Our very own Justin Nissley (2001 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winner) will have his first New York City solo show, Saints and Sinners, opening this Thursday, May 3 at Splashlight.
Until recently, Justin was a resident in the Alliance’s Atelier, our very first artists-in-residency program supported by the Esther B. Kahn Foundation. Read More
Works on paper by Scholastic Awards alumni at now on paper. March 7, 2012. Photo by Jaime Escarpeta
On a gorgeous Wednesday evening, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and some of its good friends got together for a night full of art, music, and fun. now on paper, which took place on March 7, provided an opportunity for guests to view and purchase original works on paper by emerging artists as well as take part in a silent auction featuring works from the Atelier, our first Artist in Residency program.
Guest post from Alliance staffer Danniel Swatosh, Manager of Design & Production
In October 2011, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers launched the Atelier, our first Artists in Residency program, and it’s been a privilege to develop and administer it. The purpose of this program is to support the promising careers of recent alumni of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Over the course of three months, this year’s residents—past Awards winners Winston Chmielinski, Valerie Crosswhite, Justin Nissley, Sasha Shaw and Rachel Shim—created new works of art in a storefront at One New York Plaza. The artists received studio space donated by arts>Brookfield, along with a monthly stipend and general supplies.
Valerie Crosswhite at work in the Atelier
Scholastic Awards winner and Atelier artist Valerie Crosswhite talks about her work.
With these paintings, I am exploring the playful, and sometimes, fantastic relationships we form with animals and our ideas of others in the spaces we create for ourselves.
I’m interested in events that occur when we are not looking—are they magical, naughty, quotidian, or something else? I am inclined to think all of the above, but fantasize that the things that occur in these spaces are fundamentally different than when someone is looking. Not that the furniture starts rearranging itself when we leave our apartments for the day, but more like a secret life: vibrant, yet imperceptible.
Gloucester by Winston Chmielinski
Meet Winston Chmielinski, Scholastic Awards winner and resident at the Alliance’s Atelier. Winston is one of five residents creating new works of art in our first ever artists-in-residency program.
What is your connection to the Scholastic Awards? In 2006, I submitted a few paintings of enormous heads of my sister’s friends, which made it through to the national-level awards show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. It is still the best thing on my CV!
Describe your experience at the Atelier. I feel like I’m one among a chosen few to have been gifted the artist’s holy trinity of space, opportunity, and support by the hardworking and devoted Alliance for Young Artists & Writers staff.
Meeting the validators of my early forays into art has been a very humbling experience. Read More
A detail of Rachel Shim's Act Natural
Scholastic Awards winner Rachel Shim writes about her experience as a resident in the Alliance’s Atelier. She will be participating in Brooklyn Artists Gym’s “Introductions” exhibition. Come out for the opening reception on Saturday, December 17 from 6-9pm!
Creating art in an exposed public space has been both a challenging and refreshing experience. Sandwiched between the small shops and cafés of the lower lobby, the Atelier transforms the privacy of art making into some sort of public spectacle. The glass window changes everything because it asks for the artists in the Atelier to be watched. I enjoy that our presence in the building interrupts the fast-paced work environment, allowing passers-by to slow down and even stop for a moment to watch us work.
