The Bush Artist Program has introduced its 2010 Bush Artist Fellows. Each of the 15 fellows, chosen from a competitive field of more than 500 applicants, will receive a total of $50,000 in unrestricted funds and professional development support. Three St. Anthony Park artists received the grants: John Whitehead, who lives in North SAP and works out of 2402 University, Dean Lucker who also has a studio in the 2402 building, and Michael Kareken, whose studio is in the Dow building in South SAP.
The Bush Artist Fellowships provide strong and promising artists with resources to deepen and advance their work, to foster their careers as artists and to explore work that stimulates community dialogue. One of the largest artist grants in the Upper Midwest, it is one of only two open-application artist fellowships of this size in the United States. This year’s fellowships focused on visual arts, media arts, and traditional and functional craft arts.
John Whitehead
www.fretlessfilms.com
John Whitehead (St. Paul, MN) is an independent filmmaker with a special affinity for the subjects of American Roots music and the environment. He independently produced the national PBS documentaries Make ‘Em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers’ Story and Wannabe: Life and Death in a Small Town Gang. He wrote, coproduced, directed and edited the five-part documentary series Minnesota: A History of the Land. As a senior producer at Twin Cities Public Television from 1990 to 1996, his credits include the documentaries Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland; Clay, Wood Fire, Spirit: The Pottery of Richard Bresnahan; Not Quite American: Bill Holm of Minneota; A State Fair Scrapbook; and Mississippi, Minnesota. Whitehead’s work has earned six Emmy Awards (Midwest Region), an HBO Films Producer Award, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Award and the Gold Plaque from The Chicago Film Festival.
Dean J. Lucker
http://www.woodlucker.com/
Dean J. Lucker (St. Paul, MN) grew up in northeast Minneapolis and is a graduate of Minneapolis College of Art and Design. “I come from a family tradition of makers including my father, a metal fabricator, and my great grandfather who was a cabinet, watch and coffin maker. “ As a contemporary craft artist, he is inspired by the European traditions of automata and has worked for two decades to personalize and extend this craft. He integrates woodcarving and technical aspects of clock making to create “living” contraptions. He has shown primarily at fine craft shows including the Smithsonian Craft Show, Philadelphia Museum of Show, American Craft Exposition at Northwestern and American Craft Council shows. Lucker is the recipient of numerous Minnesota State Arts Board grants and has permanent mechanical public art in the Twin Cities area at Como Park Conservatory, Children’s Hospital and Open Book.
Michael Kareken
http://www.michaelkareken.com/
Michael Kareken (Minneapolis, MN) moved from New York City in 1993, and since 1996 has taught drawing and painting at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He received a BA from Bowdoin College and an MFA from Brooklyn College. Kareken has been awarded grants from the McKnight Foundation, Bush Foundation (2000), the Minnesota State Arts Board, Arts Midwest and the New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as a residency fellowship from the Millay Colony for the Arts. In 1997, he was the recipient of The Louise Nevelson Award for Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work is in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota Museum of American Art and Weisman Art Museum, among others. He is represented by Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis.
