Diverse Discourse: Lecture and Studio Visit Series
Diverse Discourse brings national curators, artistic directors, and critics to Houston to present a free public lecture and conduct studio visits with selected Houston-area artists, performers, and writers. Diverse Discourse provides a significant opportunity for area artists in all disciplines to have their work reviewed by a variety of distinguished arts professionals, fostering a cultural exchange across the nation between artists and cultural producers.
Artists must apply to be considered for a studio visit. The application deadline for the Spring 2013 lecture has passed. The next application deadline will be in late summer/early fall for the Fall 2013 series.
Eligibility requirements:
- must reside in Harris County
- must be a DiverseWorks member at any level (artists who participated in the 2012 Luck of the Draw are current DW members; click here to join today)
- must NOT be currently enrolled in a degree-granting program (ie BFA or MFA)
Please note: Artists are selected for studio visits by each visiting lecturer. Only selected artists will be notified.
To apply you will need:
- a resume or C.V.
- artist statement (no more than one page or 500 words)
- documentation of your work (see application for specific formatting requirements)
Stacy Switzer is artistic director of Grand Arts in Kansas City, Missouri. At Grand Arts, Switzer works with artists to realize ambitious, research-driven projects that test the limits of what is possible within a given context. Switzer’s current curatorial projects include Ellie Ga’s Notes from Alex opening at Grand Arts in September 2013, and a collaboration with Glenn Kaino slated for 2014-15. Other recent exhibitions include Anthony Baab, A Strenuous Nonbeing; Sissel Tolaas, SmellScape KCK/KCMO; Pablo Helguera, Juvenal Players; Ryan Mosley, Painting Séance; William Pope.L, Animal Nationalism; Mariah Robertson, Let’s Change; spurse, Deep Time Rapid Time; and Tavares Strachan, Orthostatic Tolerance. In 2011, Grand Arts commissioned and produced John Salvest’s IOU/USA, a seven story installation comprised of 115 cargo shipping containers sited in a public park across the street from the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. In 2007, Grand Arts produced Sanford Biggers’ sculpture “Blossom,” which anchored his survey exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 2011-2012. Also under Switzer’s direction, Grand Arts has produced two feature-length films: Laurel Nakadate’s Stay the Same, Never Change in 2008 and Cody Critcheloe/SSION’s BOY in 2009. In 2005, Switzer curated Fritz Haeg’s first Edible Estate garden as part of a group exhibition at the Salina Art Center in Salina, Kansas. Switzer is a member of NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance), and serves on the curatorial advisory board of the Kansas City Charlotte Street Foundation. She has been a visiting lecturer, critic and consultant for Creative Capital, the Jerome Foundation, Smack Mellon, Mildred’s Lane, Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, and many other organizations throughout the United States.DIVERSE DISCOURSE LECTURE # 1: NAOMI BECKWITH – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 6:30 PM
Naomi Beckwith
Photo by Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Naomi Beckwith is the Marilyn and Larry Field’s Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (MCA). She focuses on conceptual practices in contemporary art and her master’s thesis on Adrian Piper and Carrie Mae Weems earned Distinction from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Prior to joining the MCA, Beckwith was Associate Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem. She previously was a project coordinator for BAMart at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, and the Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Beckwith has curated and co-curated several exhibitions at the ICA in Philadelphia and in New York at Cuchifritos, Artists Space, and the Studio Museum where she also managed the Artists-in-Residence program. Her exhibitions and work have been featured in The New York Times, Artforum, T Magazine, Uptown, CODE Magazine, and Ebony Magazine where she was recently listed as a Top 100 Leader in Arts and Letters. Beckwith was a fall 2008 grantee of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and was named the 2011 Leader to Watch by ArtTable. In addition to her curatorial work, Beckwith sits on the board of the Laundromat Project in New York.