This group of six artists will be in residence at Smack Mellon from September 1, 2022 through August 15, 2023. As part of the Artist Studio Program, the artists will be granted a private studio, a fellowship, and access to equipment with which to create new and develop existing work, establish relationships with arts professionals, and grow in community with their peers—all with the financial, technical, and administrative support of Smack Mellon.
Twice per year, the public is invited to Open Studio events to meet the artists in their studios, located in the lower level of our building at 92 Plymouth Street in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Check back on our Public Programs page or subscribe to our mailing list for updates on these events.
The Artist Studio Program was launched in 2000 in response to the crisis of available affordable space for artists living and working in New York City. The program provides six eligible artists working in all visual arts media with 24/7 access to a free private studio space, a digital production lab, and a fabrication shop for an eleven-month period.
The 2022-2023 Artist Studio Panelists who took part in the jury process were: Chloë Bass, Artist & Public Practitioner, Alison Burstein, Curator at The Kitchen, and Gabriel de Guzman, Director of Arts & Chief Curator at Wave Hill. Preliminary panelists included former Smack Mellon Studio or Exhibition artists: Patricia Encarnación, Tamara Kostianovsky, Christie Neptune, Rowan Renee, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, and Ezra Wube.
2022-23 Studio Artist Panelists:
Chloë Bass, Artist & Public Practitioner
Chloë Bass (born 1984, New York) is a multiform conceptual artist working in performance, situation, conversation, publication, and installation. Her work uses daily life as a site of deep research to address scales of intimacy: where patterns hold and break as group sizes expand. Her projects have appeared nationally and internationally, including recent exhibits at The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Mass MoCA, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, BAK basis voor actuele kunst, the Knockdown Center, the Kitchen, the Brooklyn Museum, CUE Art Foundation, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, the James Gallery, and elsewhere. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Queens College, CUNY, where she co-directs Social Practice CUNY with Gregory Sholette.
Alison Burstein, Curator at The Kitchen
Alison Burstein is a Curator at The Kitchen in New York, where she organizes exhibitions, artist residencies, archival research initiatives, and digital programming and publications. Her recent exhibition In Support featured new works by Francisca Benítez, Fia Backström, Papo Colo, and Clynton Lowry installed in the in-between spaces across all six floors of The Kitchen’s Chelsea building from November 2021–March 2022. She previously served as Program Director at the nonprofit art space Recess and as a member of the education departments at MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum. As an independent curator, Burstein has organized exhibitions and programs for institutions including Tenthaus (Oslo), The Luminary (St. Louis), Knockdown Center (Queens), Museum of Jurassic Technology (Los Angeles), and NURTUREart (Brooklyn). She holds an MA in art history from Columbia University and a BA from Wesleyan University.
Gabriel de Guzman, Director of Arts & Chief Curator at Wave Hill
Gabriel de Guzman is Director of Arts & Chief Curator at Wave Hill, where he oversees the visual and performing arts program at this public garden and cultural center in the Bronx. From 2017 to 2021, he was Curator & Director of Exhibitions at Smack Mellon, where he organized group and solo exhibitions that feature emerging and under-recognized mid-career artists whose work explores critical, socially relevant issues. Prior to Smack Mellon, he held a previous position at Wave Hill, as Curator of Visual Arts, organizing solo projects and thematic group exhibitions that explored human connections to the natural world. As a guest curator, de Guzman has also presented shows at Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, BronxArtSpace, Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, Rush Arts Gallery, En Foco at Andrew Freedman Home, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and the Bronx Museum’s 2013 AIM Biennial. He earned an M.A. in art history from Hunter College and a B.A. in art history from the University of Virginia.
2022-2023 Studio Visitors:
- Christopher Aque, Exhibitions & Programs Manager, Sculpture Center
- Alison Burstein, Curator, The Kitchen
- Vivian Chiu, Curator, Pioneer Works
- Jae Cho, Director, Spencer Brownstone Gallery
- Stella Cillman, Associate Curator, Artists Space
- Etienne Frossard, Smack Mellon Photographer
- Roxane Gay, Writer
- Stamatina Gregory, Chief Curator, Leslie Lohman Museum
- Jane Ursula Harris, Writer
- Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator, Elizabeth E Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum
- Patricia Margarita Hernández, Associate Curator of Learning and Public Engagement, Amant
- Yelena Keller, Curatorial Assistant, Studio Museum
- Erin Leland, Co-Director, KAJE
- Elena Muñoz-Rodriguez, Assistant Curator, Latinx & Latin American Art at The Newark Museum of Art
- Isabella Nimmo, Associate Curator, Amant
- Eriola Pira, Curator & Director of Programs, Vera List Center
- Esther Ruiz, Registrar, JTT Gallery
- Rachel Vera Steinberg, Curator & Director of Exhibitions, Smack Mellon
- Gee Wesley, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA, Department of Media and Performance
- Education Staff, The New Museum
The Smack Mellon Artist Studio Program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York City Council Member Lincoln Restler, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, and with generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of The New York Community Trust, Jerome Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Inc., Select Equity Group Foundation, and Smack Mellon’s Members.
Smack Mellon programs are also made possible with generous support from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, The Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and an Anonymous Donor.
In-kind donations are provided by Materials for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs/NYC Department of Sanitation/NYC Department of Education.
Space for Smack Mellon’s programs is generously provided by the Walentas family and Two Trees Management.