About Chautauqua School of Art

The School of Art is a centerpiece of Visual Arts at Chautauqua (known as VACI –pronounced VAH-chee). The School is an incubator of inclusive and expansive programming in the visual arts composed of workshops and one-on-one time with mentors covering all media. The curriculum intentionally breaks apart the traditional methods that silo disciplines from each other and instead embraces a full range of studio and pragmatic studies including professional development for artists, the art of pedagogy, writing in the 21st century, archiving and the relevance of art history today. Learn more about the VACI Experience and check out our Instagram page to see what we've been up to. 

The 2019 artists-in-residence program at VACI welcomes artists who have yet to receive wide recognition of their work, including those as young as juniors in college. Artists who engage in all media are encouraged to apply. This is an environment that promotes collaboration, exchange, research and an openness to other art forms at Chautauqua, including dance, theater, music, literature and more.

The program has a base core-mentors along with visiting artists who will hold workshops and give lectures through the summer. All core-mentors will host weekly one-on-one conversations with participating artists and will conduct classes of their specialties from their own practices, which are described below:

Core Mentors 

Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian is Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder of Hyperallergic, critic, curator, artist and photographer.  He will be critic-in-residence, developing VACI’s first writing program for artists and critics that will look at arts writing and how it is evolving in the 21st century.
hragvartanian.com | instagram.com/hragv | twitter.com/hragv | hyperallergic.com | instagram.com/hyperallergic | twitter.com/hyperallergic 

  

 

Alpesh Kantilal Patel is a contemporary art historian, critic, and curator based at Florida International University, Miami, where he directed the MFA program in Visual Arts from 2012-2017. Yasmeen Siddiqui is the founder of Minerva Projects and a curator, essayist, and lecturer committed to voicing unorthodox narratives about artists today. Alpesh and Yasmeen will share art movements and global exhibition histories through weekly lectures and discussions in the galleries; collaborate with the gallery director to consult and curate exhibitions within its galleries; explore topics such as whiteness and decolonization, both with an awareness of the weight of history and locating/identifying overlooked stories; and collaborate with students, emerging and visiting artists — all in the service of empowering artists to consider artistic practice as theory.
nyu.academia.edu/AlpeshKantilalPatel | Alpesh Kantilal Patel | minervaprojects.org/about-minerva | instagram.com/minervaprojects/ 
 

Wendy Red Star
Wendy Red Star is an artist who works across disciplines to explore the intersections of Native American ideologies and colonialist structures, both historically and in contemporary society, informed both by her cultural heritage and her engagement with many forms of creative expression, including photography, sculpture, video, fiber arts, and performance. As an artist and educator, Red Star will offer mentorship and guidance to students to expand their knowledge of Native American art with a focus on research and intergenerational collaboration. Wendy is believed to be the first Native woman artist to teach at Chautauqua Institution in its history.
wendyredstar.com | instagram.com/wendyredstar | twitter.com/WendyRedStar

 

Hasan Elahi
Hasan Elahi is an artist, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland and board member of Creative Capital.  He will be working with participants at Chautauqua on developing new formal and informal academic curricula that respond to a changing creative economy while focusing on a balanced academic and artistic life.
elahi.umd.edu | facebook.com/hasanelahi | twitter.com/hasanmelahi 

Jean Shin

Jean Shin is an artist whose large-scale installations speak to identity and community.  Jean is on the faculty at Pratt Institute and a board member of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Jean will engage students in multi-faceted projects in the public realm, including site-specific installations and socially engaged works.
jeanshin.com | instagram.com/jean.shin

 

Raheleh Filsoofi
Raheleh Filsoofi, a member of the faculty at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work incorporates ancient and contemporary media such as ceramics, poetry, ambient sound, and video to make commentaries on border, immigration, and inter-cultural communications. She will give students the opportunity to explore the ceramic medium in the wider context of contemporary art by focusing on specific projects that concern not only the techniques and expressive qualities of the clay itself but also the frame of mind and intent that underlies ceramic production.
rahelehfilsoofi.com | instagram.com/rahafilsoofi | twitter.com/rahelehfilsoofi 

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Professional Development

Participating artists will receive contemporary, nuanced, reality-based, peer-to-peer professional development workshops from Artistic Director Sharon Louden and guest speakers while at Chautauqua the first, middle and last weeks of the season. This type of Professional Development includes adopting basic tools, however, the overall emphasis is community building. 

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Workshops, Visiting Artists and Special Studies at VACI

Technical workshops and Special Studies in printmaking, figure drawing, digital media, painting, ceramics and other subjects explored will be offered throughout the season through week 8. In addition, visiting artists and guests will also come for short stints to provide unique experiences with participating artists and the Chautauqua visiting public. Technicians will also be on-site for general assistance. We welcome everyone to come and experience, learn and explore the visual arts with us. For information about our facilities, check out some of our places of making and thinking here.

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VACI Faculty and Visiting Artists

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 The VACI Team