Chicago, IL - The Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA) is honored to announce the 2022 Artist Fellowship Award (AFA) recipients. The IACA AFAs are $15,000 awards to Illinois artists in recognition of their outstanding work and commitment within the arts. This year 20 Illinois artists will receive Fellowships totaling $300,000. Finalist Awards of $1,500 were also awarded to 7 Illinois artists for a total of $10,500. The Finalist Award category recognizes and encourages additional applicants who demonstrate considerable talent.

The Artist Fellowship Program offered funding in 7 artistic disciplines. This year’s Fellowship and Finalist Award recipients were selected from 354 Illinois based creative artists working in the disciplines of Ethnic and Folk Arts, Crafts, and Visual Arts which includes Visual-Based Arts (Installation, Mixed Media, Painting, Graphic & Drawing), Photography, and Sculpture. This year the IACA created two new categories in recognition of artists working in new concepts and materials, Digital Arts and New Art Forms.

The Council is proud to be able to provide Illinois artists with unrestricted funds in these awards that will support their creative endeavors and artistic growth. The mission of the Illinois Arts Council Agency is “To build a strong, creative, and connected Illinois through the arts.” The Agency recognizes that Illinois’ artists are an essential component of the social fabric of the state and its arts community especially during these challenging times.

The Artist Fellowship Awardees and Finalist are representative of the diversity found in the arts across Illinois and represent a diversity of age, gender, and geographic locations. They represent 12 different parts of the state that include urban, suburban, and rural communities, including Albion, Champaign, Chicago, Cobden, Edwardsville, East St. Louis, Murphysboro, Troy, & Urbana.

For brief bios on 2022 Artist Fellowship Awardees visit:
https://arts.illinois.gov/news/2022-fellowship-award-recipients

Following are the Fiscal Year 2022 Artist Fellowship and Finalist Award recipients listed by discipline.

Crafts
Avital Weinberg
Champaign
$15,000

Aram Han Sifuentes
Chicago
$15,000

Salvador Jimenez-Flores
Chicago
$1,500

Digital Arts
Jay Alan Yim and Marlena Novak
Chicago
$15,000

William R Parod Jr
Evanston
$1,500

Ethnic & Folk Arts
Juan M Roman Jr.
Chicago
$15,000

Aedeok L Cho
Rolling Meadows
$15,000

Edna Patterson-Petty
East Saint Louis
$15,000

Dennis Stroughmatt
Albion
$15,000

Shoba Natarajan
Naperville
$1,500

Photography
Kelli Connell
Chicago
$15,000

Cecil McDonald Jr
Chicago
$15,000

Abbey Hepner
Troy
$15,000

Clarissa Bonet
Chicago
$1,500

New Art Forms
Huong Ngo
Chicago
$15,000

Rozalinda Borcila
Chicago
$15,000

Susannah Bielak
Chicago
$1,500

Sculpture
Edra Soto
Chicago
$15,000

Alexandra Chitty
Chicago
$15,000

Melissa Pokorny
Urbana
$15,000

Soo Shin
Chicago
$1,500

Visual Arts
Dianna Frid
Chicago
$15,000

Deb Sokolow
Chicago
$15,000

Ann Toebbe
Chicago
$15,000

Mayumi Lake
Chicago
$15,000

Mary Ellen Watkin
Cobden
$15,000

Jonathan David Lozano
Chicago
$1,500

The following advisory committee members reviewed this year’s applications in the disciplines of:

CRAFTS:
Toni Brogan, NY, Michael Janis, DC, Janis Mars Wunderlich, IL, Jean Pitman, OH

DIGITAL ARTS:
David Burns, IL, Ya Lu Lin, IL, Hye Yeon Nam, LA, Jody Zellen, CA

ETHNIC AND FOLK ARTS:
Joey Brackner, AL, C. Kemal Nance, IL, Lisa Rathje, IL, Michelle Stefano, MD, Zoe van Buren, NC

NEW ART FORMS:
Faisal Abdu’Allah, WI, Yolanda Cursach, IL, Pablo de Ocampo, MN, Mark Jeffrey, IL, Adia Sykes, IL

VISUAL-BASED ARTS (PHOTOGRAPHY):
Scott Dombrowski, IL, Karen Irvine, IL, Andrea Nelson, DC, Brian Sikes, IL, Barbara Tannenbaum, OH

VISUAL-BASED ARTS (SCULPTURE):
Juan Angel Chavez, IL, Allison Lacher, IL, Amy Powell, IL,

VISUAL-BASED ARTS (INSTALLATION, MIXED MEDIA, PAINTING, GRAPHIC & DRAWING):
Barry Blinderman, CA, Jeffreen M. Hayes, IL, Daniel Schulman, IL

ARTIST FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
The intent of the Artist Fellowship Program is to enrich and strengthen the state of Illinois by supporting accomplished Illinois artists who are the foundation of Illinois’ creative environment. The Artist Fellowship Program recognizes exceptional artists who have created a substantial body of work throughout their career by providing awards to support continued artistic growth. The awards are non-matching Fellowships in unrestricted fixed amounts of $15,000.