Meet the Art Connects Community People’s Choice Award winner, Jasper Moon!

Sustainable Stillwater MN’s Sirid Kellermann recently met up with Jasper to learn more about him and what motivates him as an artist.

Jasper’s path to becoming an artist was filled with twists and turns. “I feel like I've been doing fiber art since I was a little kid. There are all sorts of kid crafts that are weaving-oriented, like those little square looms that I used to play with a lot… I probably made hundreds and hundreds of tiny square potholders.”

But when he got to college, “I probably switched majors like eight to ten times,” he says, listing global studies, English, and film among them. Nothing quite felt like a good fit—until he took a digital art class and realized that the art world sparked something in him. Although he switched to a digital art major, he soon decided, “I might as well go back to my roots,” and focused on fiber art. After entering the BFA program at the University of Oregon, he says, “There never were any more second thoughts—this is right for me.”

What’s next for Jasper?

After graduating, he returned to his roots here in Stillwater and is preparing to apply to graduate programs to earn a Master’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis on fiber arts. Looking further into the future, Jasper says he enjoys the research-based element of art and hopes to work in academia.

“I think my biggest draws to art as a profession are community and research… there are so many things I find interesting about weaving—in terms of the human mind and our communities, how people interact with each other—that I think relate to weaving in a lot of interesting ways. One of my favorite articles is called Weaving Beyond the Binary by John Paul Morabito—it’s a research article about why there is such a deep connection between modern queer identity and the woven art form,” a trend that Jasper feels has been especially apparent over the past 20 years. “So there’s a sociological element… I would love to add to that field of research.”

When asked why he thinks his art piece Reunited won the People’s Choice Award, Jasper replied, “When I’m working on a project, I’m thinking really deeply about human connection, about community, and what it means to reside in a community—the strength and celebration that come through those human connections. I hope that’s what people see when they look at my work.”

Chat with Jasper in person—and bid on his donated, People’s Choice Award-winning piece Reunited—during SSMN’s gala, Mission: Possible. Anyone can participate in the auction! The silent auction goes live this Thursday, October 23rd, at noon. Visit our gala auction page to register and place your bid.

“Reunited is the first piece I made after moving back home to Stillwater. I feel like this piece is definitely an ideation of coming home—the joy within that, and also the joy of starting anew at the same time. Creating Reunited felt really resonant with the celebration of community within my roots and within my home space here.”