Twenty Alaska artists will get $25,000 each from the Rasmuson Foundation

Twenty Alaska artists will each get a one-year, $25,000 fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation, the foundation announced last week.

The fellowships, $500,000 in all, are for mid- to late-career artists and run from Nov. 1 through Oct. 31, 2027. The recipients live in Homer, Juneau, Fairbanks, Bethel, Kasigluk-Tununak, Cohoe, Douglas, Yakutat and Anchorage.

Sydney Akagi of Juneau plans to use Chilkat weaving to make what the foundation calls a first-of-its-kind kimono. The work will honor her family members of Tlingit and Japanese descent who were interned in camps during World War II, according to her artist profile.

Renee Culp, also of Juneau, will work on a beaded giant octopus robe for the Chookaneidí clan. It tells the story of Kahtushtu, a Tlingit man who gave his life killing a giant octopus to save others. When it's finished, the robe becomes at.óow, clan-owned property for ceremonial use. Culp talked about the robe in June as artist in residence at Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Quki, of Kasigluk-Tununak, will make Yup'ik attire, including a parka, thigh-high mukluks, an Akulmiut-style headdress, a pair of dance fans and a necklace.

Rose McAdoo of Anchorage makes edible art about climate change. Her past work includes a glacier-loss cake built with ice climbing rope once used on Exit Glacier, and saltwater taffy she made on sea ice in Svalbard, Norway, from Arctic Ocean water drawn through the ice. Her fellowship will support new Alaska-based work for her Edible Climate Archive.

Ashley Young, who lives in Anchorage and Yakutat, will work on "Tlinglish," a collaboration with the band Portugal. The Man that the foundation says will expand her platform for Indigenous language revitalization.

Two of the writers, Ernestine Hayes of Juneau and Nancy Lord of Homer, are former Alaska writers laureate. Hayes, whose memoir "Blonde Indian" won an American Book Award, plans to finish a work in progress and give readings in communities around Alaska. Lord plans residencies in Iceland, Greenland or Scandinavia for a collection of essays about northern environments that places Alaska in a global context.

"It's important that our artists find support and nurturing at every stage of their careers," foundation President and CEO Gretchen Guess said in the announcement.

A nationwide panel of 16 art professionals picked the recipients. Last week, the foundation also named Dena'ina and Unangun mixed media artist Rebecca Lyon its 2026 Distinguished Artist, an award it gives each year.

The foundation's Individual Artist Awards began in 2003 and have made more than 700 grants to artists in 54 Alaska communities, according to a program presentation. The foundation says it has invested more than $6.5 million in Alaska artists through the program. Under a 2025 redesign, fellowships are offered in even-numbered years and $10,000 project awards in odd-numbered years. Project award applications open in February 2027. This year's recipients must wait three years before applying again.

The 2026 fellows:

• Sydney Akagi, Juneau, folk and traditional arts

• Renee Culp "Tl'aagunk," Juneau, folk and traditional arts

• Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich, Anchorage and Cohoe, visual arts

• Ernestine Hayes, Juneau, literary arts and scriptworks

• Erin Coughlin Hollowell, Homer, literary arts and scriptworks

• Anna Hoover, Anchorage, multidiscipline

• Lily Hope, Juneau, folk and traditional arts

• Gail Jackson, Anchorage, multidiscipline

• Rachael Juzeler, Douglas and Juneau, crafts

• Nancy Lord, Homer, literary arts and scriptworks

• Rose McAdoo, Anchorage, multidiscipline

• Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Fairbanks, visual arts

• Don Rearden, Bethel and Anchorage, literary arts and scriptworks

• Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi, Homer, multidiscipline

• M.K. Thekkumkattil, Anchorage, literary arts and scriptworks

• Michael Walsh, Homer, media arts

• Annie Wenstrup, Fairbanks, literary arts and scriptworks

• Tamara Wilson, Fairbanks, visual arts

• Ashley Young, Anchorage and Yakutat, music and music composition

• Quki, Kasigluk-Tununak, multidiscipline