Utah’s top artists push boundaries and challenge norms—meet the twenty visionary creators awarded $5,000 fellowships for their groundbreaking work in 2025.
The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has been supporting Utah artists since the agency’s founding in 1899. A large part of that support is the Utah Artist Fellowship, one of the highest state-sponsored awards a Utah artist can receive. The Utah Artist Fellowships are $5,000 awards that recognize the careers of Utah artists demonstrating exceptional creativity in their fields. Fellows are chosen by out-of-state, nationally renowned arts professionals. Selections are based on evaluation of application narratives, as well as work samples from the past five years.
Through these fellowships, the agency seeks to support professional and committed artists reaching pivotal moments in their artistic practices, encouraging their career advancement and growth. Candidates are selected through an open application process. All eligible applications receive equal consideration through a two-round review process: a prescreen staff review and a juror review. This year, five fellowships were awarded in the categories of Design Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts (Theatre), and Visual Arts. This year marked the inaugural year for a Literary Arts category.
2025’s Visual Arts Fellows are: Eugene Tapahe, Christopher Lynn, Nancy Rivera, Ariel C. Wilson, and Xi Zhang. Visual Arts juror Lana Meador said: “The submissions reflected an incredibly rich artistic community, making the selection process no easy feat. The chosen artists displayed a clear vision and commitment to their practice in works that push the boundaries of their chosen media in new and exciting ways.”
The Design Arts Fellows are: Alise Anderson, Laura Boardman, Zak Jensen, Kimo Watanabe, and Matthew Pedersen. According to Design Arts juror Ramon Tejada, the five selected fellows: “use their imaginative and artistic perspectives to facilitate, through their work, shared and collective experiences that ask questions and challenge norms with joy, love, and respect.”
The Literary Arts Fellows are: Kimberly Johnson, Lynn Kilpatrick, Patrick Madden, Christian McKay Heidicker, and Paisley Rekdal. Literary Arts juror Ira Sukrungruang spoke of being “enthralled” by the writing of the fellows, adding that he felt he was a witness to a “kaleidoscopic array of thoughts and ideas and images and influences, this wonderful lyrical and sensorial trip.”
This year’s Performing Arts (Theater) Fellows are: Sarah Shippobotham, Janine Sobeck Knighton, Eric Sciotto, Judy Mansfield, and Lynnette Owens. Performing Arts juror Franchelle Dorn noted: “this exercise was much more difficult than I anticipated… My list is composed of the applicants whose aspirations, and/or talent, and/or artistic statement/intent, and/or sense of self, stayed with me long after I’d read the other applications.”
The Utah Division of Arts & Museums congratulates these artists and looks forward to supporting Utah artists for many years to come.
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