Anna Metcalfe

2020 Mid-Career Professional Development Grantee | $5,000

Storytelling in Public Art and the role of Qualitative Research

This project will assess participant stories collected through an on-going public art project called Upstream as a qualitative data set. Artist Anna Metcalfe and sociocultural anthropologist Laurie Moberg will create a system for cataloging and interpreting these stories, guiding the future of Upstream. At the same time, it will also investigate the role that qualitative research has in public art, and that art has in gaining access to data for environmental research.

Anna Metcalfe teaches ceramics and sculpture at Minneapolis College in Minneapolis, MN. As an artist, she works at the junction of public art, social engagement and craft. She makes work inspired by water, agriculture, food and community. She is a recipient of several awards and grants, notably MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants in fiscal years 2013, 2015 and 2017, an environmental artist fellowship and residency at the Camargo Foundation, and most recently in 2018 an Open Studio Fellowship at Franconia Sculpture Park.

The McKnight Foundation generously enables Forecast to provide Professional Development Grants for mid-career artists seeking to expand their work in the field of public art. Forecast mid- and early-career grants are designed to support independent projects, leadership development, professional development, risk-taking, multidisciplinary approaches, and collaborative problem-solving in the field of public art.