FRESH Water New Look Weekend Artists

Douglas R. Ewart

The polymathic Douglas R. Ewart has been honored for his work as a composer, improvising multi-instrumentalist, conceptual artist, philosopher, writer, sculptor, mask and instrument designer, visual artist, tailor, cultural community builder and more. As an educator, Ewart bridges his kaleidoscopic activities with a vision that opposes today’s divided world by culture-fusing works that aim to restore the wholeness of communities and their members and to emphasize the reality of the world’s interdependence.   

From Kingston, Jamaica, Ewart immigrated to Chicago in 1963. There he studied with the master musicians of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians—an organization at which he later served as chairman at different intervals from1979-1987 and into the millennium. He also studied music at  Harold Washington College, VanderCook College of Music, and electronic music at Governors State University.   

Ewart is the founder of Arawak Records, is the leader of ensembles such as the Nyahbingi Drum Choir, Quasar, the Clarinet Choir, and Douglas R. Ewart & Inventions. 

He is a designer and creator of instruments and kinetic sonic sculptures that have been exhibited in venues such as Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago. “Crepuscule,” his vast conceptual work is collectively actualized by scores of musicians, dancers, visual artists, poets, capoeirista, puppeteers, martial artists, activists and the honoring of elders and more. 

Ewart’s honors include the 2019 Jamaica Musgrave Silver Medal presented by the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) for outstanding contribution to art and education, 2022 McKnight Distinguished Award as a Multi-Dimensional Artist, 2022 McKnight Fellowships for Community-Engaged Artist, 2022 South Korean Gugak International Workshop Fellow, U.S. Japan Creative Arts Fellowship, a Bush Artists Fellowship, and an Outstanding Artist Award granted by a former Chicago Mayor, Harold Washington. Ewart is a Professor Emeritus at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago IL.

Kajahl

Kajahl’s work is inspired by the ancient world. He brings fictional characters to life in an imagined scene, through the medium and tradition of oil painting. In a sense, his work is based on a true story that diverges into fantasy, placing Kajahl as court painter to a mythical civilization.

Mary Jo Klinker

Mary Jo Klinker (she/they) is a professor in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Winona State University. Her research focuses on the relation of queer activism and theory to feminist antimilitarist organizing and anti-imperialist critique. Mary Jo teaches courses in LGBTQ+ studies and history, abolition feminist and queer politics, and transnational feminist solidarity.

Khoa Le

Khoa Le (b. 1982) is an illustrator, author, and painter based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She is the author and illustrator of numerous picture books, including Sugar in Milk (Running Press Kids, 2020) by Thrity Umrigar, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; and Miriam at the River (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2020) by Jane Yolen, an Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Honor Book.Though her artwork is digital— employing Photoshop alongside a Wacom tablet—Khoa Le crafts all textures using traditional methods such as watercolor or oil paint. For each project, she embarks on a creative experiment, blending personal touches to ensure the result aligns with the narrative she aims to convey.

Mankwe Ndosi

Mankwe Ndosi is a Song Catcher, and Culture Worker based in Minneapolis, MN. Mankwe’s creative practice emerges from black ritual legacies of music and performance learned from and played with Douglas R. Ewart, Laurie Smith Carlos, Sharon Bridgforth, Amoke Kubat, Nicole Mitchell, Miriam Makeba, the Give Get Sistet, Davu Seru. Tomeka Reid, Body mEmOri, ancestors, earth, and many peers across species, cultures, and creative genres. She is a member of Chicago’s stalwart AACM  - the Association for Creative Musicians, and a Resident Community Engaged Artist at Pillsbury House and Theatre. She applies creative and embodied practices to grow emergent engagements of earth, sound, and regeneration.

Judy Onofrio

Judy Onofrio (b. 1939) is a self-made artist whose art education stemmed from her curiosity and independent spirit. Beginning as a ceramicist in the 1970s, Onofrio explored various materials, creating large-scale installations, sculptural fire performances, and intricately embellished sculptures. Her recent bone-made works highlight life's transitory nature. 

Onofrio has been a significant contributor to Minnesota's art scene. She was the founding director of the Minnesota Crafts Council, served as Acting Director of the Rochester Art Center and founded the highly regarded children's Total Art Day Camp at the Rochester Art Center.  

She has received multiple awards, including The McKnight Foundation Distinguished Minnesota Artist Award and grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Arts Midwest/NEC, and the Bush Foundation. She is a recipient of the Rochester Art Center Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 A. P. Anderson Award and the Minnesota Crafts Council Lifetime Achievement Award.  

Her work is in found in the national and international collections including: The National Gallery of Art, Victoria, Australia; Arabia Museum Helsinki, Finland; The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Renwick Gallery, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Frederick R. Weisman Museum, Minneapolis, MN and over 40 other museum and public collections. 

Dj Rhumpshaker

Robert Armstrong aka Dr. Bob has been performing as Dj Rhumpshaker since the year 2000. A rabid fan of multiple genres of music, Rhumpshaker got his start playing at house parties and art openings. Eventually settling in as the house Dj for the no name bar and hosting monthly dance parties for the last 10 years. Dj Rhumpshaker is also a multi instrumentalist and enjoys throwing his own original productions into the mix. Best known for his deep funk cuts, Dj Rhumpshaker also enjoys a wide variety of musical styles and is constantly exploring new and old music genres. An active member of the online Dj community you can find over a hundred of his mixes on mixcloud.com.

Kao Kalia Yang 

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong American teacher, speaker, and writer. Her work crosses audiences and genres. She is the award-winning author of the memoirs, The Latehomecomer, The Song Poet, Somewhere in the Unknown World, and Where Rivers Part. Yang co-edited the groundbreaking book, What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Native Women and Women of Color. Yang is a librettist for the The Song Poet Opera (commissioned by the MN Opera). Her children’s books, A Map Into the World, The Most Beautiful Thing, The Shared Room, Yang Warriors, From the Tops of the Trees, and The Rock in My Throat center around Hmong children who live in our world, who dream and hurt and hope in it.

Yang’s work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize, as Notable Books by the American Library Association, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, the Heartland Bookseller’s Award, and garnered four Minnesota Book Awards. Yang is McKnight, Soros, and Guggenheim fellow.