Hello, friends—
I’m writing from a campsite in the mountains about an hour outside of Denver, where the cold temps at about 8,500 feet have been keeping me on my toes (luckily, I have some great warm-weather gear). It’s so lovely to wake up each morning to the crisp air and young aspen trees just starting to leaf out.
I’ve realized, over time, that I have a bit of a split personality when it comes to my interests and lifestyle choices. On the one hand, I love checking out art shows and absorbing culture in big hubs, and on the other, I can hardly get enough of being in the woods or at the edge of a body of water, listening to the birds or saying hello to people I pass on hiking trails… in other words, not thinking about art at all. Sometimes I take both approaches in the same day. It’s the only way I can keep sane, I think. And the duality is often useful.
This reminds me of an article Katy Waldman wrote for The New York Times in 2018 titled “Does Having a Day Job Mean Making Better Art?,” which especially resonated with me at the time because I had been working full-time at a bookstore for a few years while trying to curate shows, meet with artists, organize residencies, travel consistently, and still find time to rest in the meantime (I was managing the latter very poorly). In one passage, Waldman wrote:
The act of producing art can be anything but romantic. To escape the blank page, the only thing on earth as passive as yourself, you cast about for distractions, half-convinced that avoiding your project will shower some sort of mystical growth hormone on your ideas. Yet for some artists, such as William Carlos Williams, life and art were more than each other’s palate cleansers. The poet doctor saw his dual vocations as mysteriously fused. “They are two parts of a whole,” he contended in his 1967 autobiography. “It is not two jobs at all … one rests the man when the other fatigues him.”
I think the same can be said for intentionally pulling oneself out of the creative mode from time to time to dive into another completely unrelated activity, whether it’s a job or not. It might be some other hobby, volunteering, or kind of socializing.
I’ve always been a big fan of the day job, and I’m on William Carlos Williams’ side in that way—it’s better if it’s relatively (or completely) unrelated to what I’m personally pursuing in my creative work. I still do this. Over time, that structure has helped to shape other projects that were for freeform or self-directed. It can indeed be a palate cleanser, a kind of planned pivot at semi-regular intervals that creates room to fully enjoy the other—the metaphorical mountains and valleys.
See you next week!
—Kate
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What you’ll find below:
Featured exhibition: Desire Lines
Four exhibitions on view this week in London, New York City, and Oakland
Fifteen opportunities for artists with deadlines coming up soon
Featured Exhibition: Desire Lines
Pardon the plug, but after seven months of coordinating, I’m very happy to share that Desire Lines at David B. Smith Gallery is open! If you’re in the Denver area, I hope you’ll join us—with artists in attendance—for the opening reception on Saturday, June 1, from 5 to 8pm. The show is already open for viewing, too, so if you can’t make it that day but you’re in town during the week, you can drop by during regular gallery hours.
Desire Lines includes new work by Miguel Arzabe, Jessica Cannon, Saskia Fleishman, and Michelle AM Miller, and continues through July 13. See more on the gallery’s website.
Exhibitions
NEW YORK CITY | CARVALHO PARK
Eutierria
Of course I’d love if you went to visit this one, too, as I’m proud to have co-curated the show with gallery director Jennifer Carvalho. Artists include Taylor Kibby, Liam Lee, Cato Løland, Se Yoon Park, Brian Rattiner, Pauline Shaw, and Grace Woodcock. You can also check out Guillaume Linard Osorio’s elegant, architectural solo exhibition in the adjacent space.
Runs through June 29
LONDON | TRISTAN HOARE GALLERY
Marie Hazard & Masaomi Yasunaga
I’m not sure I can think of a combination of media that’s more fascinating to me than textiles and ceramics. Hazard’s loom-woven pieces often incorporate digitally-printed elements, and Yasunaga’s striking ceramics nod to ancient mosaic techniques, resembling timeless, even sacred artifacts.
Runs through June 28
NEW YORK CITY | MAGENTA PLAINS
Chason Matthams: Agape in the Spectrum
Chason Matthams has a knack for making hyperrealistic depictions of objects, in this case mirrored stones and camera lenses, appear almost psychedelic. This show includes works from two themes the artist follows: his meticulous portraits of cameras paired with compositions containing organic objects staged in front of images from the art historical canon.
Runs through June 29
OAKLAND | JOHANSSON PROJECTS
Enchanted Lands
I’ve been a longtime fan of Jen Hitchings’ otherworldly landscapes. (Do you remember when she and I collaborated on an arty interview series on Instagram? Seems like an eon ago.) This show at Johansson Projects follows the theme of mystical, sometimes terrifying landscapes with work by Hitchings, Anna Ortiz, and Amy Lincoln.
Runs through July 20
Artist Opportunities
Young Space emphasizes fully-funded opportunities with low or no entry fees and programs that focus on creative and professional development for visual artists. Deadlines are coming up soon to apply for these grants, fellowships, residencies, and more.
The Farm Margaret River Funded Residency
Deadline: June 5
This residency is focused on site-specific projects, created during an eight-week period through research and collaboration while living at The Farm. The Farm offers space and time for artists, as individuals or a group, to consider our place in the natural environment, surrounded by the ancient beauty of South West Western Australia. In addition to accommodation in self-contained artists studios, the successful artist or group will receive a grant of AUD $7,500 (ex. GST) to cover out-of-pocket expenses.
Submission fee: none
Department of Transformation Ignite Rural Residencies
Deadline: June 5
Ignite Rural is an “at-home” artist residency focused on uplifting and supporting rural artists who engage in social/civic work and are in the early stages of their artistic practice. To be considered for the program, artists must reside in rural communities with a population of 20,000 or less within the colonial state borders of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the 23 Native Nations that share that geography. Priority will be given to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and Native artists and culture bearers. Ignite Rural 2024 will operate as an 8-month cohort model (September 2024 - April 2025). Participating artists will receive a $4,000 creative fund, an additional $8,000 living stipend, and access to an $800 artistic development/wellness fund.
Submission fee: none
Studios at MASS MoCA Residency
Deadline: June 8
The Studios at MASS MoCA artist residency give artists, writers, and performers of any discipline a range of support services. MASS MoCA and its Assets for Artists program invites artists and writers to apply for residencies from 2 weeks to 4 weeks in length. Residents (10 per session) will receive a private, furnished studio space at MASS MoCA, available 24/7, accommodation, one communal meal per day, a variety of professional development opportunities, 3 months of MASS MoCA member benefits, a studio visit with a MASS MoCA curator or guest curator, and chances to share your work. The already subsidized, standard residency fee is $650/week, however, every applicant in the regular application pool may opt to be considered for a full-ride fellowship and/or need-based financial aid to lower this fee even more.
Submission fee: none
Open Call for Public Art in New Omaha Central Public Library
Deadline: June 9
The partners collaborating to build Omaha Public Library’s new Central Library are teaming up with Omaha nonprofit Amplify Arts to open a call for permanent public artwork that will be installed in the interior and exterior spaces of the Central Library. Artists, artist collectives, and collaborative groups from the Omaha metro area will be selected and awarded project budgets in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 to realize new work. Selected artists will collaborate with the project team throughout the design and installation process prior to the library’s opening in 2026.
Submission fee: none
Great Meadows Foundation Artist Professional Development Grants
Deadline: June 9
Grants promote the growth and development of visual art by helping improve the critical skills, resources, knowledge, and connections of artists. Applicants must reside in the Great Meadows Foundation region, which encompasses the 120 counties of Kentucky, and the Greater Louisville area of Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana. Grants range from $500 to $6,000.
Submission fee: none
2025 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Visual Arts and Curatorial Work
Deadline: June 10
The Vilcek Foundation will award three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise of $50,000 each to young, immigrant visual artists and three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise of $50,000 each to young, immigrant curators who demonstrate outstanding early achievement in their field.
Submission fee: none
Generations of Multitude Billboard Exhibition in Detroit
Deadline: June 10
This is an opportunity to have your work placed on billboard ad space in Metro Detroit, Michigan. Generations of Multitude is looking to highlight artwork that demonstrates the beauty and struggles of holding many contrasting priorities close to you and the challenge of finding your whole in a world that asks for concise oneness and the quick read. SaveArtSpace x PLAYGROUND DETROIT are prioritizing artists who are first and second-generation immigrants but also others who deal in the diaspora of dual or multi-faceted cultural identities.
Submission fee: tax-deductible $10 donation per artwork
Headlands Center for the Arts Residencies
Deadline: June 10
The Artist in Residence (AIR) program awards fully sponsored residencies to approximately 50 local, national, and international artists each year. Residencies of four to ten weeks include studio space, chef-prepared meals, housing, travel and living expenses.
Submission fee: $35
Headlands Center for the Arts Chamberlain Award
Deadline: June 10
Chamberlain Award is a fully sponsored artist residency and $10,000 prize to support an artist working in the social practice discipline This award supports artists employing non-traditional media to creatively engage with social concerns of the day.
Submission fee: $20
Headlands Center for the Arts Chiaro Award
Deadline: June 10
The Chiaro Award is a fully sponsored artist residency and $15,000 prize for a mid-career painter residing in the United States. The Chiaro Award residency includes a private studio, and inclusion in a dynamic network of Headlands’ creative practitioners and thinkers.
Submission fee: $20
Wyoming Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowships 2024
Deadline: June 10
The Wyoming Arts Council's Visual Arts Fellowships are $5,000 unrestricted awards of merit, based on the artist’s portfolio, honoring the work of Wyoming visual artists whose work reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Artists working in any media, including film and video, may apply.
Submission fee: none
Quarterly Artist Grants for Athens, GA-based Artists
Deadline: June 15 (next deadlines are September 15, and December 15)
Each fiscal quarter, the Athens Area Arts Council awards grants of $500 to organizations, artists, or events in Athens, Georgia.
Submission fee: none
Vermont Studio Center Residencies for Fall 2024 + Winter 2025
Deadline: June 15
Applications are juried together in a pool by a rotating jury of practicing artists and writers. Fellowship opportunities are listed on VSC's fellowships page. Applicants whose work was well-received but were not awarded a fellowship may still be invited for admission.
Submission fee: $25
Fondation Grantham Call for Projects
Deadline: June 15
The Grantham Foundation launches its 2025 Calls for Projects, which are divided into three parts: Visual Arts Creation, Visual Arts Research and Research and Creation in Architecture.
Visual Arts Creation Award: The Foundation’s residency program runs over an approximately 12-month cycle. It includes a four-week stay at the Foundation (in Saint-Edmond-de-Grantham, Quebec, Canada) dedicated to research, two artist presentations designed for a school audience, and a production grant of CAD $10,000. The program aims to culminate—subject to grants being obtained—in a solo exhibition presented at the Foundation, accompanied by a publication and public programs. An additional lump sum of up to CAD $500 is provided to cover a portion of the travel expenses of artists whose place of residence is located beyond a radius of 500 km from Saint-Edmond-de-Grantham.
Visual Arts Research Award: In keeping with its goal of bringing together research and artistic creation, the Foundation annually awards a CAD $5,000 grant and a four-week residency to a specialist recognized in the visual arts, environment or any other discipline concerned with these issues. This residency includes a four-week stay at the Foundation dedicated to research and writing, a presentation of ongoing work for a general audience, and a research grant. The program aims to culminate—subject to grants being obtained—in the production of a public outreach project at the Foundation that may take the form of a publication, a group exhibition or public programs (a symposium, a series of lectures, workshops, etc.).
Submission fee: none
If your organization hosts valuable opportunities for artists and you’d like to learn more about featuring it in this digest and on Instagram, I’d love to hear from you! Reply to this email to inquire or check out yngspc.com/sponsor.
See all opportunities
Paid subscribers can access a full list of all current opportunities, including many that are further in the future or that don’t even make it into the digest on time! The list is updated several times each week.
Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, can also browse through listings in earlier digests in the archive. Paid editions are made public every two weeks.
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