Works from the MICA Artist Residency Program in Brittany, France
Exhibition: November 13 – December 15, 2017
Gallery Reception: Thursday, November 16; 4pm – 7pm
Description:
The Alfred and Trafford Klots International Program for Artists is administered by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). During the summer of 2017, MICA hosted an artist residency in the town of Léhon, France, for five artists who worked in the Abbey Saint-Magloire. This exhibit features the paintings and drawings created and exhibited during their eight-week stay. Participants included Felicia Leach, MACC Associate Professor of Art, and four other international artists who were selected for the 2017 residency.
Isabel Klots began the residency program in 1989 to honor the memory of her father-in-law, Alfred Klots, and her husband, Trafford Klots, both of whom were artists, and to celebrate their hospitality to other artists.
Originally called the International Program for Artists in Rochefort-en-Terre, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) became the program administrator in 1995. As the program flourished, the “Friends of Rochefort” was established in 1998 to provide further support, and along with Isabel Klots, MICA established an endowment fund to expand the program.
In 2011, the program’s home at the Château at Rochefort-en-terre became uninhabitable due to serious structural defects and the program relocated to the nearby medieval village of Léhon, in the Brittany region of France. Léhon features a medieval abbey and gardens, along with one of the region’s oldest fortresses, and was built on the site of a strategic ford used by the Romans. It is one of only 22 cities in France to receive the distinguished Une Petite Cité De Caractère award for meeting and maintaining stringent historical and cultural aspects.
The most recent artistic collaboration that took root in France developed into a symbiotic relationship of cultural art practice with the directors of the MICA residency, the five selected artists, and the surrounding area of Bretagne. The artists were hosted in the Abbey Saint-Magloire in the community of Léhon, and worked for eight weeks in June and July of 2017.
More information on the MICA residency program is available on their website.
Winston Chmielinski
Winston Chmielinski (b. 1988, USA) is an artist based in Berlin, Germany. His paintings have received international acclaim (Art in America, Artnet, Vogue USA, Boston Globe) and have been exhibited extensively in North America and Europe (2017 Venice Biennale, 2016 solo shows at Galerie Thomas Fuchs and Magic Beans). Chmielinski’s paintings reflect his synesthesial worldview and expertly blend the boundaries between recognizable forms and intuitive coloring. Chmielinski received his BA from NYU’s Gallatin School in dance and philosophy, and continued his studies in Paris and Beijing on world art history. Most recently, Chmielinski studied Kung Fu in Shandong Province, and worked directly with Ai Weiwei on his upcoming film, “Human Flow.”
Gallery of Works:
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Peter Foster
Peter Foster studied painting, drawing, and sculpture at the New York Studio School under Graham Nickson, Stanley Lewis and Bruce Gagnier. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
“I work directly from observation to create a painted equivalent of what I’m looking at. Additionally, I copy paintings from the history of art. In making a copy, it informs me of a deeper understanding of a painting as a whole. Recently, I’ve begun remaking landscapes that I painted last summer in France. I am reinforcing my direct observation with memory and intuition. My aim is to find a sense of presence in the image.”
Gallery of Works:
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Joshua Hagler
Based in Los Angeles, Joshua Hagler’s work has followed a path of inquiry ranging from an intense interest in religious thought and its history into Westward Expansion, notions of progress and exploration, collective mythologies—especially when sublimated into Hollywood films—and the poetics of theoretical physics. With a focus on painting, Hagler’s ideas and interests expand into installation, video, animation, book making and other projects.
Since 2006, Hagler has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout North and South America, Europe, and Australia, including a long list of solo exhibitions. Recently he was awarded a spot at MICA’s Alfred and Trafford Klots Program for Artists in Brittany, France and, beginning in 2018, will attend the year-long Roswell Artist in Residence Program in New Mexico, which includes full financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. His project proposal for a major installation entitled “The River” was selected by the Brand Library and Art Center in Los Angeles to debut in the spring of 2018.
Gallery of Works:
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Felicia Leach
Based and raised in central Missouri, Felicia Leach (b.1977) is an alumni of Moberly Area Community College where she received her Associate of Arts degree with honors. She continued her education in Illinois and graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Southern Illinois University- Carbondale with her BFA and MFA respectively focusing in painting and printmaking mediums. She has been grateful to have the opportunities to work with many creative groups such as the Citizen Jane film festival, the True/ False film festival, Detroit Contemporary, and the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Her practice retains immediacy through exhibitions nationally and internationally. Advancements in her work have been strengthened through residencies at the Shenandoah National Park and MICA Artist Residency, Brittany, France. Through these outlets, she has pursued interests in making site-specific prints, drawings, and paintings based in the investigation of time as tethered to place. Currently, she works as an artist and educator at Moberly Area Community College in mid-Missouri teaching foundational studio courses including drawing, painting, and design.
Gallery of Works:
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Maja Ruznic
Maja Ruznic, a prolific and active artist, is primarily a painter, a storyteller who conjures form and narrative from ground up mineral, smeared oil, and stained canvas. Born in Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1983, Ruznic immigrated to the United States with her family in 1995, settling on the West Coast where she eventually went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley, later receiving an MFA from the California College of Arts. Ruznic’s often-quoted biography – a refugee who escaped the Bosnian War – is only the beginning of her journey. Ruznic’s vivid paintings speak for themselves, depicting figures that seem to emerge from the caverns of human history, from within their own supports, and somehow from within the viewer’s own recollections. The power of Ruznic’s vision can be evidenced in her myriad accomplishments: she has recently shown her work at Duplex100m2 in Sarajevo, Carmen Wiedenhoeft Gallery in Denver, Galeri G-Art in Istanbul, MASS Gallery in Austin, Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna, Arc Gallery in San Francisco, and locally at Charlie James Gallery, the Torrance Art Museum, Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, and most recently as part of MAIDEN LA. Ruznic’s work has been written about extensively, most notably in Juxtapoz, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Studio Visit Magazine, and twice in New American Paintings, including the cover as selected by curator Anne Ellegood.
Gallery of Works:
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