2025 McKnight Fellowships for Visual Artists Announced
Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is pleased to announce the six recipients of the 2025 McKnight Fellowships for Visual Artists on behalf of the McKnight Foundation. The talented artists awarded this prestigious fellowship are Leslie Barlow, Charles Matson Lume, Joe Sinness, Laura Wennstrom, Diane Willow, and Shun Yong.
The McKnight Visual Artist Fellowships aim to support mid-career Minnesota artists by providing each recipient with a $25,000 stipend, public recognition, professional encouragement from national critics, and a residency facilitated by the Artist Communities Alliance (ACA).
A rigorous selection process led to the selection of the 2025 McKnight fellows from a pool of 144 applicants. The national panel of arts professionals who served as jurors for this year’s fellowship includes Hương Ngô, interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Chicago, Illinois and Santa Barbara, California; Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography at Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College; and Claudia Zapata, Associate Curator of Latino Art at Blanton Museum of Art, Texas.
Since its inception in 1982, the McKnight Foundation’s arts program has been dedicated to supporting Minnesota artists. The McKnight Artist and Cultural Bearer Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career artists across 15 different creative disciplines, reflecting the foundation’s commitment to nurturing artistic talent in the state.
For more information about the McKnight Visual Artist Fellowships and to stay updated on the work of the 2025 McKnight fellows, visit mcad.edu/mcknight or contact gallery@mcad.edu.
The McKnight Fellowships are made possible through a grant from the McKnight Foundation and are administered by MCAD with the dedicated support of Program Director Keisha Williams and Associate Fellowship Coordinator Melanie Pankau.
