There must be something about the end of summer approaching—the going-back-to-school mood—that gets me hunting for new books. I trawl the local thrift shops and visit bookstores when I visit other places (along with coffee shops, they’re the best way to wile away an hour or two between other commitments). I’ve been accumulating some new ones lately, both new, old, and in-between, and I thought I’d share what I’m currently perusing!
Tell Them I Said No, essays by Martin Herbert. I’m always such a fan of those who go against the grain. It’s hard not to fall for a collection of essays about heavyweights like Agnes Martin, David Hammons, or Cady Noland, who have “withdrawn from the art world or adopted an antagonistic position toward its mechanisms.” Herbert digs into the how and why.
A Walk Across America, by Peter Jenkins. The travel memoir genre sort of exploded in the wake of blogs, but this classic, which came out in 1979, chronicles the first part of what turned into Jenkins’s 5-year walk around the U.S. It’s part soul-searching memoir and part prescient look at connecting with your neighbors and strangers at a time when the nation feels increasingly divided.
Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory, by Lucy R. Lippard. I love Lucy R. Lippard so much. I could just leave it at that, but I should probably talk about this book in particular. This particular opus dives into the prehistoric landscape—its symbols and sites—to lay a foundation for how contemporary artists have “overlaid” megalithic monuments and cave drawings into work being made much more recently.
Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It, by Ian Leslie. I just recently stumbled across this book again after a few years. It came out ten years ago, but the subject matter is, of course, as relevant as ever. I love research about learning and inquisitiveness, and how it influences our work, our creativity, our relationships, and so much more.
What are you reading?!
See you next week.
—Kate
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What you’ll find below:
Featured artist: Gela Mikava
Four exhibitions to see in Denver, Lagos, New York City, and Oakland
Thirteen opportunities for artists with deadlines coming up soon
Featured Artist: Gela Mikava
Gela Mikava’s paintings invite contemplation, layered with subtle hints of figures or animals that read almost like reflections of ourselves, or perhaps the metamorphosis into our animal familiars. Through layers of paint, some elements are obscured or overlapped by others in enigmatic, spiritual compositions.
Find more on Instagram.
Exhibitions
LAGOS | SOTO GALLERY
Ayogu Kingsley: If Hives Could Dance in Colors
Ayogu Kingsley presents a series of vibrant patchwork tulle pieces at SOTO Gallery, some of which incorporate portraits layered with fabric. The artist has until recently been known for his hyperrealistic paintings, and a foray into textiles explores themes of release, freedom, and the revelations of one’s true self.
Runs through September 21
DENVER | DAVID B. SMITH GALLERY
Heidi Howard and Esteban Cabeza de Baca: Night & Day Dreams
Both pursuing independent practices in their own right, Howard and Cabeza de Baca (the latter pictured) often work collaboratively. Night & Day Dreams brings together pieces that reflects on our relationships to the cosmos, landscape, and one another.
Runs through September 28
OAKLAND | JOHANSSON PROJECTS
Anna Fidler and Iván Carmona: Idolatrada: Of Spirits and Saints
Iván Carmona’s vibrant sculptures and Anna Fidler’s spiritual paintings invite viewers to trace connections between Carmona’s Puerto Rican heritage and Fidler’s interest in 19th-century spiritualism.
Runs September 5 to October 26
NEW YORK CITY | ASYA GEISBERG GALLERY
Guðmundur Thoroddsen: Up and Down
The gallery’s text for this show describes Thoroddsen’s paintings as Rorschach-like (which I love) and presents the artist’s work as a response or even rejection of landscape vis-à-vis the Western imagination while considering our emotional and spiritual experiences of natural places.
Runs September 6 to October 26
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.
ING Discerning Eye Annual Exhibition
Deadline: August 30
The ING Discerning Eye 2024 is now open for entries from artists living in the U.K., providing the opportunity to show work to six distinguished selectors, take part in an exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London, and receive prizes totaling over £12,000.
Submission fee: £15 - £70 depending on number of entries, up to six
National Emerging Art Prize for Australian Artists
Deadline: September 1
Founded in 2021, the National Emerging Art Prize was established to provide a highly visible national platform to identify, promote and support the most promising emerging visual and ceramic artists in Australia. The prize exists to not only offer a robust and highly visible platform to showcase artists in the emerging stages of their career, but also to furnish the winners and runners up with a significant cash prize and suite of non-cash prizes to further support their practice, and to provide a pathway to a long-term art career and representation. In 2024 the National Emerging Art Prize exhibition will tour both Sydney and Brisbane.
Submission fee: none
Tracey Emin Foundation Artist Residency
Deadline: September 1
TEAR is seeking people who work directly with physical materials; it would not be suitable for painters who rely on digital technologies. Applicants should be over 21 and we have no upper age limit. Applications are particularly encouraged from disabled people and people from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds. The residency will accept 8 people for this cohort and covers free studio access and free tuition from April 2025 to July 2026. Accommodation in/near Margate, U.K., is the responsibility of the participant.
Submission fee: none
Textile and Design Alliance (TaDA) Artist-in-Residence
Deadline: September 2
Each year, six candidates coming from Switzerland and abroad have the opportunity to work with textile companies in Eastern Switzerland, use a local studio in Arbon, and extend their own individual networks over a period of three months. At the public event TaDA Spinnerei, which is also attended by international speakers, they can present their projects to an interested public and at the same time discuss them with experts. TaDA provides accommodation in Arbon; travel expenses; contribution to the cost of living; a workplace in the former textile and engine factory in Arbon (Kreativzentrum ZIK); and technology, knowledge and infrastructure support by experts from the 13 partner companies and from the jury.
Submission fee: none
Ingram Prize
Deadline: September 2
The Ingram Prize is an annual purchase prize open to visual artists who are within five years of graduation from a U.K.-based art school. Now in its ninth year, the prize was established to celebrate and support artists at the beginning of their professional careers. It’s completely free to enter, and artists can submit up to two works in any size or media. All shortlisted artists will be invited to showcase their entries in a group selling exhibition at Unit 1 Gallery ǀ Workshop in London from November 13 to 17, 2024.
Submission fee: none
MacDowell Residency Fellowship
Deadline: September 10
MacDowell's spring and summer residency offers a studio, accommodations, and three meals a day for up to six weeks. There are no residency fees, and financial assistance is offered to reimburse the costs of travel, rent, lost income, and childcare. The residency is open to artists of all backgrounds and all countries in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theater, and visual arts.
Submission fee: none
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Arts Grants
Deadline: September 10
LMCC awards public and private funding to Manhattan-based individual artists, collectives, and nonprofit organizations for the presentation of arts programming in any discipline in Manhattan. Apply for up to $16,000 for a single project in any discipline in 2025. Read more about guidelines and applications for Creative Engagement, Creative Learning, and UMEZ Arts Engagement.
Submission fee: none
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council 2025 SU-CASA Residency
Deadline: September 10
Embodying healthy aging through the arts, SU-CASA is LMCC’s annual program placing teaching artists at Manhattan senior centers. LMCC selects individual artists and small collectives of two to carry out unique arts participatory projects they propose and lead from January to June 2025. Artists comfortable facilitating in Cantonese, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese are highly encouraged to apply.
Submission fee: none
Artadia Awards: Boston
Deadline: September 15
The Artadia Awards provide financial support, exposure, and recognition to artists. The awards are unrestricted, allowing artists to use the funds in any way they choose. Three Awardees receive unrestricted funds of $15,000, as well as access to the Artadia Network. Awardees are determined based on the sole discretion of the jury. Marciano Artadia Awardee receives unrestricted funds of $25,000. Applications in additional program cities open on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Submission fee: none
Center for Book Arts Artists-in-Residence
Deadline: September 15
Each year, Center for Book Arts awards up to six New York-based emerging and mid-career artists with space, time, and financial support to explore the production and exhibition of artists’ books and related work in a year-long residency. This program promotes experimentation in book arts, and artists from all disciplinary backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Submission fee: none
ARTNOIR Jar of Love Fund - London
Deadline: September 15
ARTNOIR, Sotheby’s and SR_A are thrilled to partner on the inaugural UK edition of the Jar of Love Fund and expansion of the Black British Artist Grants Programme. During this special grant cycle, the Jar of Love Fund and SR_A's Black British Artist Grants Programme will offer unrestricted grants of $5,000 to Black British and POC creatives in London. Grantees are selected by an esteemed committee including leading British academic and historic art institutions with the 2024 London cohort set to be announced during Frieze London (October 9 to 13, 2024).
Submission fee: none
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residencies
Deadline: September 15
The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) provides time and space for national and international writers, visual artists, and composers of talent and promise to bring forth their finest works, because the arts are vital, diversity is a strength, and creativity is essential. Selected artists come to VCCA’s Mt. San Angelo in Amherst, Virginia, or the Moulin à Nef in Auvillar, France, for intense periods of creative work, free from the distractions of day-to-day life. During residencies lasting anywhere from a week to two months, VCCA Fellows enjoy private studios, private bedrooms, and meals. Fully-funded fellowships are available for each residency cycle.
Submission fee: $30 (a waiver may be available)
Japan Foundation (Los Angeles) Mini Grants
Deadline: Rolling
This grant aims to support projects that will enhance further understanding of Japanese arts and culture. Successful candidates may be granted up to $5,000. The Japan Foundation Los Angeles handles Arts and Culture grants for the 13 states west of the Rocky Mountains. These include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Applications should be made at least two months before the proposed project.
Submission fee: none
See all opportunities
Paid subscribers can access a full list of all current opportunities anytime—updated at least a couple of times each week.
Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, you can also browse through listings in earlier digests in the archive.
Visit on the Young Space Instagram.
Read more on Dovetail.
Took me a week to finally read this, but my ocd brain will not allow me to miss your weekly digest. Super busy right now as I'm preparing for a show in LA in a few weeks. Anyway, I always love "book sharing" conversations.
Not too long ago I finished one of the best books I've read in years - All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It was so good, I had a hard time starting something new so I recently started reading Quiet by Susan Cain for the second time. I've also started a new one - The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar. Yes, I often read multiple books at the same time, sounds like you do as well.
Thanks as always Kate.