The Minneapolis of College and Design has announced the four artists selected to receive the 2009-10 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists:

Michael Kareken paints urban landscapes filled with metal scraps, rusted debris and piles of recyclable goods. He received his MFA from Brooklyn College in 1986 and is an associate professor of Fine Arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

A 1982 and 1987 McKnight Artist Fellowship recipient, Aldo Moroni’s current focus is his Babylon Project. A five-year process piece created in ceramic, performance and video, the Babylon Project explores the volatile history of destruction and rebuilding of the ancient city. He is a 1976 MCAD graduate.

Carolyn Swiszcz creates paintings, prints, drawings and collages that explore her hometown of West St. Paul. She holds a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and received a Bush Foundation Fellowship in 2002.

MCAD Media Arts Professor Piotr Szyhalski’s interactive designs have been exhibited worldwide. Known for his Labor Camp and Theater of Operations projects, he received two MFA degrees from the Academy of Visual Arts in Poznan, Poland.

The fellows were chosen from a field of 231 applicants. The selections were made by a panel composed of Carla Hanzal, curator of Contemporary Art at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, N.C.; Maria Makela, professor and chair of Visual Studies at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, Calif.; and Roger Shimomura, an artist and professor emeritus at the University of Kansas at Lawrence.

Designed to identify and support outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists, the McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists Program provides recipients with $25,000 stipends, public recognition, professional encouragement and a catalog and exhibition at MCAD Gallery in the summer of 2010. The fellowships are funded by a grant from The McKnight Foundation and administered by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

You can see work by the 2008-09 winners’ work this summer-the 2008-09 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Visual Arts exhibition opens July 8 at MCAD Gallery

Reproduced under Creative Commons license (Photo: sxyblkmn's Flickr photostream)

I have a feeling artists and other self-employed creative folks know the pain of rising health care costs even more intimately than most, since they often work without the safety net that catches people working for larger employers.

But thanks to the efforts of area arts advocates and civic-minded health-care providers, help is on the way–and for a population of artists too seldom reached by these sorts of programs.

Thanks to a new initiative by Artist Relief Fund and Lake Superior Community Health Center (modeled on a very similar program in the Twin Cities area spearheaded by Springboard for the Arts), artists without health insurance who live in the Arrowhead region and in the Douglas and Bayfield counties of Wisconsin now have access to a fantastic program intended to offer critical health services at very low (and often no) cost.

Here are the basics:

Beginning March 25, 2009, individual artists may apply to the Artist Relief Fund for a voucher to be used at the Lake Superior Community Health Clinics located at 4325 Grand Avenue in Duluth or 3600 Tower Avenue in Superior.

“Health care is a major concern for the artists we serve. Many are self-employed and have little or no insurance,” says Erika Mock, President of the Artist Relief Fund board. “We are very excited to partner with the Lake Superior Community Health Center to provide artists with a new option for affordable healthcare. Helping artists connect to options for healthcare, especially preventative care is an important goal of the Artist Relief Fund. This program is a perfect start towards that goal, and we hope that the partnership will be able to grow to provide even more healthcare for area artists.”

Wende Nelson, Executive Director of the Lake Superior Community Health Center (LSCHC) adds, “At the LSCHC, we also believe that our country should provide affordable health care for its artists. For years our clinic has provided medical care on a sliding fee scale basis for working artists (full and part-time) who do not have health insurance, so we are very excited about this partnership with The Artist Relief Fund.”

Visit the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council website for more information or the Artist Relief Fund site to download a voucher form.

God knows, every little bit helps.