Seven Montana Artists Receive the Montana Arts Council’s 2021 Artist Innovation Award

• Brian Moody
• December 15 2021

The Montana Arts Council is pleased to announce seven Montana artists as recipients of the 2021 Artist Innovation Award. The honorees are: Chip Clawson of Helena, Megan Karls of Great Falls, Jodi Lightner of Billings, Alayna Rasile of Bozeman, and Sheryl Noethe, Caroline Patterson, and Maxim Loskutoff of Missoula. 

Established by the Montana Arts Council to foster environments where the innovation and creativity of artists are valued and celebrated, the Artist Innovation Award includes a $5,000 honorarium to enable recipients to continue pursuing groundbreaking work. As a component of the program, recipients of this award make public presentations around  their work; the Montana Arts Council will help publicize these events as they are scheduled in the coming year.

“In spite of facing unprecedented challenges over the past few years, creativity is flourishing in Montana,” says Tatiana Gant, executive director of the Montana Arts Council. “Montana artists are taking risks and pushing the boundaries of their chosen artforms. This year’s winners highlight the dedication and resiliency it takes to produce exceptional art.”

A panel of arts experts from around Montana convened via Zoom in October and November to review 59 applications, ultimately selecting seven artists to recommend for the award.  Given the exceptional quality of the applicant pool overall, the process of winnowing down to the awardees was especially arduous for this year and underscores the strength of the arts in Montana today.

Recipients by Region

Great Falls

Megan Karls, Performing Artist

Great Falls-based violinist Megan Karls is an artist with a passion for community-building through creative experience. She currently performs as Co-Concertmaster of the Great Falls Symphony and Associate Concertmaster of the Billings Symphony. Accustomed to performing as part of ensembles in front of live audiences, Karls responded to the challenges of COVID by recording and releasing solo works in the abandoned Cold War Air Force installations that dot Northern Montanan. About the innovative project, Karls says, “I wanted to grow as a violinist, even during COVID, and this project was a great mountain to climb.”  

Bozeman

Alayna Rasile, Visual Artist

Alayna Rasile is a textile artist focusing on handweaving techniques and the use of natural dyes and fabrics. Rasile says, “Through slow and careful labor using plant-based materials and ancient textile techniques, I honor my responsibility as an artist: to be a critic, an innovator, and a visionary.” Rasile has shown her work at galleries and events throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom.  She is a committed advocate for environmental sustainability, gave a TedX talk about textiles and pollinators in 2019, and has several related publications to her name.  She is an entrepreneur and teacher as well, having started several businesses and serving as an instructor at MSU Bozeman in both business and art. 

Billings

Jodi Lightner, Visual Artist

Jodi Lightner is a visual artist who incorporates drawing, painting, and sculptural elements into large-scales installations, while serving as an Associate Professor of Art at Montana State University Billings. According to Lightner, “My creative practice is focused on making art that bends the line of drawing and imagines the impossible. I find that the drawing can unfold over time if the substrate is too large to take in with one quick glance.” Lightner is fascinated by the built environment and how we interact with and are influenced by the structures and spaces surrounding our lives. Lightner has exhibited her work throughout the United States and globally, including installations in Germany, China, and Italy. Lightner has taught at MSU Billings since 2012 and has garnered grants and awards for her teaching and art throughout her career. 

Helena

Chip Clawson, Visual Artist – Ceramics

As a ceramic artist, Chip Clawson of Helena is the recipient of the Jessie Wilber and Frances Senska Individual Artist Award, established by a private gift to the Montana Arts Council from Stacy Hamm and Sage Walden.

After a long hiatus, Chip Clawson returned to making ceramic art in the late 1990’s.  As for his creative process, Clawson says, “I am an inquisitive problem solver by nature and nurture, using innovation to resolve challenges and create art.”  Clawson’s work is inspired by the natural world, using forms like beetles, budding plants, shells, seed pods, or lava flows in a universal way. To realize his artistic vision, Clawson has often developed his own techniques and methods, and incorporated cutting edge technology along the way.  Clawson’s work appears most prominently in public spaces throughout Montana.  He has also completed installations participated in gallery showings, collaborations, and workshops for decades in far-flung places like Hawaii, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 

Missoula

Maxim Loskutoff, Literary Artist

Writer Maxim Loskutoff grew up in Missoula, the youngest of five, and was the first in his family to attend college out of high school. A throughline in Loskutoff’s writing is an examination of what it means to be a citizen of the American West. As for the direction he plans to take with his writing, Loskutoff says “My work will continue to develop, explore, and innovate as I attempt to convey the boundless human potential (beyond what we thought possible) when we reconnect with the landscape of our home. The freedom and surrender of reacquainting ourselves with everything else alive.” Loskutoff has an MFA in Creative University from New York University and has participated in writing residencies throughout the country.  His novels, essays, and short stories have received national recognition and awards, including a recent High Plains Book Award for his novel Ruthie Fear.  He has published works in several national publications including The New York Times, GQ Magazine, and Fiction. 

Sheryl Noethe, Literary Artist

Sheryl Noethe is a writer, teacher, performance artist, and spoken word performer living in Missoula. With over 50 years of experimentation with poetry as an artform, Noethe’s commitment to innovation is unceasing. Noethe has a keen understanding of the role the reader or audience member plays in poetry, and about how the future of her writing, she says, “I am learning to release my need for structure and narrative.” Sheryl Noethe founded the Missoula Writing Collaborative and remains the Artistic Director there, as well as classroom artist.  She has published five collections of poetry and one teaching text.  She served as Montana’s Poet Laureate from 2011 to 2013, and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship among other awards and prominent residencies around the country.  

Caroline Patterson, Literary Artist

Caroline Patterson is Missoula-based fiction writer, teacher, and non-profit director.  A scholar of Montana history, Patterson has long been drawn to untold stories, particularly women’s stories.  She says, “I write to bear witness” and describes her fiction work as “part-storytelling, part-social justice, part-music”.  A student of Montana greats such as Richard Hugo and William Kittredge, Patterson received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana.  A poet in her early career, Patterson turned to fiction in the 1980’s and has written and edited several works on Montana women’s history.  Patterson has published books, short stories, children’s books, and articles.  Her novel, The Stone Sister, based in the Elkhorn Mountains of Montana, was published in September of this year. 

For more information on the Artist’s Innovation Award program and samples of all this year’s honorees' work, visit: art.mt.gov/aia.