Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities Archives - Arts Midwest https://artsmidwest.org/programs/midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities/ Mon, 15 Sep 2025 21:21:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://artsmidwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cropped-AM–Favicon_Favicon-512x512-1-32x32.png Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities Archives - Arts Midwest https://artsmidwest.org/programs/midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities/ 32 32 9 Artists Receive the 2025 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/9-artists-receive-the-2025-midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities/ Mon, 08 Sep 2025 15:37:11 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=12627 Nine artists from across the region have received $3,000 each through an award that celebrates the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The post 9 Artists Receive the 2025 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers. 

Arts Midwest is thrilled to announce the nine recipients of the 2025 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, chosen from more than 400 submissions. This award supports accessibility in the arts and celebrates the exceptional contributions of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

This year’s awardees are:

  • Jennifer Bock-Nelson (Quincy, Illinois)
  • Johnson Simon (Indianapolis, Indiana)
  • Lucas Delaney (Dubuque, Iowa)
  • Nicholas Harrier (Essexville, Michigan)
  • Natalija Walbridge (Duluth, Minnesota)
  • Jane Gaffrey (West Fargo, North Dakota)
  • Tabeena Wani (Athens, Ohio)
  • Brianna Wiersema (Mitchell, South Dakota)
  • Rebecca Kautz (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin)

Each artist will receive $3,000 in unrestricted support to continue their artistic journey.

“This year’s awardees are quilting, welding, collaging, and even transforming prosthetics into art pieces,” says Grants Manager John Kaiser. “Their work shows just how expansive Midwestern creativity is, and the powerful role disabled artists play in shaping the arts.”

Established in 2022, the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund. The award honors the late James Edward Scherbarth, an award-winning visual artist, teacher, and advocate for arts access who believed that creativity lives in everyone and dedicated his career to helping people express themselves through art.

Join us in celebrating the creativity these artists bring to the Midwest, and explore some of their works below:

Jennifer Bock-Nelson (Quincy, Illinois)

My disability is Tourette’s Syndrome. I developed motor and vocal tics as a child, which have ebbed and flowed during adulthood. I discovered as a child that making art is a way for me to get out of my physical body and enter a flow state. I also have OCD and depression as accompanying symptoms of Tourette’s.

I find my work fulfills a need to balance order with chaos. For the past seven years, I was a working artist. I am now returning to education in the role of an art professor at a small liberal arts college.

My work is about perception and how we see. In addition to teaching methods of painting and drawing, I help all students learn to see and experience the world around them. I make a concerted effort to help neurodivergent students embrace their unique way of seeing.

An abstract turtle-like figure raising a small green eye into the air with a pink blossom on its snout, surrounded by pale stones tinged with green, brown, and blue.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Bock-Nelson
Exhale (2024). Watercolor and colored pencil on paper.
An abstract aerial view of a pale sandy desert with swirls of white, black bodies of water, and tiny human settlements that include roads and buildings.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Bock-Nelson
Origin and Exile (2021). Oil on cradled basswood.
An abstract aerial landscape resembling large bodies of water richly colored in blues, greens, and reds, enclosed by human-made barriers near tiny human settlements.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Bock-Nelson
Salt (2021). Oil on linen.
An abstract image of pale light and wintry blues refracted through a glassy prism.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Bock-Nelson
Winter (2025). Gouache watercolor and colored pencil on paper.
A bright sun shooting rays of yellow light in all directions as it rises above a low layer of puffy gray clouds into a blue morning sky that is streaked with thin white clouds.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Bock-Nelson
Horizon (2024). Latex on 9×72 wall.

Johnson Simon (Indianapolis, Indiana)

My name is Johnson Simon. I am a Haitian-born artist living with cerebral palsy, and I use painting to express the movements my body cannot.

My art is an extension of my lived experience—vivid, resilient, and deeply rooted in culture. Each piece I create celebrates my Haitian heritage and the stories of people who, like me, have overcome adversity.

My goal as an artist is to make the invisible seen. I want to inspire others by showing that disability is not a limitation—it’s a lens for unique creativity. Through bold colors, layered textures, and cultural symbolism, I explore identity, pride, and joy. My slogan, “My Art is My Movement,” guides me as I use my brush to speak when words fall short.

My work has recently grown through public recognition and community programs. I’ve been honored with a residency at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and a community grant from the City of Fishers to teach youth and families. These opportunities allow me to expand the reach of my art and fulfill my mission: to educate, uplift, and connect through visual storytelling.

A man sits in a blue mobility scooter, smiling as he looks at two large, vibrant paintings on the gallery wall. The paintings show energetic, abstract figures in red, blue, and yellow tones.
Photo Credit: Johnson Simon
Johnson Simon with”Hip Hop I” and “Hip Hop II” (2023 Eli Lilly Collection)
A man sits behind a table at a community event, smiling at the camera. On the table are several books titled Playing for Change along with other illustrated titles. People and display tables are visible in the background.
Photo Credit: Johnson Simon
Johnson Simon with Illustrated children’s book “Playing for Change”
A man wearing a light gray suit and black shirt stands in front of a framed painting of a figure in motion against a bright green background. He smiles with his hands clasped in front of him.
Photo Credit: Johnson Simon
Johnson Simon with “Overcome”

Lucas Delaney (Dubuque, Iowa)

My recent works are an expression of survival, identity, and the complexities of grief. As a disabled, transgender artist raised in the Deep South and specifically in a strict religious and military-influence household, I use art to process my life experiences with themes of disconnection, trauma, chronic illness, memory loss, and transformation, just to name a few.

Grief, both personal and collective, is central to my work. I create to hold space for the layered emotions that come with loss, identity shifts, and living in a body that doesn’t always cooperate.

My most recent works are primarily layered collages (mixed-media) and utilize lots of various platforms and tools, beyond creating things 2-dimensionally, like Procreate, Canva, and sometimes AI, to adapt to my cognitive disabilities while still creating emotional, layered visual pieces.

My goal is to make art that is expressive, accessible, and affirming—for myself and others. I center queer and disabled narratives, designing with inclusion in mind, so that people who are often overlooked in traditional art spaces can see themselves reflected.

Ultimately, my work is about making meaning from hard experiences, pain and, offer connection through vulnerability. I want others to feel seen, validated, and less alone.

A black-and-white collage of containers including jars, boxes, barrels, and cups, as well as barbells, a pizza, a sapling in dirt, and more.
Photo Credit: Lucas Delaney
Grief Containers (2025). Mixed media.
A collage of pale pink, gold, and gray that features microscopic cells, an x-ray of the skull, an illustration of the brain, silhouettes of children, the word "cancer," and a digital clock face that reads 17:00. A tag is attached at the bottom that leads to a Spotify link to the artist Tauren Wells.
Photo Credit: Lucas Delaney
Seventeen Months w/ You (2025). Mixed media.
A collage of old-fashioned television and computer screens that show photographs of a woman interspersed with images of old cars and TV shows, filtered with gold and overlaid with translucent clouds. Two Spotify tags are attached with links to "Sing to Me Instead" by Ben Platt and an album with two rainbow-colored faces and two gray faces on it.
Photo Credit: Lucas Delaney
Gold Version (2025). Mixed media.
A purple, black, and white collage featuring a woman with long hair and glasses as well as a heart, the name Kaitlyn Kelly, and images of flowers, an eye, and the McDonald's logo. Two tags with Spotify links are attached, leading to "Old Phone" by Ed Sheeran and "Disconnected" by Anna Clendening.
Photo Credit: Lucas Delaney
Disconnected (2025). Mixed media.
A collage of stringed instruments, a violin bow, pale pink flowers, sheet music, the figures Adam and Eve from a classical painting, and the words "Vocal Chords" above a silhouette of a child sitting behind bars.
Photo Credit: Lucas Delaney
Vocal Chords (2025). Mixed media.

Nicholas Harrier (Essexville, Michigan)

As an artist, my primary goal is to transform perceptions of disability through custom prosthetic covers that blend functionality with bold, unapologetic design. I aim to create wearable art that reflects individuality, resilience, and the power of self-expression. My work is rooted in the belief that mobility aids shouldn’t be hidden or neutral—they should be celebrated as extensions of identity.

I design and build every piece free of charge, ensuring that cost is never a barrier to self-expression. Each cover is a collaboration with the wearer, tailored not just to their physical form but to their personality, story, and cultural influences. Whether drawing from pop culture, mythology, or abstract forms, I strive to create designs that empower the user and spark conversations about ability, aesthetics, and agency.

This work is deeply personal. As an amputee, I understand the complex relationship between visibility, vulnerability, and pride. My designs are an expression of my goal to challenge shame and stigma by elevating prosthetics into the realm of fine art and fashion.

A collection of ten custom prosthetic leg covers displayed in two rows. Each socket is decorated with unique designs, ranging from metallic sci-fi and robotic styles to steampunk and fantasy motifs. The covers feature bright colors like blue, gold, and silver, as well as textured details such as glowing lights, gears, embossed patterns, and sculptural ridges. Two of the prosthetics are shown attached to model feet, while the rest are photographed as standalone sockets.
Photo Credit: Nicholas Harrier
Family Photo (2024)
A custom prosthetic socket designed in a steampunk style. The surface is detailed with embossed floral patterns, metallic gears, pipes, coils, and rivets in bronze, brass, and copper tones. The socket has an industrial, sculptural look with layered textures and mechanical ornamentation.
Photo Credit: Nicholas Harrier
Steampunk knee disarticulation socket
A man stands in a gallery space beside a display of prosthetic leg covers arranged on white pedestals. Each cover is uniquely designed with sculptural and artistic details. The man, wearing a black shirt and shorts, gestures with open arms while wearing one of the decorated prosthetic legs himself.
Photo Credit: Nicholas Harrier
Nicholas Harrier’s First Exhibit (2025)

Natalija Walbridge (Duluth, Minnesota)

As a fabric collage artist, I create layered textile compositions that celebrate the quiet beauty of Minnesota’s natural world. From my studio on Park Point in Duluth, I draw inspiration from the wildlife and native plants I encounter in local wetlands and forests. Each piece begins with a fleeting moment—like a mink bounding across a log or a wood duck taking flight at dawn—and becomes a richly textured fabric narrative.

I build depth, texture, and movement using hand-dyed fabrics. This slow, meditative process allows me to reflect the rhythms of nature and cultivate a sense of connection and care for the environment.

In addition to gallery shows, I’m passionate about creating public installations in spaces where people are already inspired to engage with the natural world—places like Split Rock Lighthouse, the Great Lakes Aquarium, and Sky Harbor Airport, which is adjacent to an old-growth forest on Park Point. These settings offer meaningful opportunities to connect my work with the landscapes and wildlife that inspire it.

My goal is to spark curiosity, foster environmental awareness, and remind viewers that beauty and wonder can be found in the smallest wild moments, often just beyond our doorsteps.

A fabric collage quilt of a duck mid flap, coming out of splashing blue water against a vibrant autumnal background
Photo Credit: Natalija Walbridge
Wood Duck (2024). Fabric collage.
The head and neck of a white crane with red feathers around its eyes as it arcs its neck to scratch its wings with its beak.
Photo Credit: Natalija Walbridge
Sandhill Crane (2025). Fabric collage.
A gray-green hummingbird with a bright red patch on its neck is perched on a nest with two hatchlings inside, with their orange beaks wide open toward the sky.
Photo Credit: Natalija Walbridge
Ruby Throated Hummingbird (2024). Fabric collage.
An orange-red fox with a bushy white-tipped tail stands amid green reeds on the shore of a lake as it turns over its right shoulder to look behind it.
Photo Credit: Natalija Walbridge
Red Fox (2024). Fabric collage.
A brown mink with wet fur scurries across a log in a blue pond covered with bright green and pink lily pads.
Photo Credit: Natalija Walbridge
American Mink (2025). Fabric collage.

Jane Gaffrey (West Fargo, North Dakota)

My work includes portraits of pets and people. It also includes expressions of my experience as a physician (child and adolescent psychiatrist) as well as experiences with depression and leukodystrophy for which I had a bone marrow transplant.

A piece I did for the MN Quilters challenge called “New Beginnings: physician to artist” was transformative in my healing. Art is play as I explore new materials. It is life-giving and life-sustaining.

My goals are to continue to express life experiences and the hope that shines even if only as a tiny speck of light in difficult circumstances. I would like to continue to learn in the area of art quilting and expand to other media. In addition I hope to be able to use my art to help parents grieving the loss of a child and children and families facing life-threatening illness.

I hope to be able to make both art quilts and traditional quilts from items of important clothing or other fabric items belonging to individuals that can be a piece of healing, memory, and hope.

A figure with light skin tone and white-blonde hair, a blue bucket hat and sweatshirt, and orange pants holding five daffodils in one hand and leaning down to pick another from a patch of yellow and white daffodils against a grassy green background.
Photo Credit: Jane Gaffrey
Nanna’s Daffodils (2024). Fiber art.
A pale cylindrical lighthouse shining two rays of light into an indigo sky with two anglerfish and other deep sea creatures floating by, along with the words "life light hope" and "there is hope in the depths there is hope" sewn in yellow thread.
Photo Credit: Jane Gaffrey
Abyss-mal Hope (2025). Fiber art.
The face of a dog with long ears; black, white, and tan fur; a black nose; and a big pink tongue lolling out as it pants. In the lower left corner are stitched the words "I love you forever" below a tiny pink and a tiny blue butterfly and two tiny roses, one red and one white.
Photo Credit: Jane Gaffrey
I Love You Forever (2019). Fiber art.
A hexagonal quilt with brightly colored and patterned fabrics around a yellow flower with a red center, adorned with pictures of a child picking daffodils, a dog with its tongue out, and a light brown horse wearing a wreath of yellow flowers. In the middle is a small pouch with tiny yellow daffodils inside.
Photo Credit: Jane Gaffrey
New Beginnings (2024). Fiber art.
A gray long-haired cat sitting outside on a gray path under a blue sky, wearing a deep blue harness and a colorful medallion with a sunny sky and a red road on it.
Photo Credit: Jane Gaffrey
Sylvan (2021). Fiber art.

Tabeena Wani (Athens, Ohio)

My current work examines geopolitical boundaries, with a particular focus on lines of control and lines of normalizing control through a conceptual tool, i.e., Summ.

In Kashmiri language, Summ refers to the visible parting line on the scalp between sections of the hair. It serves as a metaphor for natural as well as despotic lines such as rivers, ravines, mountains, walls, apartheid fences, sandbag bunkers, and barricades. These lines highlight the division and bisection of geographical, domestic and personal spaces.

One such line divides the region of Kashmir in three separate parts controlled by three distinct countries with nuclear capabilities. LOC, a de-facto military line between Indian and Pakistan administrated Kashmir, functions as an institution that shapes the socio-political dynamics of the Kashmir valley where I grew up.

I use techniques like knitting, embroidery and welding with traditional materials like Pashmine, Tille embroidery, Kashmiri tea, copper, steel and human hair. I fabricate sculptures that question the capacity of the line to have dual nature, obstructive as well as permeable.

Shaped by the daily presence of barricades and sandbag bunkers my work mimics forms that despite being obstructive are porous in nature and are traversed by indigenous people on daily basis.

A deep red velvet garment embroidered with gold with very long sleeves that trail along the ground in two straight lines and form artful heaps of fabric at the ends.
Photo Credit: Tabeena Wani
Half Widow II (2025). Velvet, Till’e embroidery, muslin.
A large silver insect with long antennae at its head and tail crawling through a barrier of metal and latex.
Photo Credit: Tabeena Wani
Silverfish (2025). Steel and latex.
A large metal insect with long antennae at its head and tail crawling through a barrier of metal and latex.
Photo Credit: Tabeena Wani
Silverfish (2025). Steel and latex.
A sculptural installation featuring a copper disc suspended in midair from thin steel wires. Above it, a showerhead drips strands of entangled shed hair down into the center of the disc, forming a dark circular mass. The piece casts a soft shadow onto the wooden floor and wall of the gallery space.
Photo Credit: Tabeena Wani
Zathh | زَٹھؠ (2025). Entangled shed hair, Copper, steel, hair
A bundle of dark hair topped with a brass purse clasp resting on a neat stack of six golden-orange silk cushions.
Photo Credit: Tabeena Wani
Massbodd (handful of hair) (2023). Hair, brass, silk.

Brianna Wiersema (Mitchell, South Dakota)

My work is an extension of the self I am just getting to know. My goals are to keep exploring my potential and growing my skill while navigating my disability. My work expresses my goals because it saves my life over and over when I need it most.

Each time I create a piece it’s an expression of my goal to live and continue when I almost did not. Each piece I share is a piece of me forever connected to a world I once wanted to leave. It grounds me in ways I didn’t know were possible and I’m grateful for it every day.

A large black raven perching on a green sloped forest floor with large pale mushrooms rising beneath an indigo night sky and small yellow moon.
Photo Credit: Brianna Wiersema
Raven (2025). Oil on canvas.
A plump pheasant with golden-brown feathers, a green head, and a large red patch over its eye standing amid tall strands of grass with a large yellow sun blazing behind it in an orange sky.
Photo Credit: Brianna Wiersema
Pheasant (2024). Acrylic on canvas.
A gold outline of a large hamsa amulet, shaped like a hand with an eye in its palm, overlaying an abstract scene of blue, gold, green, and purple streaks.
Photo Credit: Brianna Wiersema
Hamsa (2022). Acrylic on canvas.
The face of a large pale owl shaded with whites, blues, yellows, purples, and greens, with bright round eyes and tufts of feathers on each side of its head.
Photo Credit: Brianna Wiersema
Owl See You (2022). Acrylic on canvas.

Rebecca Kautz (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin)

My allegorical work uses psychoanalysis and personal history to explore personal and political narratives surrounding identity, illness, belonging and place. My work is influenced by my rural Midwest upbringing where feelings of estrangement stem from childhood trauma and a dysfunctional family.

The repeating element of the Defiant Vermont Castings wood burning stove signals the maladjusted child-self. Installed by my father during the 1970’s energy crisis, the woodstove was the primary source of heat. It is a witness and a central figure in the family room of my childhood home. Ancient societal issues such as predators of the marginal, are depicted as alligators. A melancholic mood hides beneath high-key colors combined with personal imagery and cultural iconography.

These candy colors are ‘out of step’ and discordant when used to depict antique, early American décor common in my rural Victorian home. Nostalgia and neurosis are states that grip and obfuscate in equal measure.

My goal is to gain a broader audience, expanded exhibition opportunities, and a solo show of new work.

My goal is to shine a light on issues of surviving childhood trauma and personal recovery. I speak openly about my lived experience in my work in effort to dispel shame.

A green alligator standing on a blue-and-red patterned rug twists around to look at a grandfather clock set to 8:00 with purplish blue human legs, many blue eyes, and red flames burning its back. A white curtain flutters in the open window.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Kautz
Half Life (2024). Acrylic on canvas.
A bright room with yellow walls, a red-and-blue patterned rug, a black-and-white rocking horse, an open china cabinet filled with pale dishes, and a low table covered with knickknacks including a cap, a pair of black gloves, a set of white china angels, a trumpet, a pheasant, a slice of pie, some fruit, and a vase of red flowers. There is a wood burning stove in the next room, with birch logs beside it.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Kautz
Morning (2023). Acrylic on canvas.
A naked figure with an abstract grayscale head sits on the floor surrounded by bananas, grapefruit halves, apple cores, a trumpet, and a chair with a plaid blazer on a hanger. A large black rat scurries in front of a wood-burning stove, which is on fire and smoking heavily. A headless figure stands in the back holding a large urn of red flowers. On the wall is a mounted alligator head and three red ties on hangers.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Kautz
Lost Island (2025). Acrylic on canvas.
An alligator head on a human body in a black suit and red tie stands inside an old-fashioned white stroller, surrounded by leafy green plants and pink blossoms with a tiny brown rabbit near its front wheels.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Kautz
Scarecrow (2025). Acrylic on canvas.
A gold grandfather clock with pink human legs descends a white staircase into a foyer where an alligator crouches on a patterned rug and another grandfather clock with human legs stands nearby. In the next room a headless naked figure stands behind a wood burning stove and a stack of birch logs.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Kautz
Steep Entry (2025). Acrylic on canvas.

The post 9 Artists Receive the 2025 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Now Accepting Applications: 2025 Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities-2025-applications/ Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:43:06 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=11107 The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is a $3,000 award supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The post Now Accepting Applications: 2025 Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Arts Midwest is now accepting applications for the 2025 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, an award supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

  • What: The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is a $3,000 award that recognizes disabled visual artists in our region, celebrates their efforts, and encourages their future work.
  • Who: We invite mid-career 2D and 3D visual artists with disabilities to apply for this award.
  • When: This award application will close at 11:59 pm CDT on July 10, 2025, with awardees notified in August 2025.
  • Where: Individuals must live in the Arts Midwest region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Native Nations that share this geography.

There is no cost to apply.

About the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities

Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers. 

Visual artists with disabilities are doing incredible work around the Midwest. The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities recognizes and celebrates their efforts and encourages their future work.

It also advocates for the arts being viable employment for disabled people, which is often overlooked by funding agencies supporting people with disabilities.

From 2023-2025 years, this award will recognize 27 individuals (9 per year) in the Arts Midwest region of: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio or the Native Nations that share this geography.

Each awardee will receive a $3,000 check award. Total awards across the region will equal $27,000 per year. There are no requirements for how awarded funds are used, though awardees are encouraged to use it toward growing their art career. Awardees’ submitted work will be featured on the Arts Midwest website.

Established in 2022, this award is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund. The award was created in honor of the late James Edward Scherbarth, an award-winning visual artist, visual arts teacher, and advocate of arts access who lived and worked in Minnesota. Jim believed that creativity lives in everyone, and he dedicated his career to helping people express themselves through the visual arts.

Explore Past Awardees

Learn more about the nine artists that received the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities.

Learn More

An abstract watercolor painting evoking trees, grass, and water.
Photo Credit: Emily Wilson Gillespie

Read the Application Guidelines

Learn more about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, eligibility requirements, and how to upload and submit your application.

Learn More and Apply

An image of a tangled mess of painted ropes around a rock
Photo Credit: Madison Elyse Rubenstein

Have questions about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities?

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. Be sure to check out our FAQs, and if you’d like to talk to us we’re just an email or a phone call away. 

Read FAQs Contact Us

The post Now Accepting Applications: 2025 Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> 9 Artists Receive the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/2024-midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities-recipients/ Wed, 14 Aug 2024 16:17:05 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=7587 Nine artists from across the region have received $3,000 each through an award that celebrates the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The post 9 Artists Receive the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers. 

Arts Midwest is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. This award, designed to support accessibility in the arts and celebrate the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists, has received an incredible response from the artistic community.  Over 300 artists applied to receive funds, and a panel of seven reviewers narrowed the pool to nine finalists from across the Midwest.

We are delighted to recognize the creativity and dedication of nine incredible artists who have been making a significant impact in the field:

  • Serena Elston (Chicago, Illinois)
  • Emily Wilson Gillespie (Bloomington, Indiana)
  • Lindsey Row-Heyveld (Decorah, Iowa)
  • Charlie Reynolds (Dexter, Michigan)
  • Virginia Townsend (South Saint Paul, Minnesota)
  • Danielle Billing (Enderlin, North Dakota)
  • Heather Moore (Columbus, Ohio)
  • Mark Hansen (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
  • Carly “Car” Reigger (Madison, Wisconsin)

As part of this award, each recipient will receive $3,000 to support their artistic journey, with no restrictions on how they choose to use this funding.

“The best part of this process, without a doubt, has been getting to see all the incredible artwork submitted alongside the applications,” says John Kaiser, Grants Manager & Accessibility Co-coordinator at Arts Midwest. “I don’t envy the panels job of selecting just one artists per state when there are so many worthy of recognition.”

Established in 2022, the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund. The award was created in honor of the late James Edward Scherbarth, an award-winning visual artist, visual arts teacher, and advocate of arts access who lived and worked in Minnesota. Jim believed that creativity lives in everyone, and he dedicated his career to helping people express themselves through the visual arts.

Join us in celebrating the creativity our awardees bring to the Midwest, and explore some of their works below:

Serena Elston (Chicago, Illinois)

I am a transdisciplinary sculptor contemplating the body and its relationship to structures of power. My research-based practice explores ecology, posthumanism, disability, and embodiment through a post-colonial lens. At its core, my practice asks if an institution has the power to disable a body, does the body have the power to disable an institution? Grappling with the identity of disability, I depict figures in various stages of decomposition and incompleteness. My work seeks to make visible the precarious materiality of structures to reveal them as inherently temporal.

Institutions are not independent from the mortal bodies that serve them. In this way individual acts of maintenance become political and ‘disability’, rather than ‘wellbeing’, is relegated as a colonial determination of labor potential that is designed to diminish our humanity in institutional settings. My art reflects on the fragility of the bodies we inhabit and rely upon and the porosity between the two.

A sculpture made up of a stack of yellowing rolls of toilet paper and touchless soap dispensers standing in a gallery space.
Photo Credit: Serena Elston
Fountain of Youth (2023). Toilet paper, urea, synthetic bone, touchless dispensers.
A sculpture of a human torso made out of brown mushrooms.
Photo Credit: Serena Elston
Resurrected Caryatid (2023). Mushroom cultivated from the Chicago parks system.
An OBGYN chair made of mushroom, with a steel base and stirrups.
Photo Credit: Serena Elston
MCM OBGYN (2023). Mushroom, steel.
A wooden square frame on the floor, filled with tea and bronze-cast mushrooms.
Photo Credit: Serena Elston
Immortal Bath (2023). Mushroom of immortality in bronze, reishi tea, plywood, steel.
A silhouette portrait made of synthetic bone, with a wooden frame.
Photo Credit: Serena Elston
Hero in DryBone (2023). Synthetic bone, plywood.

Emily Wilson Gillespie (Bloomington, Indiana)

My paintings are a composite of memory, observation, and imagination, pulling inspiration from photographs, childhood recollections, and recent studies. The interaction between memory and present reality creates a space for both discord and harmony in my work.

Daydreaming and escapism are both equally rooted in my neurodivergence and my artistic practice. Abstraction allows me to utilize the inspiration from my source imagery and play up emotions through color and shape. While the resulting landscape is often inspired by the rural Midwest, it may not necessarily share a resemblance. I love this – that my landscapes are open to the viewer’s own interpretation.

It is my goal to continue to create work that allows the viewer to escape within it. The larger work I have created in the past year feels almost immersive, and I would like to continue making work on a larger scale. Additionally, I hope to continue to find and practice a holistic balance to care for myself so that I can manage the physical demands of painting and allow my body to recover accordingly.

An abstract watercolor painting evoking trees, grass, and water.
Photo Credit: Emily Wilson Gillespie
Ravine 2 (2024). Black walnut dye, goldenrod dye, acrylic, and oil on canvas.
An abstract watercolor painting evoking trees with flowing water.
Photo Credit: Emily Wilson Gillespie
Niagara Escarpement (2023). Black walnut dye, goldenrod dye, and watercolor on paper.
An abstract watercolor painting of a creek and trees.
Photo Credit: Emily Wilson Gillespie
Frozen Creek (2024). Black walnut dye, goldenrod dye, acrylic, and oil on canvas.
An abstract watercolor painting evoking trees and other greenery.
Photo Credit: Emily Wilson Gillespie
Eloise Butler #2 (2023). Black walnut dye, goldenrod dye, and watercolor on paper.
An abstract watercolor painting evoking trees and other greenery.
Photo Credit: Emily Wilson Gillespie
Eloise Butler #1 (2023). Black walnut dye, goldenrod dye, and watercolor on paper.

Lindsey Row-Heyveld (Decorah, Iowa)

I am a calligrapher; text is as vital a medium to me as paint or ink. I’m interested in both the aesthetic qualities of words and their textual meanings, and I intend that the way words are presented visually and the meaning they contain speak with one voice. I am influenced by the palette and patterns of Amish and Mennonite quilts; by the geography of the Great Plains, where I grew up, and the Driftless Region of the upper Midwest, where I live now; and by historic folk lettering. As a disabled artist, I find in calligraphy a place where my neurodivergence can flourish. I see myself as an interpreter: I take a work of art in one medium (typically poetry) and translate it into another. My purpose is to create greater access to the text, allowing viewers/readers to experience it differently than they would printed on a white page. I want to open the text, break it apart, and reveal its facets. But more than that, like a singer covering another songwriter’s work, I want to express the text and make it mine.

Text from Tracy K Smith's "Everybody's Autobiography" in red paint on a white background, framed.
Photo Credit: Lindsey Row-Heyveld
Tracy K. Smith, “Everybody’s Autobiography” (2024). Gouache and gold leaf on paper.
Text from Miriam Toews' "Women Talking" in dark blue, red, and yellow paint.
Photo Credit: Lindsey Row-Heyveld
Miriam Toews, “Women Talking” (2023). Gouache on paper.
Text from Mark Strand's "Not Dying" in dark brown paint and gold leaf on paper.
Photo Credit: Lindsey Row-Heyveld
Mark Strand, “Not Dying” (2024). Gouache and gold leaf on paper.
Text from Hanif Abdurraqib's "Carly Rae Jepsen" forming a pyramid in red paint on paper.
Photo Credit: Lindsey Row-Heyveld
Hanif Abdurraqib, “Carly Rae Jepsen” (2023). Gouache on paper.
Text from Czesław Miłosz's "Encounter" in bluish gray paint with a streak of gold leaf.
Photo Credit: Lindsey Row-Heyveld
Czesław Miłosz, “Encounter” (2023). Gouache and gold leaf on paper.

Charlie Reynolds (Dexter, Michigan)

When I was 19, I enlisted in the United States Navy. The things I did in those four years is something that I have continually tried to grapple with through the use of alcohol, therapy, and eventually art. My perspective as a privileged citizen coming from a global superpower shifted as I began to visit foreign ports, realizing how other people felt about our country and our military. My previous ideas of “good guys”, “bad guys”, and justifiable wars began to feel very childish. 

What I find both compelling and necessary is the examination of the military culture I so easily subscribed to through the dissection of the military artifacts and symbols I worshiped. Weaving allows me to meditate and immortalize these artifacts that I’ve saved from my time in the Navy. Each weaving takes about 5-6 hours, and I can really ponder every line or thread. Did I really read my contract before I signed it? Why did I save what I saved? Is it precious or was I just doing what I was told? As I contemplate the military’s current role in my life, these artifacts and symbols haunt me. 

My interest in fiber is directly related to my struggle with gender identity. When I was a child, my GG and my grandma taught me how to crochet, knit, cook and other traditionally feminine pastimes. I hated these useful hobbies that would make me a better wife. I wanted to be rough, hard, and dirty. Masculine. 

Now that I can live as a man and I’m comfortable with my masculinity, I find myself drawn to the softer mediums I neglected in the past. Maybe the only way to talk about hard topics is through soft fabrics. My life in the Navy was all steel, missiles, guns, and patriarchy. I think it makes sense then to dissect it through traditionally feminine craft. 

A series of four long-exposure photographs of a person in a wheel chair mid-seizure.
Photo Credit: Charlie Reynolds
Unnatural Conversion of Energy (2022). Photography.
A white piece of fabric sewn to resemble an upside down American flag with the stars hanging off by strings.
Photo Credit: Charlie Reynolds
The Dream Isn’t Dead, The Dream Isn’t Here (2023). Fabric.
Three woven tapestries of Charlie Reynolds' military contract, bootcamp portrait, and discharge paperwork.
Photo Credit: Charlie Reynolds
Laying the Keel (2023). Jacquard loom.

Virginia Townsend (South Saint Paul, Minnesota)

My work is disability- and femme-centric non-objective abstract art.  My goals are to explore my experiences of mental health unit hospitalizations, being “high need” according to Hennepin County, and navigating group homes and other facilities as a woman with trauma. My goal is to challenge the idea that topics related to women need to be represented by literal depictions of femme bodies, often sexualized. Using non-representational scenes I level uneven power dynamics between those with disability and those without.  My goal is for no one to have an advantage when viewing my work, so viewers of class or economic status differences can interpret the images in equally meaningful ways. This helps people less defensive and more open-minded when talking about historically stigmatized subjects, like mental illness and behavioral disorders. My work expresses these goals by setting the scene for novel and solution-focused conversations. The way I paint is using repeating patterns, neon colors, and weaving layers to demonstrate immediacy and complexity higher need disabled people face with their services and the difficulty large systems have providing truly person-centered care.

A painting of abstract swirls of vibrant pinks, blues, greens, and yellows.
Photo Credit: Virginia Townsend
UPS and Downs (2024). Acrylic on cradled wood.
A painting of abstract figures of red and white, with blue and yellow accents and black stippling.
Photo Credit: Virginia Townsend
Self Image (2023). Acrylic on cradled wood.
A painting of abstract yellows, reds, and pinks, with small painted flowers dotted around the lower part.
Photo Credit: Virginia Townsend
Rest (2022). Acrylic on cradled wood.
A painting of abstract swirls of blues, pinks, greens, and black.
Photo Credit: Virginia Townsend
Facets and Faces (2024). Acrylic on cradled wood.
An abstract painting with strong lines of blues, reds, and pinks.
Photo Credit: Virginia Townsend
Communication Between Parts (2023). Acrylic on cradled wood.

Danielle “Elle” Billing (Enderlin, North Dakota)

I am an artist, caregiver, and educator. Making art is how I filter a continuous stream of information, through the particular lens of my queer disabled bodymind.
   
Currently, I am interested in exploring concepts of memory, gender, and identity. I am reconstructing the western feminine literary experience through mixed media with a focus on vintage texts and artifacts. I create paintings through an iterative process I call Spiritual Archaeology. I layer my personal experiences between literary influences and contemporary media, using mixed media and bold marks. My influences stack up on a common theme, and as I scrape back what I have layered, I am able to excavate a singular truth about my Self and my place in the world.
   
Through each process iteration, I produce a cohesive body of work of around 12 pieces. The materials I am most excited by are vintage books, acrylic paint, all manner of pastels, and compelling songwriter-vocalists. I am deeply drawn to surrealism, artistic tension, the multiverse, and alternate timelines. In the studio you will find me deconstructing old books, making my own collage paper, and infusing my work with the power of story.

A blue painting of a head floating in a swirl of blues, with strands of hair radiating out from the head.
Photo Credit: Danielle Billing
The Queen of Peace (2024). Mixed media on canvas.
A starfish clinging to a moon in a collage of space and mountains.
Photo Credit: Danielle Billing
Tell Me Where to Put My Love (2024). Mixed media on paper.
A portrait of a person painted in blue, with daisies for eyes.
Photo Credit: Danielle Billing
I’m So Sick of Pretty, I Want Something True (2023). Mixed media on paper.
A mixed media piece of a person's head sticking out of water with eyes covered by a streak of white and gold, with a collage of flowers and text making up the hair.
Photo Credit: Danielle Billing
Hello From Inside This Bush (2023). Mixed media on paper.
A mixed media piece of a crab holding a tarot card looking solemn as it floats within a bubble in space.
Photo Credit: Danielle Billing
A Glass Can Only Spill What it Contains (2024). Mixed media on paper.

Heather Moore (Columbus, Ohio)

A colorful woman's face on an ostrich egg encased in a glass box decorated with golden fabric.
Photo Credit: Heather Moore
Zorya (2020). Pysanka.

I am a Columbus, Ohio based artist with a passion for living history and public art, working in a variety of mediums with a focus on Slavic folk arts such as pysanky, embroidery, and the khokhloma painting technique. My mission is to document and preserve the lore, practice, and craft of my ancestors in art, writing, and education that incorporates the evolution of these practices within the diaspora of the Carpatho-Rusyn people who live in Ohio and the Midwest region today.

My art is focused on using ancient tools and techniques to create work inspired by a modern urban life. Pysanky are made not by painting but with melted wax applied with a tool called a kistka and a resist dye technique that has remained virtually unchanged since pagan times. This deep respect for the past has led me to the exploration of intergenerational trauma, oral family histories, and bringing a brighter, more compassionate light to family and community history.

Mark Hansen (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

Mark Hansen has always been an artist at heart. For most of his career, he worked as a graphic arts director in the advertising industry, creating eye-catching designs and logos for various clients. He also enjoyed drawing with pencil as a hobby, producing many pieces that his family and friends admired.

However, three years ago, Mark’s life changed dramatically when he suffered a massive stroke that left him with minimal verbal skills and unable to use his right hand, which was his dominant hand. Drawing was an important part of Mark’s life, and he did not want to give up on his passion. He decided to teach himself how to use his left hand to draw, and to challenge himself further, he switched from pencil to colored pencils, adding more vibrancy and depth to his artwork.

His works demonstrate his resilience, creativity, and talent as an artist, and inspire others to overcome their own obstacles and pursue their dreams. 

A colored pencil drawing of a peacock's head and feathery tail, undulating in waves behind the bird.
Photo Credit: Mark Hansen
Miss Sapphire (2023). Colored pencil.
A color pencil rendition of an owl in muted brown tones and high dark contrast.
Photo Credit: Mark Hansen
Wise Owl (2023). Colored Pencil.
A color picture close up drawing of a peacock feather on a colorful blue, green, and yellow background.
Photo Credit: Mark Hansen
Feather (2023). Colored Pencil

Carly “Car” Reigger (Madison, Wisconsin)

My work is a direct response to my life with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), an inherited disorder that causes pain in the connective tissues throughout the body. My experience is grounded in many hospitals stays, surgeries, and being constantly unsure of the cause of pain in my body. My work documents, preserves, and expresses my inner turmoil and disability, as it is not always visible to others. Many people have denied me care, made judgements or decisions based on my physical appearance, therefore, I create work that documents my internal state as an undeniable physical expression of my pain. These situations are common among people with disabilities, so I aim to bring this important topic to light through honoring true representations of my own disabled experience. I use various materials to convey both the tenuous state of an ill body and the way it is perceived. With many inaccurate and ableist historical and societal interpretations of the disabled body, I choose to speak about my own experience through the disabled lens as a reclamation of my identity.

Six petri dishes seen from above with colorful ceramic cells and mixed-media dye within.
Photo Credit: Carly “Car” Riegger
What’s In My Petri Dish, Collection (2022). Ceramic and mixed media.
A ceramic ribcage attached to a gallery wall with yarn leading from the breastbone to the floor.
Photo Credit: Carly “Car” Riegger
Unending Knot (2024). Ceramic and yarn.
A hand made out of plaster with red and blue plastic tube coming out of it leading into a ceramic heart
Photo Credit: Carly “Car” Riegger
Faint (2024). Ceramic, medical tubing, fiber, plaster cast hand.
A gallery filled with angular sculptures made out of clay and felt and a neon sign
Photo Credit: Carly “Car” Riegger
CripClay Exhibition Display (2023).

About the Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities

The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities supports accessibility in the arts and celebrates the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

From 2023–2025, the award will recognize 27 individuals (9 per year) in the Arts Midwest region.

Applications will open again in spring 2025. Learn more and stay tuned by visiting the award homepage.

Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities

An image of a tangled mess of painted ropes around a rock
Photo Credit: Madison Elyse Rubenstein

The post 9 Artists Receive the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Now Accepting Applications: 2024 Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/now-accepting-applications-2024-midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities/ Mon, 06 May 2024 15:02:07 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=6752 A $3,000 award supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The post Now Accepting Applications: 2024 Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Arts Midwest is now accepting applications for the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, an award supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

  • What: The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is a $3,000 award that recognizes disabled visual artists in our region, celebrates their efforts, and encourages their future work.
  • Who: We invite mid-career 2D and 3D visual artists with disabilities to apply for this award.
  • When: This award application will close at 11:59 pm CST on May 23, 2024, with awardees notified in July 2024.
  • Where: Individuals must live in the Arts Midwest region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Native Nations that share this geography.

There is no cost to apply.

About the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities

Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers. 

The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities supports and celebrates accessibility in the arts. It recognizes that the funding community in the Midwest has not historically invested in disabled artists and that increasing support for this group is an important part of increasing accessibility in the arts. It also advocates for the arts being viable employment, which is often overlooked by funding agencies supporting people with disabilities.

Established in 2022, this award is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund. The award was created in honor of the late James Edward Scherbarth, an award-winning visual artist, visual arts teacher, and advocate of arts access who lived and worked in Minnesota. Jim believed that creativity lives in everyone, and he dedicated his career to helping people express themselves through the visual arts.

Explore Past Awardees

Learn more about the nine artists that received the 2023 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities.

Learn More

A collage of various artworks, including a portrait of a woman.

Read the Application Guidelines

Learn more about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, eligibility requirements, and how to upload and submit your application.

Learn More and Apply

An abstract painting of a tree in vivid colors.
Photo Credit: Timothy Traver and Interact Center for Visual & Performing Arts

Have questions about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities?

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. Be sure to check out our FAQs, and if you’d like to talk to us we’re just an email or a phone call away. 

Read FAQs Contact Us

The post Now Accepting Applications: 2024 Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> 9 Artists Receive the 2023 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/9-artists-receive-the-2023-midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities/ Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:51:46 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=4033 Each artist has received $3,000 through an award that celebrates the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The post 9 Artists Receive the 2023 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers. 

Arts Midwest is thrilled to announce the inaugural winners of the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. This award, designed to support accessibility in the arts and celebrate the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists, has received an incredible response from the artistic community.  Over 200 artists applied to receive funds, and a panel of seven reviewers narrowed the pool to nine finalists from across the Midwest.

We are delighted to recognize the creativity and dedication of nine incredible artists who have been making a significant impact in the field:

  • Matthew Bodett (Chicago, Illinois)
  • Larissa Danielle (Bloomington, Indiana)
  • Lauren Bonney (Decorah, Iowa)
  • Maggie Laycock (Sterling Heights, Michigan)
  • Madison Rubenstein (Bloomington, Minnesota)
  • Bonnie Lee (Fargo, North Dakota)
  • Andrea Sosa Fontaine (Cleveland Heights, Ohio)
  • Mary Payton Zajicek (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
  • Sarah Muehlbauer (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

As part of this award, each recipient will receive $3,000 to support their artistic journey, with no restrictions on how they choose to use this funding.

“We are honored to support these incredible artists through the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities,” says Torrie Allen, President and CEO of Arts Midwest. “We believe it’s one small step towards creating a more inclusive and accessible arts community where visual artists with disabilities can thrive.” 

Established in 2022, the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund. The award was created in honor of the late James Edward Scherbarth, an award-winning visual artist, visual arts teacher, and advocate of arts access who lived and worked in Minnesota. Jim believed that creativity lives in everyone, and he dedicated his career to helping people express themselves through the visual arts.

Join us in celebrating the creativity our awardees bring to the Midwest, and explore some of their works below:

Matthew Bodett (Illinois)

As an artist I seek to disrupt the historical and material connections between madness, privilege, and confinement. This is a daunting task, but one which was born from lived experiences with schizoaffective disorder (schizophrenia accompanied by a mood disorder – in my case severe depression). I know the portrayals of madness tell me that I am living a death sentence filled with violence and darkness. However, I know what I am living is different, filled with difficulty, but also filled with deeply creative investigations, an unlimited humanity, and a powerful community of fellow mad travelers.

Through my artistic output I intend to deal with the varied aspects of my own madness and how they relate to the surrounding world. I utilize historical material, drawn from art history, as an aspect of critique about our assumptions of madness, it origins, and its limitations. Through this work I intend to change the current conversation about madness and offer new avenues of dialogue for an already difficult to understand topic.

A painting of Jesus and and a painting of a figure holding up their hand, surrounded by smoke and child-like scribbles. The words Like one about wayss are visible in the bottom lower corner.
Photo Credit: Matthew Bodett
About Wayss (2021). Oil on panel.
A painting of an aristocrat with a sword. Many layers of texture and color surround him. The word Haldol can be seen in the background.
Photo Credit: Matthew Bodett
Haldol (2022) Oil and mixed media on fabric.
A drawing of the mona lisa in black and white. A film-like layer surrounds her face and body. Cut outs around her mouth, head, and hands show those body parts clearly.
Photo Credit: Matthew Bodett
Affective flattening (2020). Pastel on paper.
Many pieces of paper create an abstract form of a person. Some are fully rendered, others feel childlike. A coloring book page of a dragon is in the middle.
Photo Credit: Matthew Bodett
Sometimes you slay the dragon. Sometimes the dragon slays you. (2023). Mixed media on paper.
A painting of Napoleon on an ornate background that cuts out at the bottom of the paiting. The words help, casual, chosen one, and with food are visible on the right hand side of the painting, surrounded by outlines of horses.
Photo Credit: Matthew Bodett
Help (2022). Oil on canvas.


Larissa Danielle (Indiana)

Love, sex, and relationships are part of our human existence. It’s how we express our feelings towards who we desire. Romance, passion, and intimacy are all things that are part of our sexuality. The thing is, much of society cannot fathom the fact that sexuality also exist within the lives of people with disabilities. As an artist with a disability, I make work to change how society views US.

I create work to make the unseen seen, to take the speculative and make it fact, to make us feel like we belong, I use plaster castings of my body to bring the diversity front and center and I use these forms to talk about a variety of sexual topics such as sex and gender, intimacy, vulnerability, pleasure, and sexual empowerment.

The intersections of sexuality and disability are rarely discussed in modern art culture. Our bodies are diverse in many forms and should be celebrated, not shamed. The work that I do opposes the conjecture put forth by society that disabled people don’t have sexual authority because sexuality and sexual depiction in human disability are often considered abnormal because of poor visibility in the arts and human disqualification in society.

A sculpture of a person sitting on top of a bed surrounded by rose petals. They are divided into two pieces and missing a head, a stomach, and an arm. Their legs have braces.
Photo Credit: Larissa Danielle
BILLIE RAY VALENTINE (2022). Plaster and acrylic.
A sculpture of a woman sitting on a chair illuminated by a red light. Where her head should be is a giant wick-like object. High heels fall off of her feet.
Photo Credit: Larissa Danielle
Red Light District (2022). Mixed Media.
A painting of a nude woman sitting on a chair. Instead of a face, she has blobby red paint. Below her is a collage of glittering CDs.
Photo Credit: Larissa Danielle
Fragmented Beauty (2021). Mixed media.
A sculpture of the bottom half of a person. One side is painted black, and the other leg is red on top and beige at the bottom. A offshoot of the leg holds up a cane.
Photo Credit: Larissa Danielle
VIBEZ (2022). Plaster and acrylic.
A sculpture of the top half of a person's torso painted in all black with nipple rings, a belly button ring, and a collar hanging on a wall.
Photo Credit: Larissa Danielle
DAINTY LITTLE FREAK (2022). Plaster and acrylic.

Lauren Bonney (Iowa)

I create art that is deceptively whimsical. Odd and lovely images captured on paper, wood, canvas, or walls fuse together folk art, bold color, mysticism, and the intensity of emotions I feel as an autistic woman. Recurring motifs include broken and swirling lines and quilting patterns that represent how our communities and our personal experiences of the world are stitched together from all we have experienced, the individual parts together forming a whole.

I prefer to work with the unrefined shapes, patterns, and images that are often associated with artists like Mary Blair, Hilma af Klint, and Paul Klee or illustrative works of magical realism such as those found in the films of Studio Ghibli and Cartoon Saloon. By stripping away the filters of complexity that are imposed on us as adults in a modern society my art provides a space for emotional resonance and enchantment.

A mural painted on the side of a building. Pastel colors and bold lines show stars, meteors, angels, sea life, and other abstract forms.
Photo Credit: Lauren Bonney
Together in Decorah (2021). Latex paint on exterior wall.
A colorful quilt-like design with various shapes and colors inspired by flowers, leaves, and scales.
Photo Credit: Lauren Bonney
Ancestors (2022). Digital.
A colorful quilt-like pattern with various shapes and colors. The words Black Lives Matter and BLM are visible within the quilt patchwork.
Photo Credit: Lauren Bonney
BLM Gees Bend (2021). Gouache on paper.
A colorful abstract painting with bold yellow circles surrounded by muted pink, purple, and green tones.
Photo Credit: Lauren Bonney
Hilma (2022). Digital.

Maggie Laycock (Michigan)

Anxiety-ridden by nature, I frequently hyperfocus on the minutiae. Thematically, I can get lost in quagmires of philosophical moralities that are subtly woven into situations and people that populate the everyday. Often I use negative space, cut-outs, layers, and alternate transparency and opaqueness to explore nuances of light, dark and grey within the human soul, transcendence, and the grittiness of redemption. Many ideas begin with precisely rendered illustrations or fantastical imagery, but I push to expand beyond the limits of the pen, paper and ruminating obsession I carry towards a larger, cohesive vision. Here, material exploration keeps me anchored through challenging myself to incorporate play and curiosity into my process. Recent experiments have included mundane or accessible materials (trashbags, cardboard, pills, paper ephemera) and ways of of drastically transforming them (painting with Pepto-Bismol, thermally activating receipt paper to create areas of contrast, ironing trash bags into a paper-like substrate). I enjoy searching my house or Home Depot, envisioning how something could be used in a manner divergent from its original function. The goal? Forget what I think I know and release ingrained expectations in order to examine the object for what is truly there or what possibilities it presents.

A drawing of a person seen from above at a disorienting angle on a pink background. Linoleum tile, a black bag, and food packaging are visible on the ground below.
Photo Credit: Maggie Laycock
Dyspepsia (2023). Mixed Media.
An abstract painting of a person laying sideways, their hands above their head on a collaged background of other bodies and forms.
Photo Credit: Maggie Laycock
Shock Value (2023). Mixed Media.
A collage of various pieces of paper on a wall. Faces with feeding tubes are visible in several places of the collage.
Photo Credit: Maggie Laycock
Shadow of a Shedim (2022). Mixed Media.
A drawing of a woman leaning against a fridge with her hand on her face. It is painted on old grocery bags from Meijer.
Photo Credit: Maggie Laycock
The Land of the Midnight Sun Is A Humming Refrigerator Light (2023). Multimedia.
A collage on a cereal box and brown paper bag. From the front and back, a monstrous face and an upside down face of blank terror are visible. On the inside of the box, a small child can be seen.
Photo Credit: Maggie Laycock
Serial Killer (2023). Multi media.

Madison Rubenstein (Minnesota)

I am a visual artist working in traditional media such as oil paint, graphite, watercolor, acrylic and collage. I explore themes of trauma, mental illness, and chronic pain and how these all shape our relationship to our bodies. My paintings depict figurative images and abstractions of the human form. In my past work I have explored themes of powerlessness and chronic illness by painting abstract bodies bound and tied by rope in transitory spaces. The rope constricts and strangles the bodily masses, leaving some sections of rope slack and loose. This conversation between contraction and expansion, tension and softness, and control and surrender in relationship to the body influences all of my work.

A painting of a pile of colorful yarn-like material, woven in and around a colorful rock-like object.
Photo Credit: Madison Rubenstein
Your Survival and Mine are Intertwined (2021). Oil paint graphite oil and pastel on clayboard.
An abstract painting of a crumpled up form surrounded by colors and lines.
Photo Credit: Madison Rubenstein
Marking Time. Gouache, watercolor, acrylic, graphite, oil pastel, and color process Arches paper.
An abstract painting of a brain-like form, surrounded by colors and lines.
Photo Credit: Madison Rubenstein
Absence of Certainty (2022). Gouache, watercolor, acrylic, graphite, oil pastel and color pencil on Arches paper.
An abstract painting of a crumpled up form surrounded by colors and lines.
Photo Credit: Madison Rubenstein
Pulling Focus. Oil paint, oil pastel, graphite, color pencil, gesso on clayboard.
An abstract drawing of a crumpled up form surrounded by colors and lines.
Photo Credit: Madison Rubenstein
Exploring the Effortless. Gouache, watercolor, acrylic, graphite, oil pastel and color pencil on Arches paper

Bonnie Lee (North Dakota)

My intent, my passion and my sole mission with my days in this life is to use art to raise awareness and uphold the belief that freedom from domestic violence is a basic human right. In 2015 while on social security disability; I founded The Beautiful Life Portraits. This is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3). We paint portraits of people who have died of domestic violence. The portraits are displayed as a public, mobile memorial to open up conversations about prevention. It is what gets me up in the morning.

Five paintings of smiling women hang on easels in a large room. Each woman has white roses in front of them.
Photo Credit: Bonnie Lee
Portraits on display at a Bemidji Domestic Violence Awareness Event (2022).
A painted portrait of a smiling woman with short blonde hair in a blue shirt. Three white roses bloom in the foreground.
Photo Credit: Bonnie Lee
Dawn Marie Sanquist-Anderson (2015). Oil on Canvas.
A painted portrait of a smiling woman with long dark hair on a purple background. A black bear and a white rose appear in the foreground.
Photo Credit: Bonnie Lee
Rose Downwind (2020). Oil on Canvas.
A painted portrait of a smiling woman with short red hair on a purple background. Three white roses bloom in the foreground.
Photo Credit: Bonnie Lee
Debbie Levey (2016). Oil on Canvas.

Andrea Sosa Fontaine (Ohio)

I am a maker, that is interested in how people connect to the objects and spaces that surround us. As an artist, I make decisions through making, and it is through the act of making itself where I find meaning. As an artist, my work is deeply rooted in the need to find an outlet to support my mental health. I have faced barriers due to anxiety, depression and ADHD, and have used my art to focus on craft, while calming my mind. The focus of my art began with the intention to support my own healing, but has extended to thinking about sustainability, and the future of this earth. Primarily, my art is centered on shoemaking, and intersections of traditional and contemporary methods to make the practice more accessible, and affordable. I explore how we shoes can communicate identity while also impacting the earth as gently as possible. While the modality of my art began with shoemaking, this work has extended to the objects in our homes, and the spaces that we live in, where I explore why we throw away objects, and even how we disconnect from the spaces that we live in.

A series of photos showing the progression of creating a pair of shoes from salvaged canvas.
Photo Credit: Andrea Sosa Fontaine
Predisposition for Repair (2023). Salvaged Canvas + Agar Glycerol Starch Soles
A collage of various found objects.
Photo Credit: Andrea Sosa Fontaine
Worn Embrace Catalog of Objects (2021). Found Objects, Tape, Pencil
A collage of photos showing the progression of patterning a space and then folding that pattern up.
Photo Credit: Andrea Sosa Fontaine
Spatial Patterning (2021). Trace Paper, Pencil, Ink.
A series of photos showing the progression of creating a pair of shoes from recycled leather.
Photo Credit: Andrea Sosa Fontaine
Reworked Derby (2018). Recycled leather upholstery.

Mary Payton Zajicek (South Dakota)

The intent in the creation of my artwork is simple, I am compelled to be expressing myself visually, and as such, I hope to be sharing something that brings joy and connects with the viewer. As a visually impaired artist, I am inspired by the unique window my brain insists I see the world through. I will never be able to represent adequately what it looks like inside of this brain. I will, however, be trying to convey the feeling of this unique experience for as long as I can. The results are bright, vibrant, color-saturated mixed media paintings. They are full of movement and dots, and soft forms.

An abstract painting with orange, yellow, and blue colors. Thin lines and blobs of bright color overlap.
Photo Credit: Mary Payton Zajicek
Today Is My Day (2021). Mixed Media on Canvas.
An abstract painting with green and red colors. Circular forms and rectangular shapes intersect and meet.
Photo Credit: Mary Payton Zajicek
Knock Three Times (2019). Mixed Media on Canvas.
An abstract painting with a lot of colors, including green, orange, red, and blue. A house can be vaguely seen in the middl of the painting.
Photo Credit: Mary Payton Zajicek
If My Dreams Had Dreams (2021). Mixed Media on Canvas.
An abstract painting with a lot of colors and shapes. Squares and circles intersect.
Photo Credit: Mary Payton Zajicek
Under the Ties (2022). Mixed Media on Canvas.
An abstract painting with black, pink, and yellow colors. Thin lines and blobs of bright color overlap.
Photo Credit: Mary Payton Zajicek
With a Side of Life (2023). Mixed Media on Canvas

Sarah Muehlbauer (Wisconsin)

My purpose through art is to reveal the hidden poetics and wisdom of living in a chronically ill body. I explore care-taking for self and others, topics of pain, death, and dying that cause fear and avoidance in our culture. I use art to emphasize the beauty, the play, and the accessibility around these topics, so that they might be seen in a way our culture does not yet know or accept.

My most recent work has been for an ongoing dream archetype deck and guidebook project that I hope to publish in 2024. I also recently produced a zine combining disability justice + art + writing, called “Freedom and Possession”, meditations on embodiment from a chronic illness lens. I have worked deeply with performance and circus over the last 15 + years, using it to portray dynamic physical experience, to challenge viewers’ expectations of disability, and to offer a visually compelling language that affects audiences in an intuitive, visceral way. While my disability limits my energy, I have 30+ years of cumulative body knowledge in gymnastics, yoga, dance, and aerial arts, and artistic strategies that allow me to perform at a high level within my physical limits.

A page of a Zine with a drawing of a deer and a picture of a dog. The title reads Freedom and Possession.
Photo Credit: Sarah Muehlbauer
Freedom and Possession (2023). Zine excerpt.
A drawing of a woman in a blanket with a collage of snow, clouds, and a lit match in top right hand corner.
Photo Credit: Sarah Muehlbauer
Out in the Cold (2022). Drawing with photo.
A person in a bikini standing on a stage with a rope of intestines around their neck. One rope comes from the center of their stomach out of frame.
Photo Credit: Sarah Muehlbauer
Intestinal shield and Jumprope (2018). Sculpture.
A black and white drawing of two people hugging each other in a bed, covered with a blanket with with a ghost pattern.
Photo Credit: Sarah Muehlbauer
Freedom and Possession (2023). Zine excerpt.

About the Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities

The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities supports accessibility in the arts and celebrates the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

From 2023–2025, the award will recognize 27 individuals (9 per year) in the Arts Midwest region.

Applications will open again in spring 2024. Learn more and stay tuned by visiting the award homepage.

Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities

An abstract painting of a tree in vivid colors.
Photo Credit: Timothy Traver and Interact Center for Visual & Performing Arts

Funders and Supporters

This award is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund.

Thank you to Koko Dehn, Bonnie Thorne, and Simone Needles with Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts for their invaluable insights in the shaping of this award, and our review panel. Their invaluable feedback helped make this award more accessible and welcoming to artists with disabilities.

The post 9 Artists Receive the 2023 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Announcing the Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities https://artsmidwest.org/about/updates/announcing-the-midwest-award-for-artists-with-disabilities/ Mon, 01 May 2023 14:13:56 +0000 https://artsmidwest.org/?post_type=update&p=3467 Supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The post Announcing the Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

]]> Arts Midwest is now accepting applications for the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, an award supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

  • What?

    The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities is a $3,000 award that recognize disabled visual artists in our region, celebrates their efforts, and encourages their future work.

  • Who?

    We invite mid-career 2D and 3D visual artists with disabilities to apply for this award.

  • When?

    This award application will close at 11:59 pm CST on May 22, 2023, with the first round of awards being made in mid-July 2023.

  • Where?

    From 2023–2025, this award will recognize 27 individuals (9 per year) in the Arts Midwest region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Native Nations that share this geography.

About the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities

Please note that we acknowledge both identity first and person first framing of disability identity. When we use the phrase “disabled artists,” we intend to align with the Social Model of Disability understanding that people are disabled by environmental and societal barriers. 

The Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities supports and celebrates accessibility in the arts. It recognizes that the funding community in the Midwest has not historically invested in disabled artists and that increasing support for this group is an important part of increasing accessibility in the arts. It also advocates for the arts being viable employment, which is often overlooked by funding agencies supporting people with disabilities.

Established in 2022, this award is supported by the James Edward Scherbarth and Paul Francis Mosley Giving Fund. The award was created in honor of the late James Edward Scherbarth, an award-winning visual artist, visual arts teacher, and advocate of arts access who lived and worked in Minnesota. Jim believed that creativity lives in everyone, and he dedicated his career to helping people express themselves through the visual arts.

“We thank Jim Scherbarth for his contributions to arts access, and are grateful to be able to give this award to honor his legacy,” said Torrie Allen, President & CEO of Arts Midwest. “There are so many visual artists with disabilities doing amazing work in the Midwest. We’re thrilled to recognize their talent and creativity with this award.”

Read the Application Guidelines

Learn more about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, eligibility requirements, and how to upload and submit your application.

Learn More and Apply

A light skinned person with tattoos draws a figure on a block of wood.
Photo Credit: Dillon Wanner

Have questions about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities?

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about the Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. Be sure to check out our FAQs, and if you’d like to talk to us we’re just an email or a phone call away. 

Read FAQs Contact Us

The post Announcing the Midwest Award For Artists With Disabilities appeared first on Arts Midwest.

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