Gerald Clarke, an artist and professor of ethnic studies at UC Riverside, is one of 15 recipients of the 2025 Joan Mitchell Fellowship, which supports artists making important contributions to artistic and cultural discourse.

The New- York-based Joan Mitchell Foundation, which announced the honorees on Aug. 13, selected U.S.-based artists working in painting and sculpture. The artists will receive $60,000 in funding over five years along with support through professional development, peer engagement, and network-building programs.

The foundation, created by an endowment by the pioneering 20th century abstract expressionist painter for which it is named, has supported artists with grants for decades and launched the fellowship program five years ago. The program includes regular virtual meetings to share experiences as well as annual in-person fellowship meetings that include work-share presentations and skill-building workshops.

A jury of artists and art professionals considered over 150 nominees from across the U.S., selecting the finalists on criteria including whether their work has a clear and strong artistic vision.

“The artists we selected are pushing boundaries, telling important stories, and reflecting the complexity of this moment that we are all living through,” said Amir Fallah, a Los Angeles-based artist who served on this year’s jury.

In a news release, the foundation described Clarke, an enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians, as drawing “on his community’s everyday experience to create conceptual artworks that exist within a spectrum of Indigenous expression that is simultaneously ancient and contemporary.”

Clarke said he is honored to be selected for the program, noting that several artists he admires have received the fellowship in the past.

“Recognition for my work from within the art world gives credence to the body of work that I've created over my career,” he said. “I look forward to getting to know the other artists chosen for the fellowship and learning more about their artistic practice, as well as participating in the various trainings the Joan Mitchell Foundation offers as part of this program.”

In his over three decades as a visual artist, Clarke said he scrambled to enter shows and exhibitions for many years. His work began attracting greater attention following a mid-career retrospective in 2020 at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

Clarke is taking a sabbatical this academic year and has artist residencies in Vancouver and Bowden College in Maine planned. He said the fellowship will allow him to create new works during those residences and into the future.

See selections of Clarke's artwork below.