“You have to know how to use the accident, how to recognize it, how to control it, and ways to eliminate it so that the whole surface looks felt and born all at once.” —Helen Frankenthaler
As preparations for the holidays have ramped up and we’re careening toward 2025, I’ve been characteristically all over the place. Social gatherings, gift shopping, preparing for incoming family, a work slowdown, interviews for other work, and so on. In the winter, something about being stuck inside more and eyeing up the impending new calendar makes me start casting around for things to reinvigorate my routine.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the things that aren’t art-related that I enjoy and, frankly, rely on to keep me sane. I really love thrifting and antiques, for example. I have an obsession with postmodern anything at the moment, and I’ve always had a thing for vintage bowls. I also spend time on the road—or at least dreaming about the next road trip I’ll take, drumming up that singular feeling of awe and newness specific to travel. I like tea, trying new recipes, putting comforting television shows on in the background while I do other things, like knit or write this newsletter (it’s art-related, but I do actually find it really relaxing).
I suppose this is a way of saying I’m winding down for the year and actually leaning into that a little bit. I’m thinking about changes, opportunities, and what the next few months may bring. I’m embracing being in the ebb for the moment—it’s where time to tinker or ponder leads to new ideas that are allowed to simmer and maybe even bubble up.
With that, I’m taking a break (my first for this digest!) for Christmas next week, but I’ll see you in your inbox bright and early on the first day of the new year with plenty more opportunities… because there are so many, and it’s so great. Happy holidays!
—Kate
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What you’ll find below:
Featured artist: Kenny Nguyen
Four exhibitions to see in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto
Fifteen opportunities for artists with deadlines coming up soon
Featured Artist: Kenny Nguyen
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about weaving. I’ve personally never woven much more than a tiny mat on a tabletop BRIO loom that my mom got for me when I was very young. But I’ve long been entranced by the the medium throughout history and across cultures—how materials, styles, and processes may slightly vary but the overall aim is the same: the creation of fabric. And what is fabric if not an integral part of our daily lives?
I learned about Kenny Nguyen’s work via Sungaram Tagore’s booth at Untitled in Miami this year. Striking sculptural forms emerge from woven, hand-cut silk, acrylic, and canvas in almost psychedelic colorways. And they’re large—many upwards of eight feet wide or more. The patterns almost read like pixellations, becoming more dot-like at a distance and more tactile up close. I love this dialogue between timeless craft practices, painting, and contemporary experience.
See more on Nguyen’s website.
Exhibitions
NEW YORK CITY | DUANE THOMAS GALLERY
Jenny Kemp: Midsection
Gradient pathways and fluid movements wind across Jenny Kemp’s acrylic compositions, hinting at figurative forms through elegant, hard-edge abstraction.
Runs through December 20
LONDON | HUXLEY PARLOUR
The Silver Cord
An exhibition reveling in the mystical and metaphysical, The Silver Cord brings together works by Madeleine Bialke, Sholto Blissett, Damien H. Ding, Tommy Harrison, Asif Hoque, Rachel Howard, Ridley Howard, Sonia Jia, Kathryn Lynch, Marin Majic, Laura Noguera, James Owens, Nina Silverberg, Neil Raitt, Dittmar Viane (pictured), Romane de Watteville, and Suyi Xu.
Runs through January 18
TORONTO | COOPER COLE
Marvin Luvualu: Make Me Wanna Holler
Paintings and sculptures in Marvin Luvualu’s first solo show with Cooper Cole examine topics related to seeing as listening, identity politics, and lived experiences. The title is derived from the 1971 Marvin Gaye song, “Inner City Blues.”
Runs through January 18
LOS ANGELES | NIGHT GALLERY
Cynthia Daignault: The Lemon
“And what are the boundaries of an artwork—where one begins and another ends?” asks Cynthia Daignault in the statement for her exhibition, The Lemon. “In this age of screens and social media, we often think of a painting as its digital image alone, but the nature of any one work stretches far beyond its four sides.” Daignault concurrently has a large-scale commission on view in Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968 at MOCA.
Runs through January 18
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 and curators. Deadlines are coming up soon to apply for these grants, fellowships, residencies, and more.
Paid subscribers, check out the whole list anytime at yngspc.com/opportunities and enter the password you received in your signup email. Can’t find it? Just shoot me a note. Thank your for your support!
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Spring Artist-in-Residence
Deadline: December 31
Since the early 2000s, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in California has hosted an Artist-in-Residence program. This program offers two primary goals: to deepen the connection between visitors and the park through art, and to provide diverse artists with meaningful experiences in a unique natural setting. All backgrounds and mediums are encouraged to apply. Selected artists are invited to stay at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area for two to three weeks, with free camping provided. After completing the program requirements, artists will receive an $850 stipend.
Submission fee: none
Vera List Center for Art and Politics Matter of Intelligence Open Call
Deadline: January 6
These fellowships support the development and presentation of outstanding art and research projects by international, emerging artists, writers, scholars, and activists. Fellowship project proposals must creatively and rigorously approach the focus theme “Matter of Intelligence” in content and form and make an intellectual and artistic contribution that advances the understanding of intelligence. Four two-year, non-residential fellowships will be awarded to commission and support scholarly and creative work that critically engages with the theme. The stipend is $25,000.
Submission fee: none
Luminarts Visual Arts Fellowship
Deadline: January 10
The Luminarts Visual Arts Fellowship is $10,000 per artist, open to those between the ages of 18 and 30 who live within 150 miles of the Chicago Loop. Luminarts Fellows are eligible to apply for additional project funding and professional development opportunities for 10 years after their initial fellowship. Applicants may reapply to the Luminarts Fellowship annually, but they are only eligible to receive the Fellowship award once. The Visual Arts Fellowship awards excellence in Visual Arts (i.e., drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, mixed media, sculpture, and moving images). Visual Arts finalists will receive a $300 honorable mention award.
Submission fee: none
Artist Residency Center Athens NOLA/NYC Research Fellowship
Deadline: January 12
ARCAthens supports visual artists, curators, and scholars through its artist residency program. By expanding the program's scope to include cultural exchange between Greece and the United States, they aim to foster international dialogue, cooperation, and understanding. The NOLA/NYC Research Fellowship invites artists and curators based in Greece to spend two months in two U.S. cities: New Orleans and New York City. The fellowship prize is $2,000; the cost of basic coach air travel is provided; and a stipend of $250/week is provided in addition to the fellowship prize to offset food and local transportation expenses.
Submission fee: none
Anderson Center Residencies
Deadline: January 14
The Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minnesota, has open calls for residencies in 2025:
2025 General Artist Residency Program: The Anderson Center at Tower View's Artist Residency Program is an opportunity in August and October 2025 for early career, mid-career, and established artists working across all disciplines and based anywhere in the world. Selected artists receive live/work space, fellowship & exchange within a 5-artist cohort, chef-prepared meals, and more. ($30 application fee.)
2025 Early Career Artist Residency Program: The Early Career Artist Residency Program is an opportunity for early-career artists living within the state of Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City in need of focused time and dedicated space in an inspiring residency work environment that empowers them take risks, embrace challenges, and utilize unconventional approaches to problem-solving. Thanks to support from the Jerome Foundation, a month-long cohort of five artists will each receive a $625/week stipend, a travel honorarium, documentation support, and more.
Submission fee: varies
Kresge Artist Fellowship for Detroit Area Artists
Deadline: January 16
Kresge Artist Fellowships are $50,000 no-strings-attached awards (up from $40,000) for emerging and established artists at any stage of their careers. Fellowships recognize creative vision and commitment to excellence within a wide range of artistic disciplines—including artists who have been academically trained, self-taught artists, and artists whose art forms have been passed down through cultural heritage. Anyone 18 years or older and a current legal resident of Macomb, Oakland, or Wayne County for the two years prior to the award deadline is eligible to apply. Fellows must remain a resident in the tri-county area throughout the year-long fellowship period.
Submission fee: none
South Arts Southern Prize for Visual Arts
Deadline: January 15
The South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality artistic work being created in the American South. The program is open to individual artists living in the South Arts region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Two awards are offered:
The South Arts State Fellowship (state fellowship) is a state-specific prize awarded to artists whose work reflects the best of the visual arts in the South. A national jury will select one awardee per eligible state, based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the region’s diversity of artistic expression. Each of the nine-state fellowship awardees will receive a $5,000 state fellowship and will compete for one of the two Southern Prizes.
The nine-state fellowship recipients will compete for the Southern Prize. The $25,000 Southern Prize will be awarded to the artist whose work demonstrates the highest artistic excellence, and a runner-up will be awarded a $10,000 Prize. Both Southern Prize recipients will also receive a two-week residency at The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, Georgia.
Submission fee: none
De Ateliers Open Call for Emerging Artists
Deadline: January 15
De Ateliers is an artists’ institute open to artists at the beginning of their professional career. It offers a two-year studio and tutoring program centered around weekly individual studio conversations, with regular and guest tutors, most of whom are practicing artists. To facilitate and support their stay in Amsterdam, participants at De Ateliers are able to get access to shared housing and stipends to cover basic costs of living. This application is for the next working period, which runs from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2027.
Submission fee: none
Ucross Fellowships for Native American Visual Artists for Fall 2025
Deadline: January 15
Ucross provides each artist with living accommodations, meals, work space, and uninterrupted time so that the artists can focus on their creative process. Residencies are open to Native American visual artists who are practicing contemporary visual artists currently producing works of art in all visual mediums, and are enrolled members of a state-recognized or federally-recognized Tribe, Pueblo, Nation, Native Community, Political Entity, or Alaskan Native Village. A writer fellowship is also available with the same deadline.
Submission fee: none
Abbey Awards for Painting at the British School at Rome
Deadline: January 15
Abbey Awards offers residencies for painters who are U.S. and U.K. residents and citizens at the British School at Rome. An Abbey Award allows artists the opportunity to focus on their practice, free from everyday pressures and distractions, with accommodation, meals and stipends all provided. Abbey Fellows and Scholars live and work within the BSR’s vibrant international research community, in the most fascinating city of the ancient and modern world.
The residencies offer accommodation in studio live/work ateliers, within a community of independent researchers and practitioners in the fields of Fine Art, Archaeology, Architecture, the Humanities and Social Sciences. Two opportunities are available:
Abbey Fellowships are 3-month residencies with a stipend of £1,500 per month (three fellows selected annually)
The Abbey Scholarship is a residency of 9 months and Scholars receive a stipend of £1,250 per month (one scholar selected annually)
Submission fee: none
Folger Institute Artistic Research Fellowships
Deadline: January 15
The Folger Institute Artistic Research Fellowship is open to all artists whose work would benefit from significant primary research related to the histories, concepts, art, and objects of the early modern world (ca. 1400-1800) and its legacies. Artistic applicants may apply for one, two, or three months of research support and have the option to take their fellowships fully onsite, fully virtual, or a combination of the two. Fellowship awards are $4,000 per virtual month and $5,000 per onsite month, and may be taken any time between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026.
Submission fee: none
New American Paintings Open Call for the American South
Deadline: December 31
New American Paintings has a targeted readership of more than ten thousand art collectors, art world professionals, and art enthusiasts. The competition is currently open to artists based in AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV, and is juried by Alexis Assam, Regenia A. Perry Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Submission fee: $50
Wisconsin Visual Artists Open Call for PERSPECTIVES2025
Deadline: January 15
PERSPECTIVES2025 is an exhibition and set of awards presented at the Thelma Sadoff Center in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, from March 28 to May 9, 2025. Awards will be made for first place ($1,000), second place ($500) and third place ($250). Awardees will be chosen by the exhibition jurors. Artists must be members of WVA to apply. This award is co-juried by Kate Mothes (founder of Young Space) and artist Fred Stonehouse.
Submission fee: $20 for the first piece, $10 for 2nd and 3rd entries
See all opportunities
Paid subscribers can access a full list of all current opportunities anytime—updated at least a couple of times each week.
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