PORTLAND, Ore. — Salem artist Yanely Rivas Maldonado has been named a Fields Artist Fellow, earning $150,000 over two years to support community-centered creative work across Oregon.
The fellowship—administered by the Oregon Community Foundation in partnership with Oregon Humanities—supports Oregon-based artists who address community issues through creativity and cultural expression. The two-year term runs May 2026 through May 2028 and also includes professional development, networking, and cohort gatherings.
Rivas Maldonado, a working-class printmaker, cultural worker, and educator with ancestral roots in Michoacán, Mexico, creates art grounded in community, social justice movements, and solidarity efforts. Their primary mediums include printmaking, digital illustration, and social practice art, with recent work expanding into basket weaving, natural dyes, beadwork, and gourd art.
Rivas Maldonado says the fellowship will help build a more sustainable practice—supporting foundational arts training, development of a studio space for printmaking and traditional crafts, and expanded community art offerings. The funding will also support a residency in Oaxaca, Mexico, strengthening cultural connections and collaboration with artists and culture bearers in both the U.S. and Mexico.
“Receiving this Fellowship is truly a blessing,” Rivas Maldonado said. “It gives me the time and space to go deep into my art practice in a way that… feels sustainable and life-giving.”
Three other Oregonians were also selected as Fields Artist Fellows: Amber Kay Ball (Portland), Talilo Marfil (Portland), and Ernesto Javier Martínez (Eugene). Program leaders say the four fellows were chosen through a statewide review process that included application screening and finalist interviews by community members.
In addition to the four fellows, several finalists will receive a one-time $10,000 award. The Fields Artist Fellowship is funded by the Fred W. Fields Fund at Oregon Community Foundation and represents the program’s fourth cohort.
