MCAD/McKnight Artists 2007/08

Stacey Davidson, Andrea Carlson,
Megan Vossler, Amy DiGennaro

An exhibition of new work by the recipients of the 2007/08 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists

MCAD Gallery
July 2-Aug. 10, 2008

Opening reception: Wednesday, July 2, 6-8 p.m.
Artists' panel discussion: Wednesday, July 9, 6 p.m.

The reception and panel discussion are open to the public.

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design is located at 2501 Stevens Ave. in the Whittier neighborhood of south Minneapolis.

MCAD Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is always complimentary.


about the exhibition

The McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists Program was established at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1981 with the purpose of identifying and rewarding outstanding Minnesota artists who are at mid-career and have an established record of artistic success. Fellows receive a cash award of $25,000, which allows them the freedom to pursue their own work over a 12-month period. Awards are often used for studio space, materials, travel, research, or simply to provide free focused time for each artist to consider and make their work.

The four artists chosen for this year’s McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists are Stacey Davidson, Andrea Carlson, Megan Vossler, and Amy DiGennaro. Each artist investigates the drawn and painted surface with allegory, narrative, symbolism, and story looming large in her work. Davidson and Vossler also explore sculpture and the three-dimensional object. All were chosen from a pool of 170 applicants from across the state by three national arts figures: Paul Ha, director of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; Janet Koplos, senior editor at Art in America; and Glenn Ligon, a highly respected artist from New York.

Two significant aspects of the Fellowship year make this a rewarding period for the McKnight Artists. One is a meeting with a visiting critic, a nationally recognized professional in the field who can offer feedback and insight into an artist’s work. This one-on-one meeting is a highpoint for the artists to consider their work in the context of a new perspective and a challenging dialog. This year the artists have chosen Jenelle Porter, associate curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a former curatorial intern at the Walker Art Center. Porter’s visit will occur while the exhibition is on view in MCAD Gallery, allowing each artist’s installation to generate a new resonance in an expanded field.

In addition to the visiting critic, the McKnight Program brings in a national writer selected by the group to pen an insightful essay about each artist’s work. This year, the McKnight Fellows chose Lauren O’Neill-Butler, a writer and art historian from New York, to write the catalog essays. O’Neill-Butler has a master’s degree in art history from Hunter College in New York and has written extensively for both Artforum and Time Out New York. Her visit to Minneapolis to meet the artists in April 2008 offered another opportunity to engage in an important dialog with a national arts critic. O’Neill-Butler’s essays provide a fresh voice in the critical engagement that arises from the McKnight experience and were met with much enthusiasm by the artists.

The final leg of this yearlong journey is, of course, the exhibition in MCAD Gallery and this catalog, which allow the work and career of each McKnight Fellow to flourish through public exposure and formal presentation. It is an important culminating experience, bringing the artists together to forge an exhibition that allows their work to resonate both individually and as a group of astute and challenging Minnesota artists.


Kristin Makholm, PhD
Program Director for the McKnight Artist Fellowships
for Visual Artists, Minneapolis College of Art and Design

MCAD Gallery

Mixed Media