Fellowship Recipients 2008-09

NIVI ALROY

Nivi Alroy's work examines the ever-changing relationship between inner and outer spaces. She explores the tension between the intimacy of the private domain – whether the human body or the domestic environment – and the intrusive forces that threatening to alter it. The border of the body and the space around it, the borders of the interior or even of the paper and sculpture itself erupt, exposing an intimate moment. In the world she thrives to create, constant transformation and scale is the founding force. Gravity goes berserk, doors transform into chairs, a watchdog becomes a threatening monster and bodies themselves appear to erupt. The public space infiltrates the private space and boundaries, which are often considered solid and sacred, are challenged. She is concerned with the community or individual’s survival in the face of disturbed domesticity. She often creates biota-based sculptural forms that can be described as architectural organisms. She draws the inspiration for these microenvironments from various microbiological phenomena such as programmed cell death and Fruiting Bodies, from Jewish-Israeli history and culture and from the charged socio- geographical climate of the region. She is fascinated by the prospects of describing motion and time based phenomena, in still and spatial forms. On a formal level, she tends to incorporate traditional techniques, such as etching, wood relief and ceramics into found objects and, contemporary exploring and up to date means. Lately, she has been incorporating animated video pieces into her sculptures, wood relief work sculptures and installations, by embedding video monitors into her artwork.

www.nivialroy.com

MONICA CARRIER

As a child staring at her home's wallpaper pattern, Monica Carrier saw all kinds of creatures emerge from within the abstract arabesque shapes. She plays a similar visual game, calling upon her subconscious, to make her drawings. She first creates abstract patterns or organic shapes. The next rule of the game is that she must draw whatever it is that she sees in the forms no matter how embarrassing or ridiculous it seems. The results are sometimes huge, ornate drawings flowing from the walls, full of microcosms depicting anything from scenes of war to animalistic deities; sometimes just simple portraits appear.

www.monicacarrier.com

ARI TABEI

www.aricoco.com

ELENA WEN

www.elenawen.com

JENNIFER WILLIAMS

www.jennifer-williams.com

JENNIFER WROBLEWSKI

Jennifer Wroblewski specializes in large-scale drawing and drawing installation projects. Her interests include drawing as performance and the relationship between the expressive and calligraphic marks, the connections (and disconnects) between drawing and writing. www.jenniferwroblewski.com

Fellowship Recipients 2007-08

Katherine Dolgy Ludwig has had a well-known figurative practice, with an international list of collectors of multiple pieces. At the beginning of the 2007 A.I.R. Fellowship, she was invited by the National Arts Club Gramercy Park to show forty of her Preteen portraits, going on to win their annual prize for her abstract Word painting; she performance/paints organizing public projects working in video onstage with musicians; she is currently actively involved in live painting projects throughout New York, including _FaithPainting_ portraying Brooklyn Hindu, Muslim, Baptist Christian, and Othodox Jewish faith groups, brought together to meet at the exhibit. Compared to Dianne Arbus, Keith Haring, and Jeremy Deller, her work has been called New Populism, making paintings as reportage onsite. In communities diverse as London Southwark Police, Vegas Playboy Bunnies, Manhattan Gifted Schoolchildren, and Toronto Beach Nudists, the artist looks for the diversity of individualism inside mis-stereotyped subjects.
Born in Toronto and educated in London, the artist's New York work is made in her studios in Brooklyn and Hell's Kitchen
katherine.dolgy@utoronto.ca
www.katherinedolgyludwig.com

Hanna Sandin graduated from RISD in 2003 with a BFA in Glass. In 2005, she received the Emerging Artists Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park, and participated in the fellowship exhibition for which she made two large site-generated stalagmite formations. The artist has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions including, “Another Place” at NurtureART in 2005 and “Preternatural Selection,” at MCLA51 gallery in North Adams, MA. Last year she was a recipient of the 2007-2208 A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship.
hanna.sandin@oldfarmlane.com

Anita Ragusa was born in 1977 in Sarajevo, Bosnia. She received her BFA in Painting from The Cooper Union School of Art, New York in 2004.
I am very drawn to elaborate story telling and two of my favorite books are A rebours (Against Nature), by J. K. Hysmans and The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. The intricate characters and imagery of these books are a constant source of inspiration. For me they are like visual poems and I find myself drawn to the material time and time again.
anitaragusa@gmail.com
www.anitaragusa.uber.com

Barbara Hatfield received her MFA from Parsons, The New School for Design, in New York, NY.
“Leave a little emptiness between the distant and the near.”—Wang Wei
These words by the eighth century poet and painter Wang Wei are both inspiration and instruction. Coming to understand emptiness as an active, lively energy has been a wonderful journey and a liberating discovery. It has helped me develop a rich appreciation for discipline and process and for continuing to dedicate the energy necessary to sustain my studio practice. Each mark matters. The energy in each mark matters. The spaces in between matter.
bhfield27@hotmail.com

Kharis Kennedy has been working as a studio artist since 1999. Although her primary background is in painting, much of her work is multi-media as her chief interests are always conceptual in nature.
Most recently, she and long time collaborator Rick McIntire premiered two evening length presentations of Yamabushi + Spielerfrau, a multi-disciplinary performance inspired by the possibilities of the random juxtaposition of their silent film Yamabushi with live music performed by Spielerfrau. In Fall 2008, Kennedy, McIntire, and dance choreographer Bryon Carr will present Dr. M. vs. Capt. R., a collaborative piece incorporating dance, projected images, recorded music, and sculptural costuming. These 4 pieces will be put together for the first time on the occasion of the performance, again allowing for the emergence of chance relationships.
khariskennedy@hotmail.com
Kharis Online

Lauren Simkin Berke lives and works in Brookyn, NY. Lauren attended Cornell University, receiving a B.A. in anthropology and the The School of Visual Arts, receiving an M.F.A. in illustration as visual essay. Lauren is represented by Riley Illustration.
laurenberke@gmail.com
www.simkinberke.com

Fellowship Recipients 2006-07

Megan Biddle received her M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has been exhibited domestically and internationally at establishments as diverse as The Brick Theater, The 700IS Experimental Film Festival in Iceland, and Galerie VSUP in Prague. Biddle is currently an artist in residence at the BCAT/Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn. www.meganbiddle.com

Stephanie Lempert was born in Dallas, Texas and received her B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work concentrates on analyzing various systems of communication and exists in a wide variety of media including sculpture, photography and video. Her work has been exhibited and collected domestically and internationally at establishments such as A.I.R. Gallery, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Armory Show, Lmak Projects, Weisspollack Gallery, Stella Art Gallery, The Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Art Basel Miami and The 2006 New York Video Festival. Lempert is represented by The Claire Oliver Gallery. www.stephanielempert.com

Brynna Tucker (b. 1977) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She studied Sculpture with a minor in Art History at the University of Massachusetts in North Dartmouth (BFA, 1999) and studied Fine Arts and Art History at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY (MFA/MS 2001). Her current project is called Cracks in the Concrete Jungle and is a series of site-specific works throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Her recent exhibitions include the w25thbtwn10thand11th at A.I.R. Gallery, Entropy, Interrupted at a Project Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY; Confluence at Open Ground Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; and Threat at Tribes Gallery in Manhattan, NY. Her curatorial projects include Artists in Contested Spaces, at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY and Found Wanting at Gallery MC in Manhattan, NY. She was also a finalist for the Lori Ledis Memorial Award, Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently an active member of both the Exhibitionists Women's Art Salon and Open Ground art collectives. www.brynnatucker.com

Betsy Alwin
Margarida Correia www.margaridacorreia.com

Fellowship Recipients 2005-06

Since receiving her MFA from the New York Academy of Art in 2003, Sarah Blackwelder has been developing a series of oil portraits showing the dark side of children’s toys. On this series, Sarah was awarded a fellowship at A.I.R. Gallery in Chelsea where she had her first solo show in June, 2006. In addition to A.I.R., Sarah has exhibited in various galleries in and around New York City including Chashama, the Society of Illustrator’s Guild Hall, Space Station and Micro Museum in Brooklyn. Sarah was a finalist in RSVP’s Dream competition and has participated in other juried shows including Schoharie Art Council’s National Small Works Exhibition, the Real Art Ways Slide Slam, and Manifest II at the White Studio Gallery. Sarah currently works and paints in Brooklyn.www.sarablackwelder.com

A Korean Native, Soyeon Cho received M.F.A.s from both Seoul National University and School of Visual Arts. She currently resides in New York and has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally including exhibitions at the Hsin-Chu International Glass Art Festival in Taiwan, Galleria Michela Rizzo in Venice, Carriage House at the Islip Museum and the exhibition Oltre Lilith in Frascati, Italy. She has received numerous residencies and awards including a fellowship at A.I.R., residency at PS 122 and her current residency at the Henry Street Settlement.

Christine Gedeon is a Syrian-born, New York based artist who has exhibited at: The DIVA Fair Miami Beach, 2006, The New Art Center, and Vertex List in Williamsburg, among others. Her blueprint drawings, which were shown in the 7th Biennial Exhibition at A.I.R., curated by Connie Butler, had been reviewed in Art in America. Gedeon is currently working on a new body of work creating abstracted aerial landscape drawings with a sewing machine. She received her B.A. from SUNY New Paltz.www.christinegedeon.com

Enid Crow is a photographer living in Brooklyn. She has had solo shows at A.I.R. Gallery, Holocene (Portland, OR), Grace University (Iowa), and the Lockhart Gallery (Geneseo, NY). She is a member of the Department of Craft, a NYC-based arts and craft collective, and a singer in the Vivian Girls Experience, a Henry Darger tribute band. www.enidcrow.com

Fay Ku received her M.F.A. in Studio Art and M.S. in Art History from Pratt Institute. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and has had solo exhibitions at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT, Metaphor Contemporary Gallery, in Brooklyn, NY, and, of course, A.I.R. Gallery. She has attended residencies at Weir Farm Art Center and AAI Lower East Side Rotating Studio Program. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Diane Meyer has had solo exhibitions at the AIR Gallery in New York and the Society for Contemporary Photography in Kansas City. Additionally, her work has been exhibited in numerous group shows including those at Lennox Contemporary, Toronto; Jen Bekman Gallery, NYC; Jessica Murray Projects, NYC; Spaces Gallery, Cleveland; the Bronx Museum, NYC; Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin and Rotunda Gallery, NYC. She has had residencies with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Smack Mellon, and the CUE Art Foundation. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University and an artist in residence at 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.www.dianemeyer.net Pattie Lee Becker's work resides in the complex space that connects humans with their physical and psychological landscape. Personal stories are transformed into imaginative invention. Color and pattern narrate; images conjure both the familiar and the fantastic.

Raised in the great Midwest, Pattie Lee spent her childhood surrounded by prairie and open sky. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, she moved her studio to Brooklyn, NY, where she spent a decade developing her work before relocating to the Rocky Mountains. Pattie Lee holds an MFA from Columbia University's School of the Arts and has been awarded numerous solo shows, residencies and fellowships.
http://www.pattieleebecker.com Marni Horwitz www.marnihorwitz.com Jinnine Pak

Fellowship Recipients Before 2005

Diyan Achjadi was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and received a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York (1993 ) and an MFA from Concordia University, Montreal (2002). Her installation and print works have been exhibited in the US and Canada most recently in solo shows at Alternator Gallery (Kelowna, 2006) and Access Artist Run Centre (Vancouver, 2006) as well as in group exhibitions at the American University in Cairo, Egypt (2005), Malaspina Printmakers Gallery (Vancouver, 2007) and Romo Gallery (Atlanta, 2007). Her short animated videos are distributed by Groupe Intervention Video (Montreal) and have been screened across North America and Europe, including at the International Festival of Films on Art (Montreal, 2005) and Les Instants Videos des Manosque (France, 2003). In 2007 she participated in the Imaginary Places thematic residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Print Media at the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, Canada.www.achdiyan.com

Angie Eng is a media artist who works in video, installation and time-based performance. Her work has been performed and exhibited at the Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, Lincoln Center Video Festival, The Kitchen, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute and Roulette Intermedium. Her videos have been included in digital art festivals in the US and international venues in Cuba, Greece, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. She has received grants and commissions: New Museum of Radio and Performing Arts, Harvestworks, Art In General, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Jerome Foundation and Experimental TV Center. She received an Eyebeam Residency to make a project about privacy in urban areas: Ho Chi Minh City and New York City.www.angieeng.com

Hye-Kyung Kim is originally from Seoul, Korea. She received her MFA from Parsons School of Design, New York and MFA/BFA from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, Korea. She has had solo exhibitions at A.I.R. Gallery, New York, Batanggol Gallery, Seoul, Korea and Chung-Nam Gallery, Seoul, Korea. She has also participated in group exhibitions both in New York City and Seoul, Korea. Hye-Kyung was awarded a fellowship at A.I.R. Gallery, NY, and her work was featured in Indwelling:Living in a female Body 2007(Great Hall at The Cooper Union);The 5th Biennial Exhibition (A.I.R. Gallery, NY); The 26th Small Works Exhibition (80 Washington Square East Gallery) and New American Painting.www.hyekyungkim.net

Sheila Manion Artz is a multi-disciplinary artist who has exhibited in the US, Europe and Asia. She has received her MFA in Printmaking from The City College of New York and her BFA, in sculpture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Sheila has taught at NYU, City College of NY and is currently in the Visual Presentation & Exhibition Design Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has a working creative studio in Long Island City and lives with her husband, Manhee Bak and infant son, Baye Manion Bak in Queens, NY.

Debra Hampton www.debra-hampton.com
Juri Kim
Tenesh Webber www.taneshwebber.com
Fay Torres Yap www.ftyap.com
Elizabeth Zechel