Blank Canvas

The winter residents at the Santa Fe Art Institute let visitors watch them work.

By Bryon Adams-Harford

An open studio event at the Santa Fe Art Institute gives attendees a rare glimpse into the artistic process in action.---

This winter's nine artists in residence share their work, and reveal the methods leading up to the finished product.

Twice a year, the art institute assembles a committee to select a group of artists in residence from the 75-150 applications that they receive per deadline. The number of artists selected is not predetermined, and the committee is not looking for anything in particular during the selection process.

As Residency Director Michelle Laflamme-Childs tells SFR, “There’s always an aesthetic, and different people have different aesthetics. They’re usually looking for something that is interesting, new.”

This term's residents include: Kaveh Bassiri of Brooklyn, NY; Marcia R Cohen of Atlanta, GA; Jennifer Hudson and her partner Josh Kane, both of Boston, Mass.; Ji Eun Kim of Korea; Jamie Lee of New York, NY; Seth Ludman of New Orleans, LA; Barbara Mehlman of Woodland Hills, Calif.; and Maria Nazos of Provincetown, Mass.

The media represented range from painting, photography and graphic design to poetry and works by one artist who refers to herself as a "visual archaeologist"—though she has yet to determine exactly what that term means.

Residents are given a living space, a 15x15-foot studio and carte blanche to let their creative juices flow.

"They can do whatever they want so long as [the studio] looks like it originally did when they got there," Laflamme-Childs says.

Initially founded as an emergency relief program for 130 artists impacted by the events surrounding 9/11, the program has evolved into more of a conventional artists’ residency. However, the institute continues to reach out to those in need of relief.

Hurricane Katrina and the drug wars in Juarez, Mexico are just a couple of other examples of emergency situations that the institute has responded to by offering asylum for artists.

Though she did confirm that at least one of the winter residents is there because of an emergency, the program director declined to identify the artist(s).

Regardless of why the residents are there, this open studio event promises a unique opportunity to peek behind the proverbial veil and witness the creative process as it happens.

Open Studio

5:30 pm
Thursday, Dec. 16

Free

Santa Fe Art Institute
1600 St. Michael's Drive
424-5050

Santa Fe Reporter

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.