Last month the McKnight Foundation named Wing Young Huie as its Distinguished Artist Award recipient for 2018. The honor is bestowed annually upon one artist. Here's how the foundation describes the award on their website:
[It] recognizes artists who have chosen to make their lives and careers in Minnesota, thereby making our state a more culturally rich place. Although they have the talent and the opportunity to pursue their work elsewhere, these artists have chosen to stay—and by staying, they have made a difference. They have founded and strengthened arts organizations, inspired younger artists, and attracted audiences and patrons. Best of all, they have made wonderful, thought-provoking art.
Minnesota is a tremendously vibrant and fertile ecosystem for artists. Wing, a Duluth native and long-time Twin Citizen, is the twenty-first Distinguished Artist Awardee and the program's first photographic artist.
There's an old joke in which a visitor to a small town encounters a fellow sitting in front of a store on Main Street and asks "Have you lived here your whole life?" to which the gentleman responds, "Not yet." Wing is only 63; we hope to benefit from his presence hereabouts for another couple of decades.
Alicia Eler wrote a story about Wing and the award that appeared in the Star Tribune on Monday, August 20.