environments between the sciences and art-making. She is a recipient of a Jerome Foundation Emerging Artist’s Project Grant for Public Art in 2009, a MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant, a Jerome Foundation Study and Travel Grant in 2013, 2015, and 2017 and, in 2018, was an Open-Studio Fellow at Franconia Sculpture Park (Chisago County, MN). She served as a guest lecturer throughout her career at schools including St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN), The Holualoa Foundation for Arts (HI), Macalester College (St. Paul, MN), University of Wausau (WI), and College of Saint Benedict & St. John’s University (Collegeville, MN).

Related Event:

McKnight Summer Open House Drop-in Workshop

Visit NCC for an afternoon of clay-centric fun—featuring a handbuilding activity/making station during our McKnight Summer Open House. Drop in for this free hands-on activity any time between 1 and 4 pm! There will be 30-minute sign-up sessions on the day of the event.

24AAH9: Saturday, July 13, 1 – 4 pm

FREE

Image: Anna Metcalfe