Aspen Decker takes top honors in “19 Under 39” Exhibition

Arlee-based artist Aspen Decker received the first-place prize of $10,000 in the University of The Montana Museum of Art and Culture’s inaugural “19 Under 39: Celebrating Montana’s Emerging Artists.”

The biennial exhibition celebrates the state’s young contemporary artists by featuring 19 artists ages 19 to 39. In addition to Decker, Mya Cluff and Grace Brogan will receive prizes of $7,000 and $3,000 for second and third places. The prizes – which will allow the museum to retain each artist’s works for its Permanent Collection – and the exhibition are supported by UM alumni Michele and Loren Hansen.

An awards ceremony and reception for the winning artists will take place from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at the MMAC entry plaza in Missoula. The event is free and open to the public.

“These generous awards represent our belief and confidence in a new generation of Montana artists who affirm the value of tradition and heritage while expanding the boundaries of our contemporary imagination,” said MMAC director Rafael Chacón. “Acquiring new art by young artists for our Permanent Collection both supports their inspirational work and allows us to continue to be the state’s most comprehensive art museum.”

Decker is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and a Salish speaker and educator, whose work revives the Indigenous narrative art form known as “ledger art.”

 “I am deeply rooted in Montana,” she writes. “My connection to this land is inseparable from the history and culture of my Salish and Kootenai ancestors, who have called this place home for thousands of years. As a Salish language speaker and ledger artist, my artwork connects to my Sqelixw ways of knowing.”

Decker and her husband, Cameron, own Xʷixʷilt, which translates to “alive and well” in Salish, and seeks to bring “Indigenous values, worldview, and ways of knowing to education,” according to the couple’s website, xwlxwilt.com.

Cluff is celebrated for her figurative ceramics that reflect on the status of women, particularly mothers, while Brogan is an installation artist who works at the intersection of contemporary art and traditional craft.

The People’s Choice Award will be presented to a fourth artist, Rachael Marjamaa, at the awards ceremony.

Additionally, two Champions of the Arts will be honored at the ceremony:  Corwin “Corky” Clairmont – former director of the fine arts program at Salish Kootenai College and a renowned visual artist – will be celebrated as an artist, educator and mentor to countless young artists. UM alumna Suzanne Crocker will be appreciated as an ardent supporter of the MMAC and UM.

The “19 Under 39” exhibition runs through Sept. 25.