Exhibition: In Residence
Five Artists from Centrum’s Emerging Artist Residency Program
Location: Northwind Arts Center
October 5-27, 2019
Public opening October 5, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Since 2014, thirty-six artists from the Northwest have been selected to participate in Centrum’s Emerging Artist Residency (EAR) program. This year Northwind Arts Center is partnering with Centrum to host In Residence, an exhibition that welcomes back five artists from the past five years of the program. Artists Alex Boechenstein (2015), Jaleesa M. Johnston (2018), Morgan Ritter (2014), Cicelia Ross-Gotta (2018), and Zorn B. Taylor (2016) exhibit work that has evolved since their time in the program.

In recognition of Centrum’s long residency history, the exhibition also includes a selection of works from the Centrum Print Collection, in which “emerging” artists’ work of the early residency days can be seen. Artists include Peter Alexander, Mark Calderon, Claudia Fitch, Mary Ann Peters, Elizabeth Sandvig, and Larry Sommers. 

The EAR program was conceived of in response to a regional need to better support visual artists in the early stages of their careers. During the month-long residency, artists are able to enrich their practices with a cross-fertilization of cultural and artistic points of view. Since their time at Centrum, many of the artists have significantly deepened their work and gone on to receive amplified recognition and exciting exhibition opportunities.

For this inaugural exhibition, this selected group takes a range of approaches to reflecting on “residence.” They bring forward a myriad of works that are born of and merit spending time with questions—sometimes landing on concreteness but often result in ongoing investigations that invite us to be in residence with our bodies, our presence, and our own understandings of what art can be.

Northwind Arts Center is a Port Townsend-based nonprofit arts organization committed to serving visual, literary and performing artists, and partners with other arts organizations to bring quality programming that connects arts and community.