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“It’s been a scorcher of a summer”
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While we work with clients all over the planet, New York City is our home base and it’s been a scorcher of a summer: not only with the heat, but also in terms of the feverish news cycles that sometimes feels like a we’re digesting a month’s worth of political headlines in a single hour. Speaking of news, we also have plenty this fall.
We know that a certain class of collectors, patrons, and funders makes the wheels turn in the art and design worlds. However, the real root of our work—creativity—is inextricably linked to our jobs allowing art and design to have the unencumbered conditions to experiment and thrive. With this in mind, we join many of our colleagues in encouraging you to get out there and vote this fall. Freedom of expression and funding for the arts is on the ballot! In the meantime, we have an impressive and heartening lineup of projects and exhibitions this fall that we are excited to share with you…
—John, Michelle, Andy, Meg, Dalia, Max, Katrina, July, Julia, and Katarina
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Featuring Libertad O. Guerra
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Libertad O. Guerra, Executive Director of the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, is an anthropologist, curator, and cultural organizer. She has led the creation of Latinx and BIPOC cultural spaces and collectives in NYC, with a focus on education and environmental justice. Under her stewardship, the Clemente has seen exponential growth since 2020 and was awarded the Mellon Foundation’s grant for New Director’s Vision.
Guerra is spearheading Historias, a multifaceted three-year initiative designed to celebrate the enduring impact of Latinx communities on New York City as a cornerstone of the City’s culture. The Clemente will partner with the Latinx Arts Consortium of New York (LxNY), a network co-founded by Guerra encompassing over 40 Latinx-serving cultural institutions dedicated to transforming the historical underfunding of Latinx arts. Historias kicks off in September 2024 with open studios and events spanning new art commissions, performance, and poetry.
Read more from Libertad below as she reflects on her work, inspiration, and the important role of the arts in championing community.
What makes you want to come to work every day? My work is deeply intertwined with a vibrant network of communities—both material and spiritual—that span the past, present, and future of the Lower East Side/Loisaida and the broader circle of cultural workers across the city. As Director of The Clemente, I have the privilege of leading a sanctuary space for evolving communities of artists and organizers who embody the rich cultural tapestry of this neighborhood. This responsibility fuels my passion every day. Our cultural center, housed in a building that’s part haunted medieval castle, part Hogwarts, and part multi-ethnic commune, is a magical ecosystem that inspires radical possibilities and constant creation. Lastly, my colleagues—a fiercely dedicated group—keep me grounded and fill each day with joy through their commitment and sense of humor.
How does your organization contribute to the arts community? The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Education Center’s contributions are a story of scale and impact. We host two galleries, four theaters, an outdoor performance space, and 40 highly subsidized artist studios, supporting over 75 resident artists and small arts organizations. From experimental puppetry and performance art to heritage preservation and public humanities research, we form an ecosystem that radiates throughout downtown Manhattan and independent producers in New York. Our model fosters a culture of co-production and collaboration, reflecting neighborhood issues and championing cultural equity long before the term became widespread. We maintain affordability in production and presentation spaces, sustaining the vibrancy that the Lower East Side and East Village should still represent. Our stewardship of this historic, city-owned building is not just about meeting current needs but establishing long-term stability for future generations. This vision for the future is, in itself, a creative act. With over three decades of history, the impact of The Clemente is profound—multiply everything we do by 30 years, and you begin to grasp our contribution as a mainstay in this area, though even that only scratches the surface.
What’s another passion of yours outside the art world? Urban organizing and urban affairs are central to my life outside the arts, closely entwined with cultural equity. I’m a co-founder of a community land trust in Mott Haven, the South Bronx, where I live with my family. This work focuses on land politics, environmental justice, and creating more compassionate and just cities. Additionally, I’m proud to have co-founded the LXNY Arts Consortium of NY, a robust network of over 40 Latinx-serving cultural organizations unified in advocacy, resource exchange, and collaboration. While this might sound like a mouthful for “another passion,” it truly encapsulates what drives me. Beyond that, I find peace in hiking and visiting my homeland, Puerto Rico, where half of my heart will always belong.
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03/ WHAT’S ON | VISUAL ARTS
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The Pop District
The Pop District, The Andy Warhol Museum’s cultural and economic development initiative, is opening its 2025 applications for their fourth Digital Marketing Diploma session and seventh round of Creative Fellowships on September 2. Also in September, their creative team will begin a second Creative Impact Lab with NBCUniversal. Currently on view at The Warhol are KAWS + Warhol and Altered States, an exploration of Warhol’s radical approach to Abstract Expressionism.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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[BILL ARNING EXHIBITIONS]
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Over Decades, October 19 – December 8, 2024
In Over Decades, Judy Glantzman and Steven Lack—two artists who were integral players to the punk aesthetic paradigms now known as “East Village Art”—will be exhibited together. Decades later, both still create edgy paintings while living and working in the Hudson Valley. Their works from the 80s will share the walls with their new works, perhaps allowing viewers to ponder whether or not one can keep one’s edge while residing in such a bucolic landscape.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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Gunybi Ganambarr: Gapu Buḏap – Crossing the Water, September 19 – November 8, 2024
In his first solo show in New York, the gallery will present Ganambarr’s two- and three-dimensional works that showcase the radical new forms he introduced into the Ngaymil clan’s artistic landscape without challenging community conventions. The exhibition is a direct collaboration with the artist and Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre, Northeast Arnhem Land (Northern Territory, Australia).
In D’Lan’s Melbourne location, Paddy Bedford: Gouache is on view until September 13, which is presenting previously unexhibited works in gouache that have been held in trust since their creation, including the last black and white series that Bedford painted at the end of his life. Bedford will also be exhibited at Frieze Masters in London (October 9-14).
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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NOMADS OF PERSIA, Fall-Winter 2024
On November 8, Firouz FarmanFarmaian will unveil NOMADS OF PERSIA, an immersive large-scale mixed-media installation that blends textile, video, and sound at the Cairo Citadel. The installation is the featured exhibition of “Something Else,” a nonprofit independent contemporary art initiative presented by Chief Curator Simon Njami and Artistic Director Moataz Nasr supporting Egyptian and international contemporary art. NOMADS OF PERSIA: The Varanasi Editions, a thematic preview of NOMADS OF PERSIA, will be held by Juncture Gallery from October 9-12 in Mayfair, London. FarmanFarmaian will exhibit three new textiles made from hand-loomed wool and silk produced in Varanasi, India. NOMADS OF PERSIA will culminate with exhibitions and performances in multiple locations in New York City throughout December.
Contact: Katrina Stewart
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Public Works, Office of Immigrant Affairs, and Philadelphia-based Artist Duo Hironaka & Suib
Forman Arts Initiative and Mural Arts Philadelphia recently announced the second iteration of their Public Works program, which facilitates collaborations between artists and Philadelphia’s government agencies to create artwork that strengthens connections between the agency’s work and the communities they serve. Fall 2024 will see the local artist duo Hironaka & Suib in residence at the Office of Immigrant Affairs. The pair plan to develop a public art project that fosters a deeper understanding of immigrant challenges, triumphs, and diverse community narratives within the city. The project will debut in phases beginning in early 2025.
FAI will also begin opening their new permanent home in Philadelphia’s West Kensington neighborhood, starting this fall and then opening in phases over the next several years. Artist, social innovator, and urban planner Theaster Gates is partnering with FAI’s Executive Director Adjoa Jones de Almeida to help shape the renovation and activation of the site’s four existing buildings and the establishment of programming and partnerships both on-site and throughout the city.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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[KALLIR RESEARCH INSTITUTE]
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Opening of the New Kallir Research Institute, October 2024
The Kallir Research Institute, the successor to the Galerie St. Etienne, will open its new location in October in Midtown, Manhattan. The Kallir Research Institute continues and expands upon the scholarship of art historian and art dealer Otto Kallir, who championed Austrian and German Expressionists and outsider artists.
Contact: Katrina Stewart
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[THE KAWS COLLECTION @ THE DRAWING CENTER]
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The Way I See It: Reflections from the KAWS Collection, October 10, 2024–January 19, 2025
Since the mid 1990s, KAWS has collected over 3,000 works on paper by a wide variety of artists ranging from the 19th century to today, spanning self-taught, contemporary, comic, and graffiti artists. For the first time, KAWS will curate a selection of more than two hundred drawings from his collection, filling the entirety of The Drawing Center’s galleries. This presentation also aims to give context to KAWS’ own artistic practice, currently on view at the Parrish Art Museum in KAWS: TIME OFF and The Andy Warhol Museum in KAWS + Warhol. A book published by Phaidon accompanying the Warhol exhibition will be available for pre-order on August 22.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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Julie Mehretu, November 29, 2024 – April 2025
As part of its mission of making international contemporary art accessible to Australians and more broadly, the MCA Australia will host the first-ever major solo show of Julie Mehretu’s work in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The exhibition, curated by Director Suzanne Cotter and Senior Curator Jane Devery, seeks to present visitors with the evolution of Mehretu’s artistic language by showing more than 80 of Mehretu’s paintings and works on paper dating from 1995 to the present and also includes new works created for the exhibition.
On August 28, the Museum is unveiling a new site-specific sculpture on their terrace by US-based Aotearoa New Zealand artist Kate Newby.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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Entwined, On View Through April 2026 + Awards Dinner, September 26, 2024
Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea continues on view this fall at the Mystic Seaport Museum. Curated by Akeia de Barros Gomes, Mystic’s William E. Cook Vice President of Maritime Studies, the exhibition continues through April 2026 and surveys maritime histories in Indigenous, African, and African American experiences both past and present.
Cole Brauer, the first woman from the United States to race single-handedly around the world nonstop, will be recognized as the Museum’s 2024 America and the Sea Award recipient during an Awards Dinner on September 26. She will share insights from her extraordinary voyage and discuss the challenges and triumphs of solo circumnavigation.
Contact: Katrina Stewart
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Launch of Readying the Museum at the Elizabeth Foundation, September 5, 2024 (4-8 pm)
Readying the Museum is a cohort of museum directors, artists, and arts workers who came together to develop a methodology to assist museums in shifting their accountability to their constituent communities as opposed to their entrenched power structures. The model also addresses whiteness, racism, patriarchy, hospitality and events, labor conditions and compensation, philanthropy, curatorial practices, conservation, wealth, and museum collections, among other related topics. The cohort was co-founded by artist Xaviera Simmons and Director of the Arizona State University Art Museum Miki Garcia.
On September 5, RTM’s methodology will be freely distributed via an upcoming website and podcast series. A celebratory event at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts will mark the occasion. Please email us for details on RTM and the New York event.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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[SHELLEY & DONALD RUBIN FOUNDATION]
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Scrawlspace, September 19 – December 7, 2024
Scrawlspace will bring together work by artists of the African diaspora who conceptually mine and aesthetically manipulate text, writing, and language. The exhibition ponders how Black artists examine historically charged relationships to the written word while revealing new possibilities for and beyond writing. Artists include Sadie Barnette, Lukaza Branfan-Verissimo, Sonya Clark, Tony Cokes, Renee Gladman, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Steffani Jemison, Glenn Ligon, Adam Pendleton, Jamilah Sabur, Gary Simmons, and Shinique Smith. This exhibition, curated by Emily Alesandrini and Lucia Olubunmi R. Momoh, is the result of SDRF’s third Curatorial Open Call, which sought exhibition proposals from emerging and established curators related to the Foundation’s mission.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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2024 Awards Dinner, October 22, 2024
At Skowhegan’s 2024 Awards Dinner, Howardena Pindell (F ‘80) will receive the Medal for Painting, Forge Projects & Candice Hopkins will receive the Vanguard Award for pioneering work in the arts, and White Columns will receive the Governors’ Award for Outstanding Service to the Arts.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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Pop Forever Tom Wesselmann &…, September 19 – December 7, 2024
Matsuyama (aka Matzu) will have three works exhibited in Foundation Louis Vuitton’s group exhibition dedicated to Pop Art. The exhibition, centered on Tom Wesselmann, features artists who share a common sensibility for “Pop”—from its Dadaist roots to its contemporary manifestations, and from the 1920s to the present day.
Matsuyama also currently has an exhibition in Venice, Mythologiques, which is on view until November 24. The exhibition, running concurrently with the 60th Venice Biennale, delves into the construction of individual identity amidst an age of ubiquitous images, values, and information.
Contact: Max Kruger-Dull
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Inaugural Cohort New York City Retreat, November 13 – 16, 2024
Congratulations to Trellis Art Fund’s inaugural cohort of grant recipients: Candida Alvarez, American Artist, Ja’Tovia Gary, Every Ocean Hughes, Autumn Knight, Young Joon Kwak, Lorraine O’Grady, Paul Pfeiffer, Ronny Quevedo, Alison Saar, Shizu Saldamando, and Jorge González Santos. Grantees will be awarded $100,000 each, distributed via two $50,000 installments over two years. Two grants were designated for artist-parents Ronny Quevedo and Shizu Saldamando. The inaugural cohort will convene in New York City for workshops, programming, and celebrations in November.
Contact: Katrina Stewart
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Announcing Historias, September 2024
On September 28, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center in partnership with LxNY will kick off Historias, a $2.5 million initiative presenting cultural programming, art commissions, and scholarly research over three years. The first phase will present events including a performance series and open studios at The Clemente, the unveiling of new interactive metal and terrazzo sculptural works by Edra Soto presented with the Public Art Fund at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, and a Latino poetry event at the Brooklyn Public Library.
Contact: Katrina Stewart
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[THE WEATHERSPOON ART MUSEUM AT UNC GREENSBORO]
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Major Gift Announcement, October 2024
The Weatherspoon Art Museum provides access to art education for the student body of UNC Greensboro, the most diverse institution in the University of North Carolina system. Fifty percent of students at UNC Greensboro self-identify as first-generation college students and the school is ranked #1 in North Carolina for student social mobility. The Weatherspoon will announce this transformative gift in October.
Contact: Katrina Stewart
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04/ WHAT’S ON | ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
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Inspīr Embassy Row, December 2024
The Fairfax Hotel, a historic landmark on DC’s Embassy Row, is being transformed into a luxury senior living facility set to open in December. Originally designed in the Georgian Revival style and completed in 1924, the building has a rich history as a residence for prominent figures and a gathering place for high-ranking officials. The new facility, part of Maplewood Senior Living’s Inspīr brand, is designed by Beyer Blinder Belle to blend the hotel’s storied past with contemporary luxury and regional sensibilities. The design focuses on creating a comfortable and cognitively supportive environment for seniors, incorporating high-end materials, thoughtful wayfinding, and amenities that evoke both familiarity and the building’s historic charm.
The project adheres to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, ensuring the preservation of the building’s historic character while seamlessly integrating modern conveniences and a high level of care for its residents.
Contact: Michelle DiLello
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OoNomathotholo: Ancestral Whispers, September 5 – November 2
Opening Thursday, September 5, Friedman Benda will present OoNomathotholo: Ancestral Whispers, a new body of work by South African artist, healer, and spiritual leader Andile Dyalvane. OoNomathotholo takes its title from the intergenerational whispers of the Xhosa people. Comprising a series of large and powerful vessels, crafted during a period of personal and communal loss, the included works embody a history of trauma and grief while offering a perspective of harmony and rejuvenation. The exhibition unveils new work rooted in his profound understanding of nature’s undeniable ‘truth’—a truth that is immediate and universally accessible.
The conclusion of OoNomathotholo ushers in another opening on November 14: Obsessed by Nature, the first solo exhibition of Italian designer Enrico Marone Cinzano with Friedman Benda. Profoundly inspired by nature’s beauty, Marone Cinzano explores the spaces where perfection meets imperfection, reality meets fiction, and concept carries form. The works navigate a delicate interplay between organic and industrial elements, seeking not fusion but an equilibrium of opposing energies and properties.
Contact: Michelle DiLello
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Wild Imagination: Art and Animals in the Gilded Age, August 30, 2024 – January 12, 2025
On August 30, The Preservation Society of Newport County will launch Wild Imagination: Art and Animals in the Gilded Age. The exhibition will explore the changing place of animals in the Gilded Age (1865-1914), a period that forever transformed how people view and treat the animal world. Visitors will have the opportunity to see over 100 works on display across a range of media, from paintings, ceramics, furniture, and watercolors, to fancy dog collars and sea creatures made out of glass. Part of a sustained effort to educate the public in the story of America’s vibrant cultural heritage, Wild Imagination is the first major presentation to consider how the Gilded Age shaped our modern relationship with animals with a focus on local Newport history.
Contact: Michelle DiLello
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[RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN]
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Terra Carta Design Lab
During NYC Climate Week (September 22-29), RISD will play a significant role in advancing the conversations around sustainability and design. The school’s involvement underscores the importance of art and design education in driving forward-thinking solutions and fostering collaborations across industries.
By presenting cutting-edge projects from its Terra Carta Design Lab (TCDL), RISD will highlight how design can be a powerful tool in shaping a more sustainable future. Launched by His Majesty King Charles III, then The Prince of Wales, and Sir Jony Ive in 2021, the Design Lab recognises the role art and design have in helping to address the climate crisis, and partners with prestigious design schools to discover student-led, high impact and commercially viable solutions.
Contact: Dalia Stoniene
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Kona Village
Kona Village, the resort situated on the sacred lands of Kaʻūpūlehu on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been reimagined to honor its rich history while embracing sustainable innovation. Celebrating the first anniversary of its renovation, the resort spans 81 acres of stunning landscape and draws upon centuries of preserved culture to offer an authentic Hawaiian experience that celebrates the ancient Kaʻūpūlehu’s past, present, and future.
Led by architects Greg Warner and Mike McCabe of Walker Warner, the resort features 150 traditional guest rooms, the new Asaya Spa, and five dining venues, including the iconic Shipwreck and Talk Story bars. Sustainability is central to the redesign, with several buildings achieving LEED Gold certification and the resort operating on a solar-powered microgrid. An on-site cultural center deepens the guest connection to the land, offering insights into the area’s natural and cultural significance. Kona Village blends the past with modern luxury, creating a sanctuary that respects the land while providing a forward-looking retreat.
Contact: Dalia Stoniene
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Anna C. Verna Playground at FDR Park, Philadelphia
WholeTrees products are at the heart of a recently completed, one-of-a-kind playground in South Philadelphia, a collaborative effort between SPEC, Studio Ludo, WRT, and Fairmount Parks Conservancy. This innovative play space features three towering treehouses, each standing 25 to 35 feet tall, along with a mega-swing set with 20 swings, embankment slides, log climbers, and spinners. Designed to be fully accessible and inclusive, the playground combines natural wood elements with engaging features that encourage risk-taking, tactile learning, and mastery. The space is now open to the public, serving 4 million Philadelphians annually and was recently named the Best Play Space in Philadelphia by Philadelphia Magazine.
Contact: Dalia Stoniene
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05/ BLUE MEDIUM | BILLBOARD
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The 2024 Beverley Art Writers Grantee: Aruna D’Souza
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Aruna D’Souza is the 2024 recipient of The Beverley Art Writers Travel Grant to Australia (The Beverley). Now in its third year, The Beverley is the result of a partnership between the American Australian Association and Blue Medium, established by Blue Medium founder John Melick, who hails from Australia.
D’Souza is a freelance writer and art critic based in New York. Her work focuses on artists of the global majority, and on art whose intersecting aesthetic and political possibilities allow us to imagine new, more just, kinder forms of life. D’Souza’s new book, Imperfect Solidarities, is out this month, published by Floating Opera Press. She is also the author of Whitewalling: Art, Race & Protest in 3 Acts (2018) and her writing appears regularly in The New York Times and 4Columns. She completed a PhD in modern and contemporary art at New York University. In addition to her art criticism, D’Souza co-curated the first full-scale retrospective of the work of Lorraine O’Grady (“Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And”), and edited both the exhibition catalogue as well as her volume of collected writings, Writing in Space, 1972-2017 (Duke University Press). D’Souza also serves on the advisory board of Critical Minded, an organization which seeks to support and expand opportunities for critics of color across the arts.
While in Australia this fall (Australia’s spring!), D’Souza plans to engage with the work of First Nations artists, not only to experience their art but also the collective structures that artists have built to support themselves and their creative communities. D’Souza also plans to explore the impact that Asian immigration has had on the Australian arts landscape.
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IMAGE CREDITS VISUAL ARTS
ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM: Courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum
BILL ARNING EXHIBITIONS: Stephen Lack, Lawn Beauty, 1988, Oil on canvas, 48 x 72 in, Courtesy Bill Arning Exhibitions
D’LAN CONTEMPORARY: Gunybi Ganambarr (born 1973, Yolŋu, Ŋaymil clan), detail of Guṉḏalmirri etched aluminium, 250 x 150 cm
FIROUZ FARMANFARMAIAN: Courtesy of FFF Studios.
FORMAN ARTS INITIATIVE: Photo credit: Hironaka & Suib
KALLIR RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Photo credit to the Kallir Research Institute
KAWS: Lee Lozano, No Title, 1962. Crayon on Paper, 13.8 x 18.6 inches
MCA AUSTRALIA: Julie Mehretu, Indigene/Origine (overture), 2018–19, ink and acrylic on canvas, image courtesy and © Julie Mehretu, photograph: Tom Powel Imaging
MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM: Photo credit to Mystic Seaport Museum, Joe Micheal
READYING THE MUSEUM: Graphic courtesy of Xaviera Simmons
SHELLEY & DONALD RUBIN FOUNDATION: Steffani Jemison, WLD (content aware), 2018. UV curable inkjet print on glass, acrylic, paper, polyester film. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali, New York
SKOWHEGAN: Graphic courtesy of Skowhegan
TOMOKAZU MATSUYAMA: Mythologiques, currently on view in Venice (photo by Francesco Russo)
TRELLIS ART FUND: Courtesy of Trellis Art Fund
THE CLEMENTE: Photo courtesy of The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center
WEATHERSPOON: Photo courtesy of Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro
IMAGE CREDITS ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
BEYER BLINDER BELLE: Rendering courtesy of Beyer Blinder Belle
FRIEDMAN BENDA: Install photos courtesy of Friedman Benda. Photography by Hayden Phipps
NEWPORT MANSIONS: Graphic courtesy of the Preservation Society of Newport County. Photograph by David Hansen
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: “Hoppi” product from the Terra Carta Design Lab; image Courtesy of RISD
WALKER WARNER: Kona Village Welcome Center image courtesy of Walker Warner Architects
WHOLETREES: Photos courtesy of Spec Play
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