2019 Austin ArtWorks Festival to feature Rory Wakemup, Max Weinberg

Published 9:03 am Wednesday, April 3, 2019

The Austin ArtWorks Festival—a two-day celebration of the visual, performing and literary arts running Aug. 24-25 — returns to the heart of Downtown Austin with featured artist Rory Wakemup and the Max Weinberg Jukebox performing the Schindler celebration show.

St. Paul-based artist Rory Wakemup exhibited at the Rochester Art Center’s “Andy Warhol, MN GOES POP” in 2017, where ArtWorks Festival volunteers were impressed with his sculptures mixing iconography from his Anishinabe heritage and iconography from the Star Wars universe.

Austin ArtWorks Festival co-chair Bonnie Rietz, right, discusses the Festival along with co-chair Mary Anne Wolesky, center, and Austin Area Arts Director Laura Helle. Mike Stoll/mike.stolll@austindailyherald.com.

Wakemup was selected to be the 2019 featured artist by a committee of ArtWorks Festival volunteers from a pool of 14 nominated artists.

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Wakemup earned a Master of Fine Arts in glass/sculpture from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in jewelry, photography, printmaking and sculpture from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He won the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chazen Museum Prize in 2015 for his exhibition, “Kill the Idiot, Save the Fan,” a reference to the 19th century phrase “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” which summarized the purpose of U.S. government boarding schools for native children.