The McKnight Foundation has named multi-instrumentalist and instrument maker Douglas R. Ewart as its 2022 McKnight Distinguished Artist.

The Jamaican-born artist, who makes his home in south Minneapolis, is best known as a musician, composer, and instrument maker and is equally well regarded as a sound sculptor, painter, writer, and teacher. He has performed worldwide and is renowned for his interdisciplinary work, including performances on a vast range of saxophones, flutes, woodwinds, and percussion instruments of his own design and construction, a craft that reflects his understanding of the importance of sustainable and natural materials.

The award includes a $100,000 prize—an increase from $50,000 in previous years—reinforcing the foundation’s commitment to catalyzing the creativity, power, and leadership of Minnesota’s working artists and culture bearers. Since 1998, the annual award has been given to an artist who has made significant contributions to the state’s cultural life. McKnight Distinguished Artists have chosen to make their lives and careers in Minnesota, producing creatively incisive art that reflects their particular and extraordinary point of view; inspiring other artists; earning acclaim from audiences, patrons, critics, and other arts professionals; and founding and strengthening arts organizations.

Ewart was selected by a foundation-commissioned panel of community members with broad perspectives and knowledge about the region’s diverse arts and cultural landscape, including theater artist and educator Marcus Young; Michele Anderson, rural director for Springboard for the Arts; Mizna executive director Lana Barkawi; Carlton Turner, lead artist and co-director of Sipp Culture; and Daniel Bergin, a filmmaker and senior producer and partnership manager for Twin Cities Public Television.

“The panel was moved by the nomination letters that not only spoke of Ewart’s talents and contributions as an artist and trailblazer, but also of the love, deep respect, and gratitude these nominators feel for him,” said Young. “They detailed an artist who lives his creative life thoroughly and shares generously with the community.”

“He moves like a dancer between mediums, genres, and time,” said Seitu Jones, who nominated Ewart and was the 2017 Distinguished Artist Award winner. “His mastery as a musician and visual artist is mind-blowing and defies any attempt to define his life and worldview....We don’t have a word in the English language yet to accurately describe the mix of art and life that Douglas embodies.” 

For a list of all McKnight Distinguished Artists, see the McKnight website.