Meet Peter Jadoonath, a 2025 Recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Ceramic Artists! Jadoonath says that, “My focus in making pottery for twenty-eight years has been about wandering within the material. I’m better at asking questions than I am at providing answers. If there is a defining goal for me over this time, it’s been to make drawings that are pots and pots that are drawings. It’s never been my intention to have a style, there were times I pursued “style”, but most of the time it was an aspect or technique that I lifted from elsewhere and then I proceeded to beat it into the ground. It’s taken me a long time to express myself within the material. Part of that was developing a toolbox of skills, but another part of that was me just getting tired of not being honest with who I am or what I am interested in. People often say to me “you change your work so much”. I’m not sure what to say. I’ve never seen it as much of a change, it’s just evolution for myself. If I couldn’t do that then I would find something else to do. I stumbled on to making pots at Bemidji State University in 1996. The material and the rich tradition of craft in Minnesota was alluring. Over the course of time, I worked in a Lowertown St. Paul, eventually a basement St. Paul home studio, and now to home studio in Shafer, Minnesota. We’ve been putting on the Backyard Sale since 2010 and recently my family and I started hosting the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. Fun is always the goal.” The McKnight Fellowship for Ceramic Artists Program is designed to strengthen and enhance Minnesota’s artistic community, as well as significantly advance the work of Minnesota ceramic artists whose work is of exceptional artistic merit, who have already proven their abilities, and are at a career stage that is beyond emerging. Two grants of $25,000 each are awarded annually. (fb)

Meet Elizabeth Coleman, a 2025 Recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Ceramic Artists! Elizabeth Coleman is a sculptor who lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her narrative work explores how fragments of fairytales, myth, and popular culture, specifically advertising, allow her to tell coded stories of gender and sexuality. Elizabeth received an MFA from Ohio State University and a BFA in ceramics and glass from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has also studied at Penland School of Craft, Pilchuck Glass School, and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. Elizabeth has been a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center and the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary. She received a 2010 Jerome Foundation Ceramic Artist Project Grant and a fiscal year 2017 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB). In 2021 and 2022, she received Creative Support for Individuals Grants from the MSAB. In 2025, she received a Flexible Support grant as well as an Arts Impact for Individuals grant from the Metro Regional Arts Council of Minnesota. The McKnight Fellowship for Ceramic Artists Program is designed to strengthen and enhance Minnesota’s artistic community, as well as significantly advance the work of Minnesota ceramic artists whose work is of exceptional artistic merit, who have already proven their abilities, and are at a career stage that is beyond emerging. Two grants of $25,000 each are awarded annually. (fb)