From Unemployment to Award-Winning Art

When life handed Inver Grove Heights resident Alanna Seppelt lemons, she made an award-winning afghan.

After she was laid off from her job as a nurse in wound care clinical services, Seppelt decided to go backpacking through Europe. During her trip, she met the woman who taught her how to make afghans.

This week, the very first afghan Seppelt made was ranked fourth of 413 entries on display at a juried art exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair.

More than 2,300 living artists across Minnesota submitted work for the exhibition, held in the Fine Arts Center. But less than a quarter of those entries, including Seppelt's afghan, were actually selected by the judges of the exhibition art.

"I’ve been calling it my 'unemployment afghan,'" Seppelt said. “It was my first one."

Seppelt learned how to knit under the instruction of Joan Flynn, an Austin, Texas resident who Seppel met along her travels.

"She guided me the first couple times [on] how to start
[knitting] whenever we were on the Eurorail…[and] we stayed in hostels. Paris, Berlin, Austria—seven countries, 11 cities. I’m 33, and she’s 55, so we made a unique pair. It’s a fun story—we made the most of that time.”

The afghan Seppelt began in Europe took three months to complete, she said. The piece was titled "Multicolored Afghan," and is made with multicolored yarns from Paris and Minnesota shops.

When she returned home, Seppelt found information about the Minnesota State Fair’s art competition online and decided to enter. A week later, fair officials told her that her piece had been selected for the exhibition. Last Tuesday, Seppelt won the Merit Award in her category and received $200 in prize money. According to Seppelt, each fine arts category offered five award placements: First, second, third, merit, and honorable mention. More than $13,000 in prizes will be awarded this year at the fair's Fine Arts exhibit, according to information posted on the fair's website. The exhibition jury is composed of recognized artists in their respective media.

“It was exciting,” she said. “For the first knitting—hey, this works out!”

When she shared the news with Flynn, Seppelt said she was just as excited. "She was like, 'Oh, my gosh – that’s wonderful!'"

Seppelt has found new work as a wound nurse practitioner—and has already started another blanket.

Does she have any plans to enter next year’s Minnesota State Fair competition?

"I’d probably try it," she said.

Correction: This article has been changed to correct the spelling of Alanna Seppelt's last name.