Bloglander

Jessika Kenney, a Spokane native, was recently awarded the $50,000 James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award to continue her exceptionally original compositions. The brand new cash grant, provided by Artist Trust, is the largest available to Washington state artists.

An experimental vocalist, composer and improviser, Kenney has focused on many genres including metal, electronic and Persian and Javanese secular court music.

After graduating from Lewis and Clark High School in 1994, Kenney went on to get a degree from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she is now also an adjunct teacher. She currently lives in Seattle, and was a 2013 winner of the Stranger's Genius Awards.