Windgate Artist in Residence Program

Each semester, The School of Art+Design at Purchase College invites one Artist in Residence (AIR) in Applied Design. This program is intended to advance the career of practicing artists, to prepare students as professional artists, and to strengthen awareness of the significance of applied design.

Resident artists are expected to develop a body of work while at Purchase and to be extensively involved in the education of Purchase students and the larger Purchase community. Residents must be established or emerging designer/makers of exceptional talent who exhibit strong communication skills. Specific involvement during the residency beyond each artist’s own work might include: guest lecturing in a master class, giving public lectures, providing mentorship, participating in exhibits, and working on community design.

The AIR program is specifically structured to expand upon the conservatory environment and collaborative atmosphere that is the cornerstone of the Purchase educational experience, providing students with the opportunity to observe an artist at work and to engage in dialogue with the artist in both the studio and classroom. Through public lectures, workshops, and exhibitions, the AIR program will expand on Purchase College’s mission to act as a public resource center for the exchange and exploration of ideas relative to our cultural and social environment.

Former Resident Artists include: Christine Enos, Francis Cape, R. Thomas Tedrowe Jr., John Rais, Fo Wilson, Wendy Maruyama, Brian Gladwell and Christine Lee.

Additional visiting lecturers and AIR program participants: Boris Bally, Tom Hucker, Daniel Wicke, Jon Brooks, Glenn Adamson, Jonathan Binzen, Richard Klein, Daniel Michalik, Rose Marie Gutierrez, Ben Blanc, Jenna Goldberg, Christine Lee, Mira Nakashima, Jason Schneider, David Richardson, Rosanne Somerson, Vivian Beer, Don Miller, Matt Hutton and Jim Zivic.

The AIR program is made possible in part through the generosity of the Windgate Foundation.

Benefits

• $15,000 stipend
• Up to $3,000 toward expenses
• 24/7 studio access
• On campus housing

Expectations

• Commit as a full-time resident for the specified period.
• Provide all materials used during the residency.
• Be accessible to Purchase students.
• Produce a significant body of work.
• Exhibit completed work.

Application Requirements

Residencies will be offered in 15-week blocks, corresponding to the fall/spring academic calendar. Selection criteria will include quality of current portfolio, potential for artistic and professional growth, technical skill, and ability to communicate with students in a studio environment. A successful application to the program must contain:

* Completed Windgate AIR Application
* Current CV
* 20 images & corresponding contact sheet
* Official documentation of the minimum professional educational
* requirement: MFA or commensurate professional experience
* One page Statement of Intent
* Contact information for two professional references
* $50 Application Fee

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MAKING - A Symposium

Studio Furniture, as with many of the American craft movements, is experiencing a turbulent changing environment in which our current culture, shifting tools, morphing icons and open boarders of Internet information exchange are creating new approaches. How is this environment affecting the creative process? Are the methods of the past obsolete or have they morphed, creating a uniquely contemporary approach?
MAKING, seeks to examine the ways in which this cultural climate influences 3 makers that have grown out of traditions of craftsmanship but are shifting through the present models and means of production. It also seeks to explore the relationship of making, through their specific studio practices to the cognitive process. Our finale speaker will address the cultural climate in which makers find themselves.
Speakers include :

Vivian Beer… (http://vivianbeer.com/home.html) the Spring 2011 Windgate Artist in Residence at the School of Art+Design, School of the Arts, Purchase College, is an innovative furniture designer based in New England. Having received her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2004, she describes her creative process as "sophisticated daydreaming." Throughout her experience and education she has tiptoed through contemporary design, craft, and sculpture finding the subject of furniture to be a passion. Vivian exhibits and teaches nationally.

Matthias Pliessnig… (http://www.matthias-studio.com/) born in New Orleans, he maintains his studio practice in Philadelphia, PA. A studio furniture designer, Matthias received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin in 2008. Influenced by boat building, he uses 3-D modeling software to sketch curves, which he then handcrafts into sensuous forms that cradle the body. Named a Fellow by United States Artists in 2010 and recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant in 2009, his work has been exhibited widely, most recently included in the History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011 at the Renwick Gallery.

Tanya Aguinuga… (http://aguinigadesign.com/) (b. 1978) is a Los Angeles based furniture designer and artist who was raised in Tijuana, Mexico. She holds an MFA in furniture design from Rhode Island School of Design, and is a current faculty member at Otis College of Art and Design. She created various collaborative installations with the Border Arts Workshop, an artists' group that engages the languages of activism and community-based public art. She recently founded the group, Artists Helping Artisans, through which she helps spread knowledge of craft by collaborating with traditional artisans. Her work has been exhibited from Mexico City to Milan and she was named a United States Artists Target Fellow in the field of Crafts and Traditional Arts.

Bruce Metcalf  (http://www.brucemetcalf.com/index.html) born in Amherst, Massachusetts, makes his home in the Philadelphia area. A Studio Jeweler, Bruce received his MFA from Tyler School of Art in 1977. While continuing his studio practice, which has been included in hundreds of national and international exhibitions in the past 37 years, he has been intimately involved in education, most recently at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Bruce has also been a prolific writer and critic, most recently co-authoring with Janet Kpolas, Makers:20th Century American Studio Craft. He also maintain his own blog, CraftGadfly.

Making will take place at Purchase College on September 10, 2011 between 10am and 4pm.

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School of Art+Design

Building on its respected tradition of producing successful members of the visual art community through a focused conservatory curriculum, the School of Art+Design offers a rich and unique educational experience to undergraduate and graduate students in five main departments – Graphic Design, Painting & Drawing, Photography, Printmaking/Art of the Book, and Sculpture/3-D Media, as well as video and time-based media. The available courses of study are supported by a campus environment that includes the world-class Neuberger Museum of Art – just next door to the Visual Arts building. Students enjoy unparalleled access to its permanent collections in contemporary and African art and to a wide range of changing exhibitions. Both curators and exhibiting artists participate in the life of the School, amplifying the voices of an excellent faculty, all of whom are actively involved in the art world. Beyond the immediate campus, the cultural resources of New York City invite students to become engaged with their art and design disciplines through internships, field trips, and visits to studios, museums, and galleries.

The facilities of our 160,000-square-foot Visual Arts building help make great work possible. The wood and metal fabrication studios are among the best equipped in the country and are further complemented with clay, glass, bronze, plastics, and finishing areas, creating an ideal environment for exploring and experimenting with object-making in a variety of medias.

Download Printable Version of the  Windgate AIR Prospectus
Download the Windgate AIR Application

or feel free to contact the School of Art+Design at:
914.251.6750
art+design@purchase.edu