Local artists honored with regional awards

The Arrowhead Regional Arts Council announced the winners of its 2025 Arrowhead Arts Awards, which includes two artists from Cloquet, Karen Savage-Blue and Giizh ("Sarah") Agaton Howes. Savage-Blue, Agaton Howes and artist Joan Farnam will be celebrated at a ceremony in the spring. The awards honor "outstanding contributions to the arts in the Arrowhead region, showcasing the exceptional talent and dedication that enriches our region."

Savage-Blue received the George Morrison Artist Award, which recognizes an individual artist whose body of work has made a significant contribution to the arts over an extended period of time, reflecting the legacy of George Morrison. The honor comes with $2,000.

Savage-Blue is an artist and teacher. An art teacher for over 30 years, she taught in the K-12 system and is currently teaching at the college level. "I love creating and teaching art. I remember telling my teachers in grade school that I wanted to be an artist, and that has never changed," Savage-Blue said.

She grew up in Duluth. She is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe and lives on the Fond du Lac Reservation.

Her favorite media is painting, and she has worked with many types of paint including acrylic, egg tempera, gouache, watercolor, and her ultimate favorite, oil paint. She enjoys the challenge of working with palette knives and testing the effects of the knives versus her paint brushes. The biggest challenge she presented herself when beginning to work with oil paints was completing one oil painting a day for a whole year. Her goal was to paint even when she didn't feel like it and become a better painter as a result.

"It was fun but it was mostly hard; some days I did not want to paint, but I did anyway. I did it because I wanted to become a really good painter, and it worked," Savage-Blue said. "I guess it's safe to say that a person can become good at whatever they put their mind to, but also whatever you put your time, talent, heart and soul into. I look forward to doing my art; it's what I have come to depend on to bring me joy and contentment. It's nice to know that I can reach that with the touch of a brush or palette knife."

Agaton Howes received an award recognizing "efforts of an artist to transform their community through their work," which includes $1,000.

She is an Anishinaabe creator, artist, organizer and CEO. Her Ojibwe design brand Heart Berry brings traditional stories and aesthetics together with contemporary pieces. Her work around cultural revitalization focuses on the building a community of makers in the moccasin tradition. She collaborates with artists and organizations to create designs from logos to large-scale art installations. Heart Berry's lifestyle brand is an Inspired Natives Collaborator with Eighth Generation, taking back Native entrepreneurship, production, and, most notably, the wool blanket.

Joan Farnam, based in Grand Marais, was honored and awarded $1,000 for her work as a longtime artist and arts educator.