Calendar of Events
Special Events: Community Collaborations
“Visual Art: New Ways of Seeing”
A Partnership with The Hermitage Artist Retreat
June 17, 2022, at 6:30 pm
Hermitage Beach, Manasota Key
6660 Manasota Key Rd. Englewood, FL 34223
Registration is required: $5 per person
Join us as two acclaimed visual artists discuss their creative process and share examples of their work. Hermitage Fellows Aram Han Sifuentes and Amanda Williams create in two different mediums of art. Han Sifuentes, whose work has been described as having “radical power” (The Guardian), works with fiber and materials. Williams, a visual artist trained as an architect, uses color in bold and energetic ways. At the center of both of their artistic practices is the mission to change the way we see the world around us and forge new communities in shared spaces.
About Aram Han Sifuentes
Returning Hermitage Fellow Aram Han Sifuentes (she/they) is a fiber and social practice artist, writer, and educator who works to center immigrant and disenfranchised communities. Her work often revolves around skill sharing – specifically sewing techniques – to create multi-ethnic and intergenerational sewing circles, which become a place for empowerment, subversion, and protest. Han Sifuentes earned her B.A. in Art and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.F.A. in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been a recipient of a Hermitage Fellowship, Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Map Fund, Asian Cultural Council’s Individual Fellowship, 3Arts Award, and 3Arts Next Level/Spare Room Award.
Her project, “Protest Banner Lending Library,” was a finalist for the Beazley Design Awards at the Design Museum in London in 2016. Solo exhibitions of her work have been shown at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Chicago Cultural Center, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Asian Arts Initiative, and Hyde Park Art Center. Her upcoming solo exhibitions include “Talking Back to Power: Projects by Aram Han Sifuentes” (2022) at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and “Who Was This Built To Protect?” (2022) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, where she is currently the inaugural Getting to Know You Artist in Residence.
Han Sifuentes’s art works are included in various public collections including the Renwick Gallery of Smithsonian American Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, DePaul Art Museum, University Galleries at Illinois State University, and Wing Luke Museum of Asian Pacific American Experience.
She also publishes writings and texts including “How Internalized White Supremacy Manifest for My BIPOC Students in Art School,” for the summer issue of Art Journal (2021) for which she was awarded the 2021 Lois Moran Award for Craft Writing. Her monograph, We Are Never Never Other, was published in 2021 by University Galleries at Illinois State University. She was the 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence at Loyola University and is currently an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
AramHanSifuentes.com
About Amanda Williams
Hermitage Fellow Amanda Williams is a visual artist who trained as an architect. Williams’ creative practice employs color as a way to draw attention to the complexities of race, place, and value in cities. The landscapes in which she operates are the visual residue of the invisible policies and forces that have misshapen most inner cities.
Williams’ installations, paintings and works on paper seek to inspire new ways of looking at the familiar and in the process, raise questions about the state of urban space and citizenship in America. Williams has exhibited widely, including the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, a solo exhibition at the MCA Chicago, and a public project with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis.
She is a 2018 USA Ford Fellow, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors grantee, an Efroymson Family Arts Fellow, a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and a member of the multidisciplinary Museum Design team for the Obama Presidential Center. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. Williams lives and works in Chicago.
The Hermitage is a multi-disciplinary artist retreat dedicated to championing bold and impactful new work, supporting the creative process, elevating the artist experience, and enriching the lives of audiences and arts appreciators around the world.
Art & Childhood Development Panel Discussion has been POSTPONED
A partnership with Sunshine from Darkness
Explore the role art plays in the emotional wellbeing of young people with a panel of experts. Art Center Sarasota will host a panel discussion in collaboration with Sunshine from Darkness, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting mental health. With the North Sarasota County Schools Spring Art Show on view May 10-21, this timely discussion focuses on the importance of art and childhood development.
DETAILS ON NEW DATE COMING SOON
PANELISTS
Art Therapist Lisa Richardson, L.M.H.C.
Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist, Ethan Weiss, M.S., L.C.S.W
Neuropsychologist Amie Austin, Ph.D
Moderator Jane Harris, Education Director, Art Center Sarasota
ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
The mission of Sunshine from Darkness is to raise awareness of mental health disorders and erase its stigma.
Art Center Sarasota’s mission is to provide opportunities for creative expression and art appreciation through art education, exhibitions and cultural programs.
Sponsored by the Lee and Bob Peterson Foundation/Sunshine From Darkness.
Visit our partner page to see our past community collaborations.
Ongoing Weekly or Monthly Events
In addition to the fun events below, we invite you to follow us on Facebook for instant updates on new and art inspired happenings.
Book Club Zoom
Tuesdays at 2 pm; free and open to the public. Join at any point.
The current book is “How to See” by David Salle. Purchase the book and join the discussion. The group discusses creating art, contemporary artists, and shares stories and art. Questions? jane@artsarasota.org
You will get a confirmation email after signing up.
Salon d’ Art
On the second Friday of each month at 3 pm, our guest speakers join us for a presentation and virtual Zoom conversation about all things art. Follow our discussion group on Facebook and join our virtual community. To register for the free event on Zoom, click here.
Save the dates: Feb 11, Mar 11, Apr 8, May 13, June 10, July 8, Aug 12, Sep 9
Mail Art Exchange
Give and get a creative surprise every month!
Imagine getting a beautiful, original piece of art in your mailbox while knowing your artwork is landing in a mailbox for someone else. Everyone is welcome to join. This season, it’s the Alphabet theme and whatever that means to you! Feb = N, March = O, April = P, and so on.
How it Works
Select or create a piece of art that you would like to give to someone. The art must be flat, 5” x 7” on paper, felt, canvas, cardboard, etc. Do not include art that is 3-D or fragile.
Write your name, address and email down so we know where to mail the art that you will receive.
If you like, prepare a note about you or your artwork to accompany your piece.
Put the art, your contact info, and the optional note in a 6”x 9” envelope.
Mail to Art Center Sarasota, 707 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota FL 34236, or drop off before the last day of the month, M-F 10 am-5 pm, or Saturday, noon-5 pm.
We receive the art, photograph it for our gallery, then mail the artwork randomly to those who have submitted. Who doesn’t love art and getting mail? It’s a wonderful way to give and get something special every month.
To help off-set the cost of this program for postage, etc. Please consider making a donation.
Check out some of the amazing art we shared with our exchange participants in February.
