How does an artist succeed and create momentum when they are just starting out? What resources and tools do they need? How can they be socially conscious while also making a living? These questions and more will be discussed in an Artist Roundtable with current “New Art/New Voices” residents Shani Shih, Michelle Chen, and Han Jeon. Moderated by “New Art/New Voices” juror Amy Lokoff.
Saturday, September 8
Riverview Room (208)
Doors, 1 pm
Conversation, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Space is limited. Please RSVP
RSVP
Shani Shih
Shani Shih is a multidisciplinary visual artist in Washington DC. Her personal artwork speaks at a visceral level; it features bold linework, gritty textures, and expressive human figures intertwined with harsh industrial structures, and represents everyday social and bodily experience in the stratified landscapes of the modern world. Through her creations, she aims to communicate a shared experience of suffering and endurance, as well as everlasting love and hope – providing comfort, strength, and acknowledgement to all.
Shani is also dedicated to supporting communities in need through public art, teaching and community arts, with a focus on serving underrepresented Asian Pacific American communities. During the 2016 primaries, Shani co-curated Bern the System!, a street art showcase that featured 70+ regional artists and uplifted messages of social change. She then served as a lead organizer for a four-city mural campaign centering the message of the indigenous-led Water is Life movement—which led to the 2017 founding of the 411 Collective, a graffiti/street art collective that supports local and national community advocacy initiatives with public art. In 2018, with the help of 1882 Foundation/Chinese American Citizens Alliance, she founded the Chinatown Art Studio, a youth art space servicing Asian Pacific American youth through multimedia art instruction and creative empowerment programming.
Michelle Chen
Working primarily in acrylic, oil, and spray paint, Michelle Chen explores identity, belonging, and transformation with an eye to how these emerge from shared stories and symbols. She studied traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting as a young child growing up in Maryland, and later had the opportunity to begin her study of Arabic calligraphy while on a U.S. Department of State-sponsored exchange program in Egypt. Between 2013-2014, she assisted master artists in the creation of several works of public art as part of the Murals DC program, and recently painted her first independent mural in 2017. As a member of the Sanctuaries and former member of the 411 Collective, Michelle has worked to support social transformation through the arts. Michelle earned a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, where she studied Culture and Politics. Michelle lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area and is a 2018 New Project Studio Artist-in-Residence at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA.
Han Sol Jeon
Han Sol Jeon Amy Lokoff
Amy Lokoff is a creative economy catalyst based in Washington, DC. Over the past 10 years she has worked with over 200 visual artists and coordinated exhibitions and arts programming in a variety of venues in the DMV including Anacostia Arts Center and Honfleur Gallery. She is passionate about finding ways to make art accessible to people who don’t think that art is for them and to support and empower artists who are underrepresented and/or under resourced. In March 2018 she independently curated not too high not too low, a a group exhibition that challenged comic book artists to make new work for a gallery setting at Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center. The opening reception for that show attracted over 150 people and it was written up in 730DC, East City Art, and The Washington Post. She currently serves as the Visual Arts Curator for Little Salon, an intimate multi-media event that takes place in different spaces and neighborhoods every month in DC. Her next exhibition BODIES will open at Otis Street Arts Projects in September.
About the New Project Studio
This community-focused arts incubator space inside the Torpedo Factory Art Center offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects will rotate on a regular basis and are considered based on the following goals:
- Support new creative collaborations with neighboring organizations and partners
- Strengthen the connection between our resident artists and the greater creative community
- Provide opportunities for new audiences to engage with our building and artists
- Inspire the next generation of artists, innovators, arts supporters, and diverse voices
