The Rasmuson Foundation has chosen four Alaskans for eight-week residencies at well-known arts organizations in the Lower 48. They include: Anchorage multidisciplinary artist Amy Johnson, whose most recent efforts included running a one-woman gallery in the 5th Avenue Mall for several months; Anchorage photographer Michael Conti, whose portraits of women involved in ice sports were recently shown at the Anchorage Museum; Anchorage poet Susan Mishler, whose collection "Termination Dust" was a finalist for a 2015 Lambda Literary Award; and Haida basketmaker and textile artist Jacinthe TwoBulls, of Ketchikan and Hydaberg.
Johnson will spend her residency at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina (her old hometown, as it turns out). Conti will work with Zygote Press in Cleveland, Ohio. Mishler will be at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California and TwoBulls will go to the Santa Fe (New Mexico) Art Institute.
The Artist in Residence program sends four Alaska artists to out-of-state institutions each year and hosts four out-of-state artists at Alaska institutions.
The Foundation has also announced that six executives of nonprofit groups have been picked for their sabbatical program, which pays each to take a yearlong break from their work. They include: Stephanie Berglund of the Anchorage early-education group thread, Jason Hodges of the Anchorage Concert Association, Alison Kear of Covenant House in Anchorage, Gerda Kosruk of the Native Village of Port Heiden, Jillian Lush of Sprout Family Services in Homer, and Susan Ohmer of Petersburg Mental Health Services.