Michelle Ellsworth has created a cellular automata, intimacy machine and catapults for her work as a dancer and choreographer. While it might not be immediately evident that Ellsworth, who is a professor and associate chair of dance at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a dancer given her experimental work, she said the body is always a central part of what she does. Her outside-the-box thinking has paid off. Ellsworth is one of six winners of the 2019 Doris Duke Artist Awards, created by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She previously won the foundation’s Impact Award in 2015. She will receive $195,000 for this year’s award to account for her $80,000 previous prize. Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the foundation, said the award program started to celebrate and invest in artists, and it aims to empower artists to take creative risks. Panelists evaluate artists based on their achievements, the distinctiveness of their artistic voices and styles, and their bodies of work, according to Knighton. They also consider candidates’ “creative investigation” and their future impact. Ellsworth said she was surprised to win the award, which selects artists through nominations. She credits her collaborators for helping her create so much work.“I don’t subscribe to the myth of the solo genius,” she said. Ellsworth takes a long time to put together a piece, and she’s never really finished, she said. She’ll have an idea and write up some language to get funding, then start reading about things like science and philosophy and draw out what she envisions.
