UTSA professor Joe Harjo receives prestigious 2024 Joan Mitchell Fellowship

OCTOBER 18, 2024 — Joe Harjo, a professor of instruction at the UTSA School of Art, has been honored as one of 15 recipients of the 2024 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship. Emerging from a competitive pool of 154 applicants nationwide, Harjo's selection highlights his impact on the contemporary art world.

Provided by the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the fellowship offers significant financial and professional support to artists whose work engages important cultural and artistic themes. Each fellow receives an unrestricted grant of $60,000 over five years. Additionally, there are opportunities for recipients to further develop professionally and to network with other artists.

The foundation supports artists who reflect the diversity of the art world — including those of color, Indigenous artists, women and artists with disabilities.

“This is such a great accolade for Joe and his powerful work.”

This series of performance prints titled "Indian Removed" serves as a marker and acknowledgement of the shared experiences of Native people who endured the cruelty of displacement during the initiation of forced Indian removal. Each print in this series becomes its own narrative, a telling and retelling of what was lost and taken from Native communities. The prints serve as both a contemporary documentation and a surviving testament to resilience despite the enduring impact of forced removal on Native descendants.

Harjo, an artist from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, works across multiple creative disciplines, including photography, printmaking, and sculpture, showcasing a broad range of artistic talents. He holds a B.F.A. in visual arts from the University of Central Oklahoma and an M.F.A. from the UTSA School of Art. His work explores the lack of visibility, lived experiences, and identity of Native culture. He aims to challenge the misrepresentation and appropriation of Native culture, calling for change through his art.

“I am humbled and honored to receive the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship, which will provide the financial stability and professional support I need to sustain and grow my studio practice long-term,” Harjo said. “This opportunity will allow me to gain financial knowledge and create a lasting legacy as an artist, educator and advocate.”

Harjo continued, “The fellowship will also provide the mentorship and resources needed to help me navigate the demands of a rigorous practice, challenges of underrepresentation, and systemic barriers, contributing to my overall well-being.”

Harjo's work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions, and he has been recognized with multiple residencies and grants for his evolving contributions to the art world. Locally, his exhibits, “Indian Removal Act II: And She Was” and “Look Now What I’ve Become” were featured at The Contemporary at Blue Star and the Artpace Main Space, respectively.

“This is such a great accolade for Joe and his powerful work,” said Libby Rowe, director of the UTSA School of Art. “While I am never surprised, I am always deeply impressed by the achievements of the School of Art faculty. They consistently push the frontiers of art-making and scholarly research and are recognized with prestigious awards, residencies, exhibitions, publications, grants and fellowships. They come back from these experiences refreshed and share their extensive knowledge and experiences with our students, providing them with an exceptional foundation for learning.”

— Nick Ward