#nysca nyfa fellows

[nyfacurrent]

Your Summer Reading List

We’re sharing a selection of new books by NYFA affiliated artists that explore complex themes of identity and belonging.

Summer is an ideal time to kick back and relax with a good book, whether you’re on the go and at the beach or taking time from the comfort of your own home. In this post, we’re sharing some recently-published books by NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows and Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program artists, several of which highlight the LGBTQ experience.

American Genius, A Comedy by Lynne Tillman (Fellow in Fiction ’91, Film ’87) In this newly-reissued book (Soft Skull Press), which was named a “Best Book of the Century” by Vulture, a former historian spending time in a residential home, mental institute, artist’s colony, or sanitarium, is spinning tales of her life and ruminating on her many and varied preoccupations: chair design, textiles, pet deaths, family trauma, a lost brother, the Manson family, the Zulu alphabet, loneliness, memory, and sensitive skin―and what “sensitivity” means in our culture and society. The new edition includes an introduction by novelist Lucy Ives.

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Fellow in Fiction ’15) Sudbanthad’s highly-anticipated debut novel (Riverhead Books) follows multiple, linked storylines across time, voraciously making and remaking the amphibious, ever-morphing Thai capital. In its starred review, Kirkus Review wrote that Sudbanthad “creates a portrait of Bangkok that sweeps across a century and a teeming cast of characters yet shines with exquisite detail...This breathtakingly lovely novel is an accomplished debut, crafted and rich with history rendered in the most human terms.”

Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang (Fellow in Fiction ’15) Wang’s first collection of short stories (Hogarth) reveals the new face of a generation of Chinese youth. Her characters navigate between their heritage and the chaos of contemporary life with stories that upend well-worn immigrant narratives to reveal a new experience of belonging. Home Remedies was named one of the most anticipated books of 2019 by Nylon, Electric Literature, The Millions, and Lit Hub and was highlighted as one of “The Best Summer Beach Reads of 2019″ by The Daily Beast.

Invasive species by Marwa Helal (IAP Mentee ’14, IAP Mentor ’16 & ’18) “Marwa Helal has lived, not always by her own choice, both in Egypt and in America, belonging to both countries and to neither,” begins The New York Times’ review of Helal’s first book (Nightboat Books). Her poems touch on our collective humanity and build new pathways for empathy while centering on urgent themes in our cultural landscape, creating space for unseen victims of discriminatory foreign policy towards migrants, refugees, and the displaced. Helal transfers lived experiences of dislocation and relocation onto the reader by obscuring borders through language.

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden (Fellow in Nonfiction Literature ’17) Acclaimed literary essayist Madden’s debut memoir (Bloomsbury Publishing) is about coming of age and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, FL. It was one of the most anticipated books of 2019 according to multiple publications, including Electric Literature, Entertainment Weekly, Huffington Post, Hyphen, and The Advocate and was received an “Editor’s Choice” distinction from The New York Times Book Review. 

Patsy: A Novel by Nicole Dennis-Benn (Fellow in Fiction ’18) The list of accolades for Dennis-Benn’s new novel (Liveright) is growing: from rave reviews from NPR, Kirkus, National Book Review, and The Atlantic to being included in The New York Times’ “12 New Books to Watch for in June,” Entertainment Weekly’s “This Season’s Hottest Reads,” and O Magazine’s “Best Books of Summer 2019.” Read for a stirring portrait of motherhood, immigration, and sacrifice that expertly evokes the rhythms of Jamaica and the bustling streets of New York.

Survival Math by Mitchell S. Jackson (Fellow in Nonfiction Literature ’17) This candid new work (Scribner), which was included on TIME Magazine’s list of the “Ten Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 So Far” and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly among other high-profile reviews, explores Mitchell’s tumultuous youth in what Jackson calls “the other America.” The book takes its name from the calculations Jackson and his family made to keep safe and stay alive in their small black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, which was blighted by drugs, violence, poverty, and governmental neglect.

The Falconer by Dana Czapnik (Fellow in Fiction ’18) Czapnik’s debut novel (Atria Books) is set in 1990s New York City and follows 17-year-old Lucy Adler on and off the basketball court as she navigates complex relationships and prepares for life in the broader world. The Falconer was named a New York Times Editor’s Choice Pick and an O Magazine Reading Room Pick, and received praise from additional outlets including NPR, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Kirkus Review. Said Kirkus: “Coming-of-age in Manhattan may not have been done this brilliantly since Catcher in the Rye. That comparison has been made before, but this time, it’s true.” 

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan (Fellow in Nonfiction Literature ’17) Of Ryan’s book (St. Martin’s Press), Publishers Weekly wrote: “When Brooklyn Was Queer achieves everything one could want in history...Thorough research, engaging storytelling, fascinating stories and a history of obscurity makes this investigation of queer Brooklyn a compelling, essential read.” Also praised by The Guardian, Lambda Literary, The New Republic, and others, When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBTQ history of Brooklyn. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more news and events from NYFA affiliated artists. Also, don’t forget to like us on Facebook to see what current fiscally sponsored projects are up to! To receive more artist news updates, sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News.

Image: Patsy book cover (detail), courtesy of Nicole Dennis-Benn

[ebbartels]

Non-Fiction by Non-Men: T Kira Madden

Non-Fiction by Non-Men: T Kira Madden

For the full interview, see it on Fiction Advocate. Published on September 24, 2019.

—

T Kira Madden is a lesbian APIA writer, photographer, and amateur magician living in New York City. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and serves as the founding Editor-in-chief of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art. A 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in nonfiction literature…

[skowhegan]

Patricia Ayres (A ‘19), Julia Bland (A ‘13), Sue Collier (A ‘79), Jonathan Ehrenberg (A ‘11), Kevin Frances (A ‘12), Marilyn Friedman (A ‘85), Bang Guel Han (A ‘07), Matthew Mazzotta (A ‘09), Asif Mian (A ‘18), Matthew Northridge (A ‘00), Julia Randall (A ‘99), Erin Riley (A ‘97), Deborah Wasserman (A ‘97) 2020 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows, Finalists, and Panelists  New York State Council on the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts 

[trascapades]

💰👩🏾‍🎨🎨 #ArtIsAWeapon #COVID19 #EmergencyRelief #WomenArtists The @awaw.award has partnered with the Reposted from @awaw.award with the @nyfacurrent to provide a COVID-19 emergency relief grant, "...specifically for woman-identifying artists over 40." Eligibility, Directions and FAQ at link in @awaw.award bio / www.nyfa.org/Content/Show/Anonymous-Was-A-Woman-Emergency-Relief-Grant • • #Applications will be open on NYFA from Monday April 6, 10 am to Wednesday April 8, 6pm. ______________________ Applicants must be visual artists identifying as women (who work in #Digital/New Media, #Drawing, Film/#Video, #Installation, #Painting, #Photography, #Sculpture). Applicants must be 40 years or older on the date their application is submitted. "Wishing everyone health in this difficult time 💕💕" Reposted from @awaw.award • • Image Credit: @PollyApfelbaum (NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Sculpture '95) and Anonymous Was A Woman recipient '98 #WomenArtists #AWAW #NYFA #Application #ArtGrants #CoronavirusSurvival #SupportWomenArtists #TraScapades #ArtIsAWeapon #BlackGirlArtGeeks🤓 https://www.instagram.com/p/B-XMy5_gWBC/?igshid=1wyib3g5kx3sd

[evalerieennersk00224321-blog]

Adam Frank is an artist, inventor and product designer. His  work represents an ongoing investigation of light, interactivity and our perception of nature. Adam uses new techniques to add natural lighting effects to the modern built environment.

This work was selected to represent the United States in an exhibition at the Athens Summer Olympic Games 2004. He has been awarded a NYFA Grant, a NYSCA grant and was a Yaddo fellow.

I was inspired by artists technique where reflections can tell a story.Artist’s work can be found on www.adamfrank.com

[tigerstrikesasteroidnetwork]

NY / Flat File / Robin Crookall

http://www.robincrookall.com

Robin Crookall came from Washington State to New York to pursue her Masters in Fine Arts. In 2016 she received her MFA from New York University. There she continued to fine tune her sculpture and photography skills to create uncanny images of small scale architectural models. Crookall is a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in photography from The New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2017, she participated in a group show at Seattle’s Soil Art Gallery, showed at Art Basel in Miami, and completed a two person show at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park. In 2016, Crookall was interviewed by local NY artist and writer, Wenxin Zhang, for an online Chinese photography magazine, IndieFoto. In 2015 she completed a solo show at Seattle’s 4Culture Gallery and her post bacc at University of Montana. She is currently living and creating in Brooklyn.

Mirror and Table Pigment Print 20 x 15 inches 2018

Cactus and Lamps Pigment Print 20 x 15 inches 2019

[otherpplnation]

Episode 576 — T Kira Madden

T Kira Madden is the guest. Her new memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, is available from Bloomsbury. It was the official March pick of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. T Kira Madden is a lesbian APIA writer, photographer, and amateur magician living in New York City. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and an BA in design and literature from Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College. She is the founding Editor-in-chief of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art, and is a 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in nonfiction literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has received fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Hedgebrook, Tin House, DISQUIET, Summer Literary Seminars, and Yaddo, where she was selected for the 2017 Linda Collins Endowed Residency Award. She facilitates writing workshops for homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals and currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. There is no period in her name. In today's monologue, I talk about buying a birthday gift for my wife.

www.otherppl.com

[arts-midhudson]

Artists: get tips for growing your arts career from a supportive community of fellow artists and arts professionals. It’s free and easy: all you need is a Twitter account and an opportunity to jump into @nyfacurrent monthly #ArtistHotline Twitter chat from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST (using the hashtag #ArtistHotline). This month’s #ArtistHotline includes a “Strategies for Mid-Career Artists” Guest Chat from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, with Guest Tweeters Ella Boureau of @lambdaliterary and @jamesestanley of @fineartsworkcenter, and a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship chat with NYFA’s Gabriella Calandro from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST. More info at nyfa.org. #art #profdev #twitter #newyork (at Arts Mid-Hudson)

[the-vanderbilt-republic]

Remember This Time... ↬ 20 July - 22 September 2017

Wikipedia — Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s by expressing concepts of birth, death, sexuality, and war. Haring's work was often heavily political and his imagery has become a widely recognized visual language of the 20th century.

THE NYC LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER’S DEPARTMENT OF ARTS & CULTURE HAS PARTNERED WITH THE VANDERBILT REPUBLIC TO PRESENT A PHOTOGRAPHIC MONUMENT IN CAMERA OBSCURA

This site-responsive installation speaks to the experience of innumerable individuals who walk along New York City streets & into this building, seeking solace and community among like-minded people. Keith Haring was one of those people, and his legacy addresses the crucial necessity of safe spaces for sexual expression and self-identification. Once Upon A Time was originally commissioned for “The Center Show”, a building-wide celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. It was completed months before Haring’s death at 31 years of age. This installation is intended to highlight his masterful artistry, folding the outside world into this bathroom to create a new sense of movement and depth. Conjoining key historical moments with every object that bypasses the camera obscura’s field of view on 13th Street, it blends the seam between our cultural legacy and contemporary times.

INSTALLATION OPENING

THURSDAY 20 JULY 12-3p

THEATRICAL OBCURA PERFORMANCE CYCLES

SATURDAY 22 JULY 12-5p

FEATURING CYCLICAL MONOLOGUES IN OBSCURA BY

SERGIO MAURITZ ANG, JAYSON P. SMITH & MORGAN SULLIVAN, WITH DIRECTION BY JENN HALTMAN

Sergio Mauritz Ang is thrilled to collaborate with old friends and celebrate Pride with this project. He is an actor, preschool teacher, and lecturer of Public Speaking at Hostos Community College, CUNY. Select NYC/regional credits include: Peter and the Starcatcher (Kitchen Theatre Company), Three Sisters (Alchemical Theatre Laboratory), Mañanas de Abril y Mayo (Connecticut Free Shakespeare), Summertime (Between Two Boroughs Productions). For my mom, Marjorie. And my love, Mark. Thanks Jenn and George! BFA Acting, Brooklyn College — sergiomauritzang.com

Jayson P. Smith is a 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Their poems & interviews appear / are forthcoming in journals such as Gulf Coast, Nepantla, Vinyl, fields magazine, & The Offing. Jayson has received previous support from The Poetry Project, The Conversation Literary Festival, Callaloo, & Millay Colony for the Arts. Originally from the Bronx, Jayson lives & works in Brooklyn as founder of NOMAD, a Crown-Heights based performance series — jaysonpsmith.com

Morgan Sullivan is a New York City-based actor who recently graduated from Marymount Manhattan College as a Theatre Performance major. He is a transgender advocate, and many of the projects he works on address issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community — morgan-sullivan.com

Jenn Haltman’s directing credits include the recurring Cast and Loose Live! at Joe's Pub, and both The Understudy (Secret Theatre) and Summertime (Gowanus Loft) with her company Between Two Boroughs. The company is currently developing Charise Greene’s play Cannibal Galaxy: A Love Story, which will be produced in the spring of 2018. She is also a freelance theatre, film, and new media casting director whose recent credits include the the independent films Then There Was (dir. Louis Mandylor), Boy Meets Girl (dir. Eric Schaeffer), Muckland (dir. Charlie Pollinger), and worked with the theatre companies LabRats and Axial. Prior to this she was the Casting Associate at New York Theatre Workshop (shows include Peter and the Starcatcher, Little Foxes, Aftermath, The Seven) and has also worked with Page 73 Productions, Pig Iron Theatre Company and Soho Rep. She is a proud graduate of Muhlenberg College. betweentwoboroughs.com

[ Free and open to the public every day from 20 July-22 September 2017 at The LGBT Community Center; opening performances in obscura happen Saturday 22 July in continuous cycle from 12-5p ]

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Art Movements

Anonymous, “Daoist deity: Marshal Xin of Thunder” (16th century), ink, color, and gold on silk, gift of Kathleen and William J. Cavanaugh (photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.

A lawsuit between Simon de Pury and retired Sotheby’s executive Ruedi Staechelin revealed that Gauguin’s “Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?)” (1892) was sold in 2015 for $210 million rather than the widely reported figure of $300 million — laying waste to its claim as the most expensive painting in the world.

Art supply superstore Hobby Lobby forfeited over 3,000 Iraqi antiquities and agreed to pay a $3-million fine for the ill-gotten goods, which it smuggled into the US and intended to display at the forthcoming Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will let visitors observe the restoration of a 12-foot-tall, hanging scroll portrait of mythological demon queller Marshal Xin. The work, which has been dated to China’s Ming dynasty, is thought to have been displayed at a county government temple.

Romanian artist Mihai Topescu has been working with fellow artists and volunteers to paint over 600 trees in the Dumbrava Forest with eco-friendly paint. The action seeks to highlight the ongoing issue of illegal logging in the country.

The China Netcasting Services Association announced new rules to prohibit portrayals of homosexuality online. The regulations demand that online platforms hire a minimum of three “professional censors” to remove videos of what the organization considers to be “abnormal” sexual activity.

The Museum of Fine Arts Bern cancelled its preview of works recovered from Cornelius Gurlitt’s collection due to customs complications.

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, San Diego (via Wikipedia)

The Getty Conservation Institute completed its four-year conservation of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The Institute’s campus was designed by architect Louis Kahn.

According to the New York Times, the Metropolitan Museum of Art made an agreement to create a new space for Leonard A. Lauder’s 2013 gift of Cubist artworks by 2025.

Stephen Skinner, a scholar of medieval manuscripts, concluded that the author of the Voynich manuscript was likely a Jewish physician based in northern Italy.

The Dallas Museum of Art’s México 1900–1950 show became its second most attended exhibition in the last five years. According to the museum, over half of the show’s viewers were first-time museum visitors.

The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania will present the first-ever US retrospective of artist and designer Nathalie Du Pasquier, BIG OBJECTS NOT ALWAYS SILENT, in September.

A proposal for a statue of Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square was rejected by the government, Royal Parks, and local residents. According to the Guardian, Thatcher’s daughter, Carol, wrote a letter to the Public Memorials Appeal last year objecting to the absence of a handbag in the design.

Austin’s Cultural Arts Division launched the Art Space Assistance Program to assist arts organizations struggling with rent rises.

Transactions

J.M.W. Turner, “Ehrenbreitstein” (1835), oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 48 1/2 in (photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)

J.M.W. Turner’s “Ehrenbreitstein” (also known as “The Bright Stone of Honour and the Tomb of Marceau, from Byron’s Childe Harold”) (1835) was sold at Sotheby’s for just under $24 million.

The Museum of London received a £10 million donation from the Goldsmiths’ Company.

The RISD Museum acquired works by Derrick Adams and Andrea Zittel [via email announcement].

The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art acquired two new works by Ai Weiwei.

The Blanton Museum of Art acquired Vincent Valdez’s “The City I” and “The City II.”

The New Orleans Museum of Art acquired 10 works of art from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, including works by Thornton Dial, Ronald Lockett, Joe Minter, Mary Proctor and the Quilters of Gee’s Bend.

Thornton Dial, “Shack Town” (2000), 92 x 76 x 70 in (© Estate of Thornton Dial, photo by Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio)

Transitions

Judith Hayner will retire as executive director of the Muskegon Museum of Art later in the fall.

Isaac Applbaum was appointed to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s board of trustees.

Lisa Marei Schmidt was appointed director of the Brücke Museum.

Carol S. Ward was appointed executive director of the Morris Museum.

Beatrice von Bormann was appointed curator of art 1860-1960 at the Stedelijk Museum.

Rodrigo Valenzuela was appointed an assistant professor at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.

The Hyde Collection promoted three of its staff members: Colette Broestler, Kayla Ditlefsen, and Keri Dudek.

The Art Dealers Association of America added four new members: Andrew Kreps Gallery, Di Donna Galleries, Luxembourg & Dayan, and McClain Gallery.

Philadelphia’s Snyderman-Works gallery will permanently close in August.

Baltimore’s Platform Gallery will open its final exhibition later this month.

Annette Bening was appointed president of the competition jury for the upcoming Venice International Film Festival.

Sprüth Magers will reopen its refurbished London gallery at the end of September.

Accolades

Olu Oguibe was awarded Documenta 14’s Arnold Bode Prize.

Matthias Bruggmann was awarded the 2017 Prix Elysée.

Guadalupe Rosales was appointed the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s first Instagram artist in residence.

The Art Fund named the Hepworth Wakefield art gallery as its 2017 Museum of the Year.

The New York Foundation for the Arts announced the recipients and finalists of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program.

Obituaries

Jose Luis Cuevas, “Siamesas” (via Wikipedia)

Bryan Avery (1944–2017), architect. Designer of the London Imax.

Estelle Berg (1940–2017), collector.

James Berry (1924–2017), poet.

Morton Cohen (1921–2017), scholar of Victorian literature.

Kelan Philip Cohran (1927–2017), musician and educator.

Jose Luis Cuevas (1934–2017), artist.

Jan Fontein (1927–2017), Asian art scholar and former director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pierre Henry (1927–2017), composer. Pioneer of musique concrète.

Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017), Arabic translator.

Naseem Khan (1939–2017), cultural activist and journalist. Founder of the Minority Arts Advisory Service.

Barry Norman (1933–2017), film critic.

Heathcote Williams (1941–2017), poet, dramatist, and pamphleteer.

The post Art Movements appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[nyfacurrent]

Event | Artists as Innovators Exhibition at SUNY Plattsburgh

Exhibition runs through August 9, 2019 and includes public events with NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows.

The New York Foundation for the Art’s (NYFA) Artists as Innovators exhibition commemorates three decades of NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships and is touring to SUNY campuses through Spring 2020. The landmark exhibition, which celebrates a program that has supported more than 4,000 artists in the visual, literary, and performing arts, is now on view at Plattsburgh State Art Museum at SUNY Plattsburgh through Friday, August 9, 2019.

Throughout the exhibition, there will be a series of artist talks and workshops with exhibiting artists Elia Alba (Fellow in Crafts ’01, Photography ’08) and The Guerrilla Girls (Fellows in Performance Art/Emergent Forms ’88) and Hogansburg, NY resident Carrie Hill (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’15). All artist talks and workshops are free to the public, though seating is limited. Please RSVP to Christina Elliott, Museum Educator, at celli001@plattsburgh.edu.

Elia Alba — the multidisciplinary contemporary artist will discuss her artwork and host a fiber sculpture workshop. 

Title: Artist Talk with Elia Alba Date: Thursday, April 25, 7:00 PM Location: 202 Yokum Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh, 107 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

Title: Fibre Sculpture Workshop with Elia Alba Date: Friday, April 26, 10:00 AM Location: 102 Myers Fine Arts, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

The Guerrilla Girls — this dynamic group of artists and activists will discuss their activist efforts and host a workshop. Please RSVP by May 6, 2019.

Title: Artist Talk with The Guerrilla Girls Date: Thursday, May 9, 7:00 PM Location: 202 Yokum Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh, 107 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

Title: Workshop with The Guerrilla Girls Date: Friday, May 10, 10:00 AM Location: 102 Myers Fine Arts, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

Carrie Hill — this traditional Mohawk basket-maker will discuss her artwork and host a weaving workshop. This event is part of Plattsburgh State Art Museum's New York State Path through History Days and ACCA Museum Days programming. Please RSVP by June 9, 2019.

Title: Artist Talk with Carrie Hill Date: Saturday, June 15, 10:30 AM Location: 224 Myers Fine Arts, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

Title: Weaving Workshop with Carrie Hill Date: Saturday, June 15, 11:30 AM Location: 224 Myers Fine Arts, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Funding for Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships is provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with shipping support from Atelier 4.

Find out more about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program, a $7,000 unrestricted cash grant awarded to individual artists living and working in the state of New York. Sign up for NYFA’s bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News, to receive announcements about future NYFA events and programs.

Image: Elia Alba, Busts (Caitlin), 2009, photo transfers on fabric, rope, grommets, acrylic, Courtesy of the Artist

[nyfacurrent]

Business of Art | Best Practices for Shipping and Handling Your Art

Jonathan Schwartz, President/CEO of Atelier 4, helps artists develop a framework for shipping and handling success.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is commemorating three decades of NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships with the landmark traveling exhibition Artists as Innovators. 

Atelier 4, one of the nation’s premier fine art logistics companies, is providing shipping support for the exhibition throughout the show’s run from Fall 2017 through Spring 2020. We spoke with President/CEO Jonathan Schwartz in the lead-up to the exhibition’s opening at SUNY Fredonia’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery on February 1, 2019 (details below), and gained insights from the President/CEO on shipping and handling best practices for artists. Read on for Schwartz’s insights.

What to Consider When Shipping and Handling Your Work

In the process of shipping artwork, there are many complex stages that come before the work’s arrival to its final destination. In terms of “best practices,” the process is composed of several steps that are integral yet often overlooked. 

My first recommendation is to ask yourself: When do I need these objects to reach their destination? Then, work backwards from there as you consider the following:

1. Loan agreements and insurance coverage. This should be sorted out as far in advance as possible of the date of pick-up.

2. The weight of your artwork. Weight can be a factor, and may necessitate specialized lifting equipment such as a gantry, forklift, block and tackle, etc., which require a higher level of expertise than simple art moving and handling.

3. Packaging and moving prep. What kind of preparation and packing does your object need in order to leave your studio? Does it require any specialized moving equipment? This will all depend on how you are transporting the object (i.e. truck, air, or sea) and how far away you are shipping your object. For example:

If it is riding with a qualified fine art-handling company (see ICEFAT.org for a list of reputable providers worldwide) via specialized fine art trucks, you might get away with a soft-pack solution.

If you’re using a consolidated shipment-sharing space with other works going to other places, a more robust wrap is needed. Keep in mind that you will pay a premium for anything you cannot stack or alter.

Any surface that cannot tolerate contact needs to float in a shadow box, collar, or travel frame.

Handling and transport via common carrier, air freight, or ocean vessel requires a sound crate or travel case.

4. Access at pick-up and drop-off. Consider the access you will have at both the pick-up and delivery locations (height and width of doorways, elevators, and stairwells; parking restrictions; and prohibited hours of entry).

5. Documentation. International travel requires documentation. If the forms and procedures seem daunting, entrust a reputable fine art logistics company with international experience. Here is a brief, and by no means exhaustive, list of some of the requirements:

Packing lists and invoices (commercial invoices are needed for definitive exports, like in the case of a sale; and pro forma invoices are for temporary exports, like in the case of an exhibition) are essential.

Personal or business information is required to arrange export or import entries.

The composition or medium of an object can require government agency permits such as a phytosanitary certificate (for plants and plant products), fish and wildlife (including feathers, shells, taxidermy, etc.), which is determined by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

There are also other laws in place, such as the Lacey Act (which helps prevent illegal trafficking of plant products), along with others you should research or speak to a fine arts logistics expert about.

Permits and internationally-recognized treaties such as ATA Carnet (an international customs document that permits the export and import of duty-free nonperishable goods for up to one year) have expiration dates. Keep this in mind when considering the length of exhibition tours.

See below for additional resources and further reading on import and export requirements:

CITES

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

U.S. Fish and Wildlife International Affairs

Whether your art shipment is a single object or a mid-career survey, all of these steps are essential. Experienced artists are likely to do some combination of in-house arrangements paired with either commercial or fine art specialty transport assistance, and that can work just fine. If you are new at this, and your tolerance for mishaps and damages is minimal, you’d be well-advised to consult the experts.

Artists as Innovators at SUNY Fredonia

Title: Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships Opening Reception: February 1, 2019, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM  Visiting Artist Lecture with Jonathan Katz: Thursday, February 21, 8:30 PM Visiting Artist Lecture with Dread Scott: Thursday, February 28, 8:30 PM Exhibition Dates: January 22 - March 10, 2019 Location: Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery, Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center, SUNY Fredonia, 280 Central Avenue, Fredonia, NY 14063

Exhibition Touring Schedule

Summer 2019: The Joseph C. and Joan T. Burke Gallery, SUNY Plattsburgh, May 24 - August 30, 2019, Opening TBD

Fall 2019: Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, Stony Brook University, Dates and Opening TBD

Spring 2020: Westchester Community College Fine Arts Gallery, Westchester Community College, Dates and Opening TBD

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Funding for Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships is provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with shipping support from Atelier 4.

Find out more about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program, a $7,000 unrestricted cash grant awarded to individual artists living and working in the state of New York.

Images: Artists as Innovators installation at the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery, Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center, SUNY Fredonia, Courtesy SUNY Fredonia.

[nyfacurrent]

Apply Now | 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship

New York State-based artists are encouraged to apply for this $7,000 unrestricted cash award.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is excited to announce that the 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship application cycle is now open. NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are $7,000 unrestricted cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York. These fellowships are not project grants and are intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, regardless of the level of his or her artistic development. In 2018, NYFA awarded a total of $623,000 to 89 artists throughout New York State.

Applications close Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 11:59 PM (EST).

2019 Award Categories

Fellowships are awarded in 15 different disciplines over a three-year period. The 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Categories are:

Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design

Choreography

Music/Sound

Photography

Playwriting/Screenwriting

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible, applicants must meet all of the following requirements by the application deadline:

25 years old or older

Current residents of New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located in New York State. Must have maintained New York State residency, and/or residency in one of the Indian Nations located therein, for at least the last two consecutive years (2017 & 2018)

Not enrolled in a degree-seeking program of any kind

Are originators, not interpreters of the work, i.e. choreographers or playwrights and not dancers or actors

Did not receive a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in any discipline in the past five consecutive years (2014-2018)

Cannot submit any work samples that have previously been awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship

Are not a NYFA employee, a member of NYFA’s Board of Trustees or Artists’ Advisory Committee, immediate family member of any of the above, or an immediate family member of a 2018-2019 panelist

Artists that have been awarded five NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships receive Emeritus status and are no longer eligible for the award

Apply Now

Visit NYFA’s Submittable page to start your application. 

For more information about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, visit our website, view our Fellowships FAQ, and download the application guidelines.

Applications close Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 11:59 PM (EST).

Upcoming Application Seminars:

January 9 - Brooklyn Location: The New York Foundation for the Arts, 20 Jay Street, Suite 740, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Date and Time: Wednesday, January 9, 2019, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Registration: RSVP here via Eventbrite

January 16 - Online Location: NYFA’s Facebook Page Date and Time: Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM Registration: No registration necessary, though those interested in tuning in will need to sign into their Facebook accounts to view and participate.

Past Fellows

Several recent distinguished NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows who have been recognized in this cycle’s award categories include: 

Ersela Kripa, Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design '10 Sarah Oppenheimer, Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design '06, '10, '16 Jean Shin, Sculpture '03 and Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design '08

Raja Feather Kelly, Choreography '16 Sarah Michelson, Choreography '10 Annie-B Parson, Choreography '00, '06, '13

Anthony G. Coleman, Music/Sound '16 Bora Yoon, Music/Sound '10 Du Yun, Music/Sound '16

Justine Kurland, Photography '13 Lorie Novak, Photography '88, '16 Shen Wei, Photography '16

Young Jean Lee, Playwriting/Screenwriting '10 JT Rogers, Playwriting/Screenwriting '16 Jen Silverman, Playwriting/Screenwriting '13

Visit our website for a full list of Past Fellows.

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Images from top: Sarah Oppenheimer (Fellow in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design '06, '10, '16), VP-41, 2009, plywood, 2 foil mirrors, surrounding architecture, and Shen Wei (Fellow in Photography ‘16), Peach Tree, 2014, C-Print.

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Apply Now | 2020 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship

New York State-based artists are encouraged to apply for this $7,000 unrestricted cash award.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is now accepting applications for 2020 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships in Craft/Sculpture, Digital/Electronic Arts, Nonfiction Literature, Poetry, and Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts. These $7,000 unrestricted cash awards are made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York. They are not project grants and are intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice regardless of their level of artistic development. In 2019, NYFA awarded a total of $661,000 to 98 artists.

Applications close on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST. NYFA only accepts applications online via apply.nyfa.org/submit.

2020 Award Categories

Craft/Sculpture

Digital/Electronic Arts

Nonfiction Literature

Poetry

Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts

Eligibility Requirements

25 years or older

Current residents of New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located in New York State

Must have maintained New York State residency, and/or residency in one of the Indian Nations located therein, for at least the last two consecutive years (2018 & 2019)

Cannot be enrolled in a degree-seeking program of any kind

Are the originators of the work, i.e. choreographers or playwrights, not interpretive artists such as dancers or actors

Did not receive a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in any discipline in the past five consecutive years: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019

Cannot submit any work samples that have been previously awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship

While collaborating artists are eligible to apply, the total number of collaborators cannot exceed three

Are not a current NYFA employee or have been in the last 12 months, a member of the NYFA Board of Trustees or Artists’ Advisory Committee, immediate family member of any of the aforementioned, or an immediate family member of a 2019-2020 panelist

Artists that have been awarded five NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships receive Emeritus status and are no longer eligible for the award

Apply Now

Visit NYFA’s Submittable page to start your application.

For more information about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, visit our website.

Upcoming Application Seminars

Binghamton, NY - Friday, November 8, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Location: Broome County Arts Council, 95 Court Street, Binghamton, NY 13901 Register: Please email awarfield@broomearts.org Held in conjunction with Broome County Arts Council

Corning, NY - Friday, November 8, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM Location: The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, 79 West Market Street, Corning, NY 14830 Register: Please email christina@eARTS.org with your name and email address Held in conjunction with The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes

Fredonia, NY - Saturday, November 9, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Location: Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery, Rockefeller Arts Center P55, State University of New York at Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063 Register: Please email Barbara.Racker@fredonia.edu Held in conjunction with Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery

White Plains, NY - Thursday, November 14, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Location: ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601 Register: Please email lbrady@artswestchester.org Held in conjunction with ArtsWestchester, this event will also include information about NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program. Prior to the event, ArtsWestchester will be offering a docent-led tour of their current exhibition Dataism starting at 5:00 PM.

ONLINE - Thursday, November 21, 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM Location: NYFA’s Facebook Page; scroll down in the feed to view/participate and refresh your page if the video does not appear in the feed

Brooklyn, NY - Wednesday, January 8, 2020, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Location: New York Foundation for the Arts, 20 Jay Street, Suite 740, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Register: RSVP here via Eventbrite

ONLINE - Thursday, January 16, 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM Location: NYFA’s Facebook Page; scroll down in the feed to view/participate and refresh your page if the video does not appear in the feed

Visit our website for a full list of past fellows.

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Find out about additional awards and grants here. Sign up for our free bi-weekly newsletter NYFA News to receive announcements about future NYFA events and programs.

Images from top: LoVid (Fellows in Digital/Electronic Arts ’17), “Ruby Rendering,” 2015, Image Credit: Megan Raymond for SU Art Galleries; Kymia Nawabi (Fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts ’17), “Combat of The Immortal Pursuit,” 2016; and Valerie Hegarty (Fellow in Crafts/Sculpture ’17), “Alternative Histories, Brooklyn Museum, The Canes Acres Plantation Dining Room,” 2013, Image Courtesy: Brooklyn Museum

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Conversations | Celebrating NYC’s Immigrant Heritage Week with Shelley V. Worrell and Nicole Dennis-Benn

“I love going down dark avenues with my characters and allowing them to teach me more about humanity.” — Nicole Dennis-Benn

Shelley V. Worrell, Founder and Chief Curator of caribBEING (Fiscally Sponsored), joins NYFA Current to share her conversation with author Nicole Dennis-Benn (Fellow in Fiction ’18) in honor of NYC’s Immigrant Heritage Week. They discuss Dennis-Benn’s soon-to-be-released novel Patsy (Liveright, 2019), life as an immigrant in the United States, and the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. CaribBEING is a creative hub that builds cultural awareness and fosters Caribbean heritage through film, art, and culture.

Shelley V. Worrell: Your forthcoming book, Patsy, is set in Brooklyn, more specifically Flatbush, a neighborhood with one of the largest and most diverse Caribbean populations outside of the Caribbean itself. Why Brooklyn? Why Flatbush?

Nicole Dennis-Benn: Flatbush Avenue is a place I know very well and used as a canvas. I really wanted to capture the essence of the Caribbean immigrant community in Patsy. As a Caribbean immigrant myself from Jamaica, I’m always on Flatbush since the neighborhood reminds me so much of home—the smells, the sounds, the people. While writing Patsy, I found inspiration being around other immigrants and imagining their lives in the United States and back home. Most times I see them and interact with them on the surface level; but I also understand that freedom comes with a price, a loss of something—culture, memory, loved ones, a whole country.

SVW: Being a new immigrant is often an isolating experience. Can you tell us about your immigrant story? Have you seen “foreign” change since your arrival, for the better or worse? 

NDB: Yes, being a new immigrant is extremely lonely! I wrote about my experience, which was recently published in BuzzFeed—an excerpt from the Good Immigrant USA anthology (Little, Brown and Company; 2019). And that’s only half of it! Like most immigrants, America was sold to me as a fantasy. But I quickly realized that it has issues like anywhere else. The most shocking realization was being more aware of my blackness. It’s one thing to be a working-class dark-skinned black girl in Jamaica, but it’s another thing to be a black woman in America. Here, black is black is black. I also realized that I’m just as restricted in this black female body in America as I would have been in Jamaica, especially as a lesbian.

SVW: “Back home” has a strong influence on your writing. From patois to aesthetics (fashion), has that evolved since migrating to the U.S. and more specifically to Brooklyn? 

NDB: A former college professor once told me that “You never truly left home. Home is here with you in your memories, which like the imagination, only belongs to you.” I will never forget that. I’ve since realized that she was right. “Home” will always be with me. In terms of language, I never lost that either. In fact, I fight harder to reclaim Jamaican patois in my work, given that we were discouraged from speaking it back home. Patois is our first language, yet we are conditioned to speak standard English in schools. I always thought it was unfair to tell people not to speak their language. That’s an erasure of identity. As an artist, I want to preserve our language on the page. Even if I don’t speak it as much in my new country, I still dream and create in it.

SVW: I also appreciate the integration of a Queer-identified subject in your work. Can you give us some insight on your creative process and how it ties to your sexual identity? 

NDB: Patsy’s story came to me as a confession—a relentless stream of consciousness of a woman, a mother, who deliberately seeks to reinvent herself in America and revel in the freedom it offers her to love the way she wants to love. Hers is a story I wanted to explore—a story that goes against everything we thought the immigrant story to be: altruistic. It’s easy to see now that Patsy’s story is my own in that I, too, chose America to redefine myself. I had always felt like an outsider as a lesbian woman in Jamaica, where homosexuality is taboo and opportunities for the working-class are limited. I wanted to simply be, to find a home in myself elsewhere.

SVW: In Patsy, you talk about barrels and I couldn’t help but think about its connection to Caribbean immigration and to the Diaspora. Why barrels? What are their significance to Caribbean communities both here and back home? 

NDB: Barrels are a staple in any Caribbean immigrant community since they are large enough for individuals living here in America to send a number of things back home to family. Not many immigrants are able to go home as often, or at all, to see the family they left behind. So, barrels become an essential way to send gifts and food and other necessities in their place. In Jamaica, the children who depend on parents who live abroad are referred to as “barrel children.” It’s really a class thing. While some households—middle-class and upper middle-class—can afford to have both parents living and working in Jamaica, others who are mostly working class can only keep afloat financially when one parent, or both, finds work overseas in countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, where the dollar amount is worth more than Jamaican dollars. This is how many of us could afford to survive. Many people who leave the island for better opportunities and a way to help their families are often criticized for leaving despite there being no systematic changes in place to keep them home. The government—upon realizing that remittance is the biggest revenue for Jamaica next to tourism—choose to capitalize off immigration. Hence, those barrels and money transfers from the Jamaican diaspora living abroad, is what’s making the Jamaican economy thrive. But what remains is stigma. There is the side-eye given to parents who send barrels in their place; and the hush, encapsulating grudge and pity, which follows the recipients.

SVW: It seems like immigrants are under warfare in the U.S. Are there any references to the current climate in your work? 

NDB: Patsy is set between 1998 and 2008. What Americans don’t realize is that the American government has never been kind to undocumented immigrants like Patsy. Every administration on both sides have deported a significant number of undocumented immigrants despite their ties to family in America. The difference with the current administration is that they’re more vocal about it.

SVW: What do you want people to feel/take away from Patsy? 

NDB: For Patsy, I found myself having to get rid of my own judgments of a woman who not only lacks the desire and capacity to mother, but who abandons her young daughter. I had to unlearn my own expectations of what a mother is expected to be; and more specifically, who we are expected to be and what we are expected to desire as women. Having those personal conflicts is what I love the most about the writing process. I love going down dark avenues with my characters and allow them to teach me more about humanity. I hope my readers will walk away with the same enlightenment, transcending their own understanding of the world to empathize with a woman who is seeking to find her place in a world already set on defining her.

SVW: You’ve had a long history with NYFA, having received the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship. How has that impacted your career?

NDB: I was really grateful for the generous NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship. I was able to pay my bills, which is really important for an artist. It gave me more mental space to focus on my work as opposed to stressing too much about livelihood or quality of life.

SVW: Is there anything else you would like to add or we should look forward to?  

NDB: Well, I’m certainly looking forward to the launch of Patsy on Tuesday, June 4, at Greenlight Bookstore—the Flatbush Avenue location with U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. How fitting it would be to celebrate the book in the very place where it is set!

— Interview conducted by Shelley V. Worrell, Founder & Chief Curator of caribBEING, a NYFA Fiscally Sponsored organization.

Images: Courtesy of Nicole Dennis-Benn

Are you an artist or a new organization interested in expanding your fundraising capacity through NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship? We accept out-of-cycle reviews year-round. No-fee applications are accepted on a quarterly basis, and our next deadline is June 30. Click here to learn more about the program and to apply. Sign up for our free bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News, for the latest updates and news about Sponsored Projects and Emerging Organizations.

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The Art of the Application | Representing Your Artwork Online

Let your work speak for itself clearly and successfully.

Work Samples are an integral part of every NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship application. Read on for tips to consider when putting together your portfolio for submission.

Documenting Your Work:

Before documenting your work, think about what aspects you want to highlight for the review panel. Perhaps it’s your use of materials or the fine details within your work. Make sure you have documentation that captures these elements clearly. 

Before photographing your artwork, review the environment surrounding the object. Remove any unwanted items that may be surrounding your artwork as this will distract the panel from your art.

For Literary works that are excerpts from a larger body of work, choose the sections you feel can stand on their own with limited context needed (though you can provide some context through your Excerpt Explanation).

If you are submitting documentation of an interactive piece, take the time to capture it in a way that shows how you would expect the viewer to interact with your work.

Make sure that your artworks are in the correct file format listed in the Visual Arts, Literary, or Media Guidelines or else they will not successfully upload to your application. 

Curating Your Work Samples:

Before uploading your work, consider the order that you want each work to be viewed, remembering that the panel will review work in the order in which they are submitted.

If you are uploading more than one body of work, make sure that the corresponding works are grouped together.

Literary works should include a title page with a table of contents indicating any breaks in your document.

Upload only your strongest works. You are not required to submit the maximum number of files or page for your application if you feel that your work can be better represented through fewer works.

Key Questions to Consider:

How would I want the panel to experience my body of work in person and how can I best capture this?

Are there any details of my work that I want to bring to the panel’s attention?

Which format (video or still images) will best showcase my work?

-Eleysha Sajous, Program Associate, NYFA Grants

The current NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship application cycle closes on January 22, 2020. For more information about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, visit our website and view our Fellowships FAQ. NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Find out about additional awards and grants here. Sign up for our free bi-weekly newsletter NYFA News to receive announcements about future NYFA events and programs.

Images from top: Donna Uchizono (Fellow in Choreography ’19), State of Heads, 1999; Blane De St. Croix (Fellow in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design ’19), High Peaks, 2017