MAD Announces Fall 2015 Artisit Studios Participants

The Museum of Arts and Design is pleased to announce the newest selection of artists and designers in the Artist Studios. Open daily to the public, the Artist Studios host emerging and mid-career artists and designers as they produce work in a live studio environment, offering one of the Museum's most unique educational experiences. Visitors are encouraged to inquire about artists' processes, materials and concepts while they work. The Artist Studios program fosters dialogue and serves as a model of interactivity and innovative engagement that benefits both artists and museum visitors through making and conversations exploring the creative process.

Launched in 2008, the Artist Studios have welcomed more than 100 artists and continue to be one of the most popular components of the Museum's visitor experience, drawing museumgoers to its 6th floor educational space for a hands-on, behind-the-scenes look at artistic practices.

"Education is at the heart of the Museum's mission and a hallmark of the visitor experience," said Glenn Adamson, Nanette L. Laitman Director. "The Artist Studios demystify artistic practice by inviting artists and designers to use the Museum as a laboratory for live interaction and creative experimentation. As a result, audiences of all backgrounds are able to marry their in-gallery experience with an understanding of the connection between maker, materials and process."

Fall 2015 artists include Margaret Braun, Liz Collins, Kate Clements, Megan Canning, Maika'i Tubbsand Stephanie Beck. They are among the first group of artists and designers to be chosen by the Artist Studios Selection Committee, which includes Ken Amarit, artist and artist studio alumnus; Elissa Auther, Windgate Research Curator, Museum of Arts and Design; Carli Beseau, Manager of Interpretation, Museum of Arts and Design; Rama Chorpash, Director of Product Design, Associate Professor, Parsons; Lisa Dent, Director of Grant and Services, Creative Capital Foundation; Natalia Kakazawa, Assistant Director, Elisabeth Foundation Studios and artist; Ron Labaco, Marcia Docter Senior Curator, Museum of Arts and Design; Cathleen Lewis, V.P. of Education and Programs, Museum of Arts and Design; Cybele Maylone, Executive Director, Urban Glass; and Isa Rodrigues, Adult Programs Director, Textile Arts Center. This season's committee reviewed the work of nearly 200 applicants.

Margaret Braun's medium is sugar. Growing up in Levittown, New York, amongst thousands of cookie-cutter houses, Braun was curious about the ways in which personal identity thrives. As a child, she responded to this environment by filling notebooks and covering surfaces with ornate sequential patterns. As an adult, she rediscovered this solace by decorating cakes.

In addition to being a visual artist, Liz Collins has had a robust career as a textile and knitwear designer. These complementary paths have led to a studio practice where her art and applied design coalesce: a painting is a rug is a blanket is a dress is a sculpture. Collins explores the relationship between the body as a site for engagement with physical space, particularly architecture, and the resulting dialogue that emerges.

Kate Clements is a glass artist whose work blurs the boundaries between body and object, and beauty and repugnance. She aims to show the interplay between fashion and modernity and how taste, even 'bad' taste, can be celebrated and mimicked by different social spheres.

Megan Canning's deep fascination with the various systems of the human body stems from a long interest in memory and how our bodies gather information through the five senses. She began incorporating hand-embroidery into her paintings nearly fifteen years ago because she was attracted to how stitching literally pierces the 'skin' of the canvas, creating an orderly surface with a messy underbelly.

Maika'i Tubbs uses found detritus to create sculptures and installations around themes of obsolescence, consumption and ecology. He regards discarded objects as untapped resources and transforms them to reveal a world of hidden, limitless potential. His process-oriented work reflects honest observations of unnatural familiarity influenced by the blurred boundaries between organic and artificial life.

Stephanie Beck is interested in exposing the fragility and transience within the seemingly static architecture of the public and private spaces in which we live. She sees buildings as surrogates for ourselves and works with them to investigate and illustrate our human frailties. Beck works primarily with paper as it allows for quick construction and for combinations of drawing and printing with sculptural form.