Welcome to the 2024 Post-Grad Residents
Located in Studio 9
This competitive juried residency provides meaningful support to emerging artists who have recently completed formal academic training in the visual arts. It is an opportunity to address the critical post-graduation juncture in an emerging artist’s career.
Residents have three months of exclusive access to a studio in the Art Center. They can create and sell work, interact with the public, and connect with other arts professionals. It’s an opportunity for professional development, networking, and a chance to define a practice outside of the academic context.
Applications are open to recently graduated students who earned a bachelor’s or master’s art degree from an accredited university. Submissions were accepted from across the U.S., provided artists submit proof of their permanent residence in the area and/or commitment to contributing to the future of the region’s arts scene.
Photo by Sara Y Zhu
Samantha Van Heest
May – July
B.A. in Studio Art, University of Mary Washington
Website:samanthavanheest.com
@samanthavanheest
Artist Bio
Samantha Van Heest is an artist and art educator currently residing in the greater Washington DC area. She has exhibited her work across the United States and Europe. Her debut solo exhibition, DEEP/CLEAN, opened February 2023 at HOMME Gallery in Washington, DC. Samantha has been included in various group show at spaces such as UMBRELLA Art Fair (Washington DC); Hamiltonian Artists (Washington DC); Magma Maria (Offenbach am Main, Germany); McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA); The University of Maryland (College Park, MD); among others. She was featured in New American Paintings South #148 and has worked for the contemporary painter Amy Sherald. She is a member of the 2024 Sparkplug Collective at DC Arts Center (Washington DC). She teaches art with a focus in drawing, painting, and portfolio development. Van Heest earned a BA in Studio Art from the University of Mary Washington in 2020.
Artist Statement
“Utilizing still life, found objects, and the human figure, my work explores the complexities of recollecting the past while recognizing the fallible nature of memory. I turn to collecting and preserving and focus on select objects, particularly domestic findings: household items, toys, and textiles. My objects are actors for something more sensual, childish, or uncomfortable. I dissect the experience of girlhood, aiming to deconstruct childhood memories while longing for a polished preservation of the past. Secrecy between myself and the audience is intentional, hiding trauma, sexual innuendos, and personal relationship dynamics in plain sight. I utilize limited background details as a representation of the mind’s selective attention. Within these negative spaces, often painted to resemble white walls or reveal raw canvas, I think critically about institutional art spaces, such as museums, that emphasize preservation, memory, and collection. Threads of collecting and preserving continue throughout my current work, which delves into our relationships and rituals with the seemingly mundane. Utilizing produce label stickers as a vessel, I aim to create dialogue around consumption, repetition, and memory. I question how these household trophies of consumption take place in the world, their abundance in capitalist society, and their colonialist histories.”
— Samantha Van Heest
Kat Thompson
August – October
Virginia Commonwealth University, MFA in Photography + Film
George Mason University, BFA in Photography
Website:katherinesimonethompson.com
@katsthompson_
Artist Bio
Kat Thompson is a multidisciplinary Afro-Jamaican American artist based in Virginia, who works with photography, textiles, sculptural collages, and installations. Her work combines these mediums to explore notions of Black selfhood within the African Diaspora. Being of Jamaican heritage, Thompson confronts her dual identity through recent projects that depict traces of her family’s journey through personal and found materials. Her focus is to uncover stories that mirror parts of ourselves back to us, including our histories, current realities, and future possibilities. Her works have been exhibited at the Fenwick Gallery and Gillespie Gallery at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art in Reston, Virginia. She was the 2021-2022 recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Award, College of Visual and Performing Arts: George Mason University and was also awarded the 2023-2025 Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship. Thompson holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from George Mason University and her Master of Fine Arts in Photography & Film from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Artist Statement
“As a second-generation Afro-Jamaican American, my focus revolves around the complexities of self-discovery and the preservation of identity while grappling with the sense of dislocation that arises from a perpetual state of existing between two distinct worlds. I explore these themes through various artistic mediums, including photography, textiles, and installation, with an emphasis on the African American experience within the context of Afro-Caribbean culture. This thematic approach has become a central element in many of my artistic endeavors, as I am driven to contribute to the narratives of Black artists. In my most recent project, “Nuff Love: From Me to You,” I navigate the ongoing experience of in- betweenness, embracing the influences of both Afro-Jamaican and American cultures. I draw from personal archives, found objects, and photographs to uncover recurring themes and shared experiences that shape a connected Black transnational identity while redefining my relationship with my Jamaican heritage. Through this journey, I have discovered a profound sense of pride in reclaiming my identity, which I believe carries a universal message. I plan to continue conveying this message, emphasizing the transformative power of materials in establishing connections and solidifying ties within the diasporic family.”
— Kat Thompson
Charlotte Richardson-Deppe
November – January
University of Maryland, MFA in Studio Art
Grinnell College, BA in Studio Art and BA in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies
Website: charlotte-rd.com
@charbroiled
Artist Bio
Charlotte Richardson-Deppe is a queer feminist artist working between performance and soft sculpture. She received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she currently teaches drawing, sculpture, and photography as a Lecturer in the Department of Art. In 2023-24, she was the Bresler Resident Artist at VisArts, the Collaborative Artist-in-Residence at Montgomery College, and the inaugural resident artist at the Stamp Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park. Richardson-Deppe grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she performed in opera and trained in aerial arts at Circus Juventas. She holds BAs in Studio Art and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies from Grinnell College. At Grinnell she became enamored with sculpture and installation while continuing to train in dance, theater, and vocal music. At the University of Maryland, she has focused on soft sculpture and performance, forging collaborations across the disciplines of dance, photography, and film.
Artist Statement
“My work posits that soft sculpture is social practice. In the wake of a global pandemic, amid the ongoing climate crisis, and in response to the oppressive forces of racism, sexism, and homophobia, what I find most meaningful is thinking about how people connect to each other. In my sculptures and wearables, I exaggerate bodies and replicate limbs, making visible the invisible ways in which humans relate to one another. My installations and multi-person garments insist upon a state of interconnectedness that resists capitalism’s tendency towards isolation and individualism. In wearing my garments, participants experience the playful but very real challenge of being physically attached to other people. By stitching together bodily forms and offering them to the public as interactive installations and performances, I facilitate community meditations on interdependence and care.”
— Charlotte Richardson-Deppe