Artist in Residence Archives | Íø±¬ÃÅ Today https://news-test.syr.edu/topic/artist-in-residence/ Tue, 06 Jan 2026 18:10:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2025/08/cropped-apple-touch-icon-120x120.png Artist in Residence Archives | Íø±¬ÃÅ Today https://news-test.syr.edu/topic/artist-in-residence/ 32 32 Fueling Innovation, Revitalizing Spaces, Building Tech Skills /2025/10/17/fueling-innovation-revitalizing-spaces-building-tech-skills/ Fri, 17 Oct 2025 19:26:43 +0000 /?p=325465 Through Syracuse STEAM Engines, local high school students and artists are reimagining neglected spaces as vibrant public places and developing workforce skills for Central New York’s tech-driven future.

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Fueling Innovation, Revitalizing Spaces, Building Tech Skills

Through Syracuse STEAM Engines, local high school students and artists are reimagining neglected spaces as vibrant public places and developing workforce skills for Central New York’s tech-driven future.
News Staff Oct. 17, 2025

Like many American Rust Belt cities, Syracuse is addressing the challenge of vacant lots and neglected properties—transforming these spaces into opportunities for renewal and growth as the city evolves beyond its manufacturing heritage.

Research from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development highlights how vacant properties can strain municipal resources and affect community health and safety. But in Syracuse, unused spaces have the chance to be the site of positive change. In anticipation of a surge in tech industry jobs driven by Micron Technology’s major expansion, Íø±¬ÃÅ is spearheading creative initiatives to revitalize underinvested areas—while cultivating a new generation of innovative thinkers.

Launching these efforts is a new National Endowment for the Arts-funded program called Syracuse STEAM Engines. This two-year creative placemaking initiative will bring together local artists, high school students and city planners to create temporary public artworks that transform neglected spaces into vibrant neighborhood gathering places to be celebrated.

The initiative was conceived, developed and will be led by , interim chair of the  and arts education professor in the .

A person poses for a headshot indoors.
James Haywood Rolling Jr.

Rolling explains these efforts are about more than filling empty urban spaces: “Worldwide, communities are learning that creativity is the engine that drives progress. With Syracuse STEAM Engines, we’re showing young people how to tackle real challenges, reimagine public spaces and prepare for careers that might not even exist yet. This is what the future of education should look like,” Rolling says.

The initiative is a collaboration among the City of Syracuse, the Black Artist Collective, the Everson Museum of Art and the Syracuse City School District’s new STEAM High School—the region’s first school dedicated to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). The new STEAM High School, which first opened its doors in September, pairs rigorous academics in STEM with a strong emphasis on the arts and design, preparing students for emerging careers while fostering creative problem-solving.

Students Reimagine Their Community, Gain Essential Skills

Syracuse STEAM Engines will assemble four design-build teams consisting of Syracuse STEAM High School students and a visiting artist-in-residence or local artist whose work has explored the intersections of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Each lead artist is chosen from the Black Artist Collective or the Everson Museum’s roster of local exhibiting artists through a competitive proposal process. Among the selected artists is , the University’s first-ever artist in residence.

Students will take part at every stage—designing, fabricating and installing site-specific works in selected public spaces across the city. Projects could range from simple mechanical sculptures utilizing levers and pulleys to installations that integrate robotics, software, data visualization and interactive light or sound systems. For selected students, the program offers a chance to reimagine their community as well as valuable training in project management and the 4Cs (collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity)—all essential skills for the future workforce.

The initiative aligns with the City of Syracuse’s multi-year “Syracuse Housing Strategy,†which emphasizes “additive new work†that revitalizes neighborhoods without demolition. The city’s Department of Neighborhood and Business Development will help identify installation sites, ensuring the projects respond directly to community needs.

Similar university-driven initiatives that integrate science and public art are already proving effective in other cities. At the , an arts-integrative training program for first-year STEM graduate students has shown that participants develop a greater appreciation for diverse perspectives, stronger community-building and collaboration skills and greater openness to experimentation in their work.

Similarly, the City of Madison and the University of Wisconsin launched , a program that uses public art to inspire STEAM education and careers. The effort has drawn strong community support and successfully connected students and residents with scientific ideas through art.

Syracuse STEAM Engines brings these learning principles to Central New York, giving local students the opportunity to move beyond classroom learning and cultivate real-world skills as they prepare for careers in emerging technologies.

Story by Kristin Sheehan

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Historic beaux-arts building with classical columns and ornate facade, featuring accessible ramp entrance and STEAM banner.
New York City the Setting for Second ‘Monumental Concerns’ Symposium /2025/03/18/new-york-city-the-setting-for-second-monumental-concerns-symposium/ Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:06:35 +0000 /blog/2025/03/18/new-york-city-the-setting-for-second-monumental-concerns-symposium/ A daylong symposium hosted by Íø±¬ÃÅ Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems will bring together artists, poets, scholars, activists and theorists to explore contested sites of memory and monuments.
“Monumental Concerns 2â€â€”a continuation of the first “Monumental Concerns†symposium held on campus in fall 2023—is scheduled for Friday, March 21, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at The Mu...

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New York City the Setting for Second ‘Monumental Concerns’ Symposium

A daylong symposium hosted by Íø±¬ÃÅ Artist in Residence will bring together artists, poets, scholars, activists and theorists to explore contested sites of memory and monuments.

“Monumental Concerns 2â€â€”a continuation of the first “Monumental Concerns†symposium held on campus in fall 2023—is scheduled for Friday, March 21, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at The Museum of Modern Art’s Titus 1 Theatre, 111 West 53 Street, New York City. The event is free and open to the public. .

“As artists we are all profoundly engaged in our mutual practices, yet the water gathers us into a single pool,†Weems says. “I invite you to stand on the bridge as we consider contested sites of memory and monuments.â€

The symposium seeks to evoke an examination of the politics of disagreement in order to collectively create a framework for moving towards a sense of belonging for all. Questions to be addressed include: How might we understand the stakes of the dialogue and debate around monuments and the sites they commemorate? How do we negotiate among multiple—and often conflicting—narratives and the way they show up in public space? Is disagreement crucial to transformation?

In addition to Weems, event participants include:

  • , art historian and director of research programs, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
  • , curator and director, Monument Lab
  • , director of transformative art and monuments, City of Boston
  • , civil rights lawyer and founder, 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy, Howard University
  • , composer and pianist
  • , assistant professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences, Íø±¬ÃÅ
  • , founder and principal strategist, Equity Empowerment Consulting
  • , artist and associate professor of art, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
  • , professor of communication and rhetorical Studies, College of Visual and Performing Arts, and director, Lender Center for Social Justice, Íø±¬ÃÅ
  • , founder and CEO, Beyond Conflict
  • , composer and 2025 Adobe Creative Resident, MoMA
  • , poet and playwright
  • , historian and director, Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation
  • , composer and trumpeter
  • , lawyer and founder, Equal Justice Initiative
  • , architect and Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture Planning and Preservation, Columbia University
  • , assistant professor of art, architecture and design, Lehigh University

The event will conclude with “Defiant Life,†a musical performance by Iyer and Smith, from 6 to 7 p.m.

“Monumental Concerns 2†is co-organized by Íø±¬ÃÅ and The Museum of Modern Art, and supported in part by the Mellon Foundation. For more information, contact Kate Schwartz at 315.443.8017 or kschwa03@syr.edu.

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New York City the Setting for Second ‘Monumental Concerns’ Symposium
Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Receives National Medal of Arts Today From President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 /2024/10/21/artist-in-residence-carrie-mae-weems-h17-to-receive-national-medal-of-arts-today-from-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-l68/ Mon, 21 Oct 2024 18:00:10 +0000 /blog/2024/10/21/artist-in-residence-carrie-mae-weems-h17-to-receive-national-medal-of-arts-today-from-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-l68/ Internationally renowned artist and Íø±¬ÃÅ Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 received the National Medal of Arts from President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 at a White House ceremony on Monday.
Carrie Mae Weems H’17 (Photo by Jerry Klineberg)
“Carrie Mae Weems’ commitment to telling the American story has secured her place among the greatest artists of our time,†s...

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Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Receives National Medal of Arts Today From President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68

Internationally renowned artist and Íø±¬ÃÅ Artist in Residence received the National Medal of Arts from President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 at a White House ceremony on Monday.

Carrie Mae Weems, Artist in Residence at Íø±¬ÃÅ
Carrie Mae Weems H’17 (Photo by Jerry Klineberg)

“Carrie Mae Weems’ commitment to telling the American story has secured her place among the greatest artists of our time,†says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “This extraordinary honor is a testament to her prolific and powerful work that has profoundly impacted the artistic community, contributed to cultural awareness and inspired change. Íø±¬ÃÅ is fortunate and proud to have such an accomplished artist as part of our community.â€

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. The medal is awarded by the president of the United States to individuals or groups who “are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.â€

“As the first African American female visual artist to receive the National Medal of Arts in recognition for my contributions is profoundly humbling and a great honor,†says Weems. “I thank my colleagues, along with the many other great women artists of color who came before me, widened the path and took the heat, but unfortunately were not recognized for their tremendous achievements.â€

Weems’ four decades of work, including groundbreaking and distinctive compositions of photography, text, audio, installation, video and performance art, depicts topics of race, gender, social injustice and economic inequity throughout American history to the present day.

She is the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, and she is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern; Whitney Museum of American Art; National Gallery of Canada; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Carrie Mae Weems with student in Florence
In April, Weems reviewed the work of College of Visual and Performing Arts students in the studio arts program at the University’s Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Íø±¬ÃÅ Program in Florence (Photo by Francesco Guazzelli)

Weems is a 2023 Hasselblad Award laureate and has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including the , the U.S. Department of State’s Medal of Arts, the Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship, the National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award.

In April, Weems participated in the conference, organized in concert with the , and reviewed the work of College of Visual and Performing Arts students in the studio arts program at the University’s Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Íø±¬ÃÅ Program in Florence.

Her solo exhibition, “The Shape of Things,†is currently running at the in New York City through Nov. 9.

As the University’s artist in residence, Weems engages with Íø±¬ÃÅ faculty and students in a number of ways, including working with students in the design, planning and preparation of exhibitions.

Candace Campbell Jackson, senior vice president and chief of staff, who co-created the Artist in Residence program with Academic Affairs leadership, says, “This well-deserved honor recognizes Carrie Mae Weems’ incredible cultural contributions as a groundbreaking and visionary artist. It also reminds us once again how proud we are to call her our artist in residence. Carrie’s longstanding connection with the University has been a source of inspiration to the arts on campus here and abroad and resulted in numerous one-of-a-kind opportunities for our students.â€

Weems first came to Syracuse in 1988 to participate in Light Work’s artist-in-residence program. Over the years, she has participated in several programs at Light Work and has a long history of engaging with students and the University community.

Weems taught at Íø±¬ÃÅ previously, and out of her two courses Art in Civic Engagement and Art and Social Dialogue came the innovative and popular . She previously was artist-in-residence in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (2005-06) and she was a distinguished guest of the University Lectures in 2014.

Weems also was bestowed an honorary doctorate by the University in 2017 (along with honorary degrees from Bowdoin College, the California College of Art, Colgate University, the New York School of Visual Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art and Smith College).

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Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Receives National Medal of Arts Today From President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68
Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems to Work With Students, Participate in International Arts Conference in Italy /2024/03/28/artist-in-residence-carrie-mae-weems-to-work-with-students-participate-in-international-arts-conference-in-italy/ Thu, 28 Mar 2024 22:18:10 +0000 /blog/2024/03/28/artist-in-residence-carrie-mae-weems-to-work-with-students-participate-in-international-arts-conference-in-italy/ Eight College of Visual and Performing Arts students who are studying abroad at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Íø±¬ÃÅ Program in Florence will have the unique opportunity to work with Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 and attend an international arts conference in Venice in April.
Weems, an internationally renowned artist, will travel to Florence to deliver a public lectur...

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Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems to Work With Students, Participate in International Arts Conference in Italy

Eight students who are studying abroad at the will have the unique opportunity to work with Artist in Residence and attend an international arts conference in Venice in April.

Weems, an internationally renowned artist, will travel to Florence to deliver a public lecture, “Resistance as an Act of Love,†April 17. While there, she will review the work of students in the studio arts program.

The students will also attend the conference in Venice April 20 and 21. Weems and Florence faculty member will participate in the conference, which is co-sponsored by Íø±¬ÃÅ. Weems will be a panelist for the discussion “Black Realities through Digital Media,†and Nelson will serve on the “Radical Curricula†panel.

Students traveling to the conference include studio arts majors Anastasia Cardona, Sidney Hanson (a dual art history major in the College of Arts and Sciences) and Rumini Nguyen; computer art and animation major Mark Casadevall; and illustration majors Madeleine Herberger, Sarah Mednick, Sarah Skalski and Alissar Youssef.

Black Portraitures, now in its 14th year, is organized in concert with the . This year’s theme “Shifting Paradigms,†brings together thought leaders in the arts from Africa and the African Diaspora. Founder Deborah Willis says the convening “will explore and expand narratives on memoir and memory studies; migration stories through family and politics; and reimagine ideas about art practices and the exhibition experience, all while considering new research practices.â€

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Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems to Work With Students, Participate in International Arts Conference in Italy
Gladstone Gallery Welcomes Carrie Mae Weems H’17; Fall 2024 Exhibition Planned /2023/12/13/gladstone-gallery-welcomes-carrie-mae-weems-h17-fall-2024-exhibition-planned/ Wed, 13 Dec 2023 01:44:29 +0000 /blog/2023/12/13/gladstone-gallery-welcomes-carrie-mae-weems-h17-fall-2024-exhibition-planned/ Íø±¬ÃÅ Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 has joined the Gladstone Gallery, where a solo exhibition of her work will be held in Fall 2024.
Weems’ four decades of work, including groundbreaking and distinctive compositions of photography, text, audio, installation, video and performance art, depicts topics of race, gender, social injustice and economic inequity throughout Am...

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Gladstone Gallery Welcomes Carrie Mae Weems H’17; Fall 2024 Exhibition Planned

Íø±¬ÃÅ Artist in Residence H’17 has joined the where a solo exhibition of her work will be held in Fall 2024.

Weems’ four decades of work, including groundbreaking and distinctive compositions of photography, text, audio, installation, video and performance art, depicts topics of race, gender, social injustice and economic inequity throughout American history to the present day.

Weems is the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. She is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern; Whitney Museum of American Art; National Gallery of Canada; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Weems is a 2023 Hasselblad Award laureate and has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including the , the U.S. Department of State’s Medal of Arts, the Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship, the National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award.

 

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Gladstone Gallery Welcomes Carrie Mae Weems H’17; Fall 2024 Exhibition Planned
Carrie Mae Weems First Major Solo UK Exhibition Opens in London /2023/07/05/carrie-mae-weems-first-major-solo-uk-exhibition-opens-in-london/ Wed, 05 Jul 2023 16:55:23 +0000 /blog/2023/07/05/carrie-mae-weems-first-major-solo-uk-exhibition-opens-in-london/ “Reflections of Now,†a major exhibition of work by internationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems H’17, Íø±¬ÃÅ’s first-ever artist in residence, opened June 22 at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. Weems’ first major solo U.K. exhibition will run through Sept. 3.
Carrie Mae Weems, center, at the opening of her show at the Barbican Art Gallery in London (Photo courtesy ...

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Carrie Mae Weems First Major Solo UK Exhibition Opens in London

“Reflections of Now,†a major exhibition of work by internationally renowned artist  H’17, Íø±¬ÃÅ’s first-ever artist in residence, opened June 22 at the in London. Weems’ first major solo U.K. exhibition will run through Sept. 3.

Carrie Mae Weems, center, an opening of London show.
Carrie Mae Weems, center, at the opening of her show at the Barbican Art Gallery in London (Photo courtesy of the Goodman Gallery)

Widely considered to be one of the most influential American artists working today, Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender and class. Through her intimate and thought-provoking images, Weems challenges societal norms, reclaims narratives and encourages views to critically examine their own assumptions and biases.

This presentation of Weems’ multidisciplinary work captures the performative and cinematic nature of her practice through photographs, films and installations, from the iconic “Kitchen Table Series†(1990) to “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried†(1995-96), focused on systemic racism, to the incisive film installation “The Shape of Things†(2021), calling out the “pageantry†of contemporary American politics.

The Evening Standard calls the exhibition “breathtaking†and “a transcendent show from an artist who has delivered for 30 years.â€

“My responsibility as an artist is to work, to sing for my supper, to make art, beautiful and powerful, that adds and reveals, to beautify the mess of a messy world,†Weems told Dazed. The exhibition’s co-curator, Raúl Muñoz de la Vega, added, “Beauty and elegance is a key formal aspect of saying her work. In order to lure you to enter a very difficult conversation, she does it with the trick of beauty.â€

The exhibition is accompanied by “Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now,†the first publication devoted to her writings. It will highlight Weems’ influence as an intellectual, reflecting the dual nature of her career as an artist and an activist.

Carrie Mae Weems greeting guests at the Barbican Art Gallery in London.
Carrie Mae Weems, right, greeting guests at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. (Photo courtesy of the Goodman Gallery)

2023 has been a busy year for Weems. She was the guest of honor at the 12th Annual Brooklyn Artists Ball, presented by Dior, on April 25 at the Brooklyn Museum. She was honored for her “innumerable contributions as both a trailblazing artist and a community-focused activist.†An exhibition featuring “The Shape of Things†opened at the Luma in Arles, France, in May.

Together, with the Barbican exhibition, “Perhaps we’ll finally get the message on this side of the pond, too, that Carrie Mae Weems deserves our fullest attention,†wrote Caroline Roux in the Financial Times.

On Aug. 15, a video presentation and talk with Weems on her work “Leave, Leave Now†will be held at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts (Martha’s Vineyard). The event is presented by the University’s Office of Multicultural Advancement and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard.

Earlier this year, Weems was named a 2023 Hasselblad Award laureate by the , a prize that is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of photography. An award ceremony will take place on Oct. 13 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

´¡Ìý (a.k.a. “Genius Grantâ€) recipient and the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, Weems has used multiple mediums (photography, video, digital imagery, text, fabric and more) throughout her career to examine themes of cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, family relationships and the consequences of power.

Weems has created a complex body of work that centers on her overarching commitment to helping us better understand our present moment by examining our collective past. Determined as ever to enter the picture—both literally and metaphorically—Weems has sustained an ongoing dialogue within contemporary discourse for over 35 years.

As artist in residence at Íø±¬ÃÅ, Weems engages with faculty and students in a number of ways, including working with students in the design, planning and preparation of exhibitions. The artist in residence program is overseen by the .

Weems first came to Syracuse in 1988 to participate in Light Work’s artist-in-residence program. Over the years, she has participated in several programs at and has a long history of engaging with students and the University community.

She has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including the MacArthur Fellowship, U.S. Department of State’s Medal of Arts, Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, among many others.

Weems is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of American Art; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Weems has been represented by Jack Shainman Gallery since 2008.

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Carrie Mae Weems First Major Solo UK Exhibition Opens in London
Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Honored at 12th Annual Brooklyn Artists Ball /2023/05/04/carrie-mae-weems-h17-honored-at-12th-annual-brooklyn-artists-ball/ Thu, 04 May 2023 16:19:00 +0000 /blog/2023/05/04/carrie-mae-weems-h17-honored-at-12th-annual-brooklyn-artists-ball/ Internationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems H’17, Íø±¬ÃÅ’s first-ever artist in residence, was the guest of honor at the 12th Annual Brooklyn Artists Ball, presented by Dior, held April 25, at the Brooklyn Museum. Weems was honored for “her innumerable contributions as both a trailblazing artist and a community-focused activist.â€
More than 650 guests from the art world ...

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Carrie Mae Weems H'17 Honored at 12th Annual Brooklyn Artists Ball

Internationally renowned artist  H’17, Íø±¬ÃÅ’s first-ever artist in residence, was the guest of honor at the 12th Annual Brooklyn Artists Ball, presented by Dior, held April 25, at the Brooklyn Museum. Weems was honored for “her innumerable contributions as both a trailblazing artist and a community-focused activist.â€

More than 650 guests from the art world and beyond gathered to celebrate Weems at the event, which is the Brooklyn Museum’s largest fundraiser. This year, a record $2.8 million was raised to support the museum’s programming, including special exhibitions, reimagined collection installations and educational programs.

Carrie Mae Weems and guests at the Brooklyn Artists Ball
Carrie Mae Weems, second from right, and guests at the Brooklyn Artists Ball, presented by Dior. (Credit: BFA, Joe Schildhorn, Ben Rosser)

“We are overjoyed to be honoring Carrie Mae Weems, an artist who has made a profound impact on our contemporary culture,†said Anne Pasternak, the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, in a news release prior to the event. “Over the years, the museum has collaborated with Weems in numerous ways—from mounting exhibitions to supporting her important COVID-19 relief efforts—and we’re thrilled to highlight her remarkable achievements at this year’s Artists Ball.â€

In her remarks to guests that evening, Pasternak said, “Faced with a world shaken by inequality, division and crisis, [Weems] sought to change our field, and invited hundreds of artists to join her in magnifying the potential for cultural and social change.â€

“Almost 20 years ago, I began photographing myself standing in front of museums, wondering about their function, failures and future, and remembering the forgotten ones,†Weems says. “Museums are meant to collect, serve, preserve, reveal and educate; the best of them open their arms in welcome providing respite, deep reflection and consideration. The least of them close us out and seem to exist to remind us of the power of privilege.â€

“I have stood outside many museums and other cultural institutions—wondering how to get in,†she says. “Then one day, someone who understood the limits of power, and the winds of change, heard me knocking and led me in.”

The event’s creative art advisor, Brooklyn Museum trustee and artist Mickalene Thomas, worked with Dior to select table settings and décor inspired by Weems’ series “Slow Fade to Black†(2010), which highlights Black women in popular culture.

In celebration of the evening, Weems’ immersive video installation “Leave! Leave Now!†(2022) will enter the museum’s collection. The artwork is currently on view in the museum’s exhibition “A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration.â€

´¡Ìý (a.k.a. “Genius†grant) recipient and the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, Weems has used multiple mediums (photography, video, digital imagery, text, fabric and more) throughout her career to explore themes of cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, family relationships and the consequences of power.

Weems has created a complex body of work that centers on her overarching commitment to helping us better understand our present moment by examining our collective past. Determined as ever to enter the picture—both literally and metaphorically—Weems has sustained an ongoing dialogue within contemporary discourse for over 35 years.

In 2019, in Weems’ first solo exhibition in Toronto, Canada, curator Sarah Robayo Sheridan wrote of her work, “With a sensibility honed to the rhythms and workings of power, Weems points to a tidal pull of oppressions, inextricably linked, recurrent and indelible.”

Weems was recently named a 2023 Hasselblad Award laureate by the , a prize that is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize†of photography. An award ceremony will take place on Oct. 13 in Gotherburg, Sweden.

As artist in residence at Íø±¬ÃÅ, Weems engages with faculty and students in a number of ways, including working with students in the design, planning and preparation of exhibitions. The artist in residence program is overseen by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Table decor at the Brooklyn Artists Ball
The table settings and décor for the evening were inspired by Weems’ series “Slow Fade to Black†(2010), which highlights Black women in popular culture. (Credit: BFA, Joe Schildhorn, Ben Rosser)

Weems first came to Syracuse in 1988 to participate in Light Work’s artist-in-residence program. Over the years, she has participated in several programs at Light Work and has a long history of engaging with students and the University community.

She taught at Íø±¬ÃÅ previously, and out of her two courses Art in Civic Engagement and Art and Social Dialogue came the innovative and popular . She previously was artist-in-residence in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (2005-06) and she was a distinguished guest of the University Lectures in 2014.

In 2018, the Íø±¬ÃÅ Art Galleries (now Íø±¬ÃÅ Art Museum) acquired three significant works by Weems through a generous gift from alumnus Richard L. Menschel ’55 and the artist: “People of a Darker Hue†(2016), a 15-minute video, and “All the Boys (Blocked 1)†and “All the Boys (Blocked 2)†(2016), archival photographic prints with screenprint.

Recently, through her nonprofit organization, Social Studies 101, Weems created RESIST COVID/TAKE 6!, a public-art campaign that addresses the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Latino and Indigenous communities, which has been activated by museums across the nation and abroad. In July 2020, she was honored by the City of Syracuse for the project.

Weems has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at major national and
international museums, including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Frist Art Museum, Nashville; Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain.

She has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, including the MacArthur Fellowship, U.S. State Department’s Medals of Arts, Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, among many others.

Weems is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of American Art; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Weems has been represented by Jack Shainman Gallery since 2008.

She was bestowed an honorary doctorate by the University in 2017 (along with honorary degrees from Bowdoin College, the California College of Art, Colgate University, the New York School of Visual Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art and Smith College).

Weems earned a B.F.A. degree at the California Institute of the Arts and an M.F.A. degree at the University of California, San Diego, and studied in the Graduate Program in Folklore at the University of California, Berkeley.

Press Contact

Do you have a news tip, story idea or know a person we should profile on Íø±¬ÃÅ News? Send an email to internalcomms@syr.edu.

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Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Honored at 12th Annual Brooklyn Artists Ball
University Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Receives Prestigious Hasselblad Award /2023/03/15/university-artist-in-residence-carrie-mae-weems-h17-receives-prestigious-hasselblad-award/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:04:51 +0000 /blog/2023/03/15/university-artist-in-residence-carrie-mae-weems-h17-receives-prestigious-hasselblad-award/ Internationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems H’17, Íø±¬ÃÅ’s first-ever artist in residence, has been named the 2023 Hasselblad Award laureate by the Hasselblad Foundation, a prize that is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize†of photography.
Carrie Mae Weems © Rolex/Audoin Desforges
“Íø±¬ÃÅ is proud to have Carrie Mae Weems, one of the most prolific, i...

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University Artist in Residence Carrie Mae Weems H’17 Receives Prestigious Hasselblad Award

Internationally renowned artist H’17, Íø±¬ÃÅ’s first-ever artist in residence, has been named the 2023 Hasselblad Award laureate by the , a prize that is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize†of photography.

Carrie Mae Weems
Carrie Mae Weems © Rolex/Audoin Desforges

“Íø±¬ÃÅ is proud to have Carrie Mae Weems, one of the most prolific, influential and intriguing artists of our time, as a member of our community,†says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “She has a way of challenging cultural norms and shedding light on injustices that push us to question our own perspectives and beliefs. Her contributions to the world of art, and on communities and our broader society are extraordinary. On behalf of Íø±¬ÃÅ, I extend my deepest congratulations on this once-in-a-lifetime achievement.â€

The Hasselblad Award is an international photography prize that is granted annually to a photographer recognized for major achievements. It was presented for the first time in 1980 to Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson. The award includes a monetary prize of SEK 2,000,000 (about $188,000) and gold medal. The award also includes a medium format Hasselblad camera from the Gothenburg-based camera company Hasselblad.

An award ceremony will take place on Oct. 13 in Gotherburg, Sweden. That same day, an exhibition of Weems’ work will open at the Hasselblad Center and a new publication about Weems will be released.

“Carrie Mae Weems’s work has for decades anticipated salient issues of our time—the struggle for racial equality and human rights—with unflinching visual and ethical force. Her artistic practice is inherently activist, poignant and lyrical. She creates evocative, potent tableaux and confronts painful histories, institutional power and social discriminations,†the Hasselblad Foundation said in a statement. “At the core of Weems’s wide-ranging oeuvre is the still photograph, but she also deftly employs video, text, immersive multimedia installations and performance. She often inserts herself in her work, thus embodying and commemorating the Black female subject.â€

Carrie Mae Weems exhibition The Shape of Things
“The Shape of Things” Installation View, 2021. ©Dan Bradica. Courtesy of Carrie Mae Weems and Jack Shainman Gallery

“In the midst of the radical shifts taking place across cultural institutions, and as the first African American woman to receive the Hasselblad Award, some might say, ‘it’s about time!’ Nevertheless, receiving the Hasselblad Award has left me speechless. I don’t have the words to express the depth of my gratitude. To have my family name inscribed on this historic roster, alongside some of the most outstanding photographers of our time, is a cherished honor,†Weems says. “To be recognized comes with the continued responsibility to deliver on the promise made to myself and to the field, which is to shine a light into the darker corners of our time and thereby, with a sense of grace and humility, illuminate a path forward.  For this honor, I thank the Hasselblad Foundation and the jury.â€

´¡Ìý (a.k.a. “Genius†grant) recipient and the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, Weems has used multiple mediums (photography, video, digital imagery, text, fabric and more) throughout her career to explore themes of cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, family relationships and the consequences of power.

Colored People Grid exhibition by Carrie Mae Weems
“Untitled (Colored People Grid),” 2019. ©Silver Street Studios. Courtesy of Carrie Mae Weems and Jack Shainman Gallery

As artist in residence, Weems engages with Íø±¬ÃÅ faculty and students in a number of ways, including working with students in the design, planning and preparation of exhibitions. The artist in residence program is overseen by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Weems first came to Syracuse in 1988 to participate in Light Work’s artist-in-residence program. Over the years, she has participated in several programs at Light Work and has a long history of engaging with students and the University community.

Weems taught at Íø±¬ÃÅ previously, and out of her two courses Art in Civic Engagement and Art and Social Dialogue came the innovative and popular . She previously was artist-in-residence in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (2005-06) and she was a distinguished guest of the University Lectures in 2014.

Weems also was bestowed an honorary doctorate by the University in 2017 (along with honorary degrees from Bowdoin College, the California College of Art, Colgate University, the New York School of Visual Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art and Smith College).

In July 2020, Weems was honored by the City of Syracuse for “Resist COVID Take 6,†her project to raise public awareness about the impact of COVID-19 on people of color, promote preventative measures and dispel harmful falsehoods about the virus.

Through image and text, film, video, performance and her many lectures, presentations and culturally significant convenings with individuals across a multitude of disciplines, Weems has created a complex body of work that centers on her overarching commitment to helping us better understand our present moment by examining our collective past. Determined as ever to enter the picture—both literally and metaphorically—Weems has sustained an ongoing dialogue within contemporary discourse for more than 35 years.

“Untitled (Woman and Daughter with Makeup),” from the series The Kitchen Table, 1990. ©Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery.

Weems has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at major national and international museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Frist Center for Visual Art, Nashville; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Centro Andaluz de Arte ContemporaÌneo in Seville, Spain. Most recently, Weems curated “What Could Have Been†in the Guggenheim Museum’s first-ever, artist-curated exhibition titled “Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection.â€

One of her photographs, “The Shape of Things,†was the title piece in a 2016-17  in New York featuring works from the collection of alumnus Robert B. Menschel ’51, H’91.

She is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

In total, seven publications of her work have been produced: “Kitchen Table Series†(2016), “Three Decades of Photography†(2012), “Social Studies†(2010), “Carrie Mae Weems: Constructing History†(2009), “The Hampton Project†(2000), “Carrie Mae Weems: Recent Work, 1992-1998†(1999) and “Carrie Mae Weems†(1994).

In addition to the MacArthur Fellowship, Weems has received numerous other fellowships, grants and awards, including the prestigious Prix de Roma, the Frida Kahlo Award for Innovative Creativity, the WEB DuBois Medal, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, the BET Honors Visual Artist Award, the Lucie Award for Fine Art Photography, the ICP Spotlights Award from the International Center of Photography, and she was named an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

In 2012, Weems was awarded one of the U.S. Department of State’s first Medals of Arts in recognition of her commitment to the State Department’s Arts in Embassies program. In 2013, she received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She was one of four artists honored at the Guggenheim’s 2014 International Gala.

In 2018, the Íø±¬ÃÅ Art Galleries (now Íø±¬ÃÅ Art Museum) acquired three significant works by Weems through a generous gift from alumnus Richard L. Menschel ’55 and the artist: “People of a Darker Hue†(2016)—a 15-minute video—and “All the Boys (Blocked 1)†and “All the Boys (Blocked 2)†(2016), archival photographic prints with screenprint.

Weems earned a B.F.A. degree at the California Institute of the Arts and an M.F.A. degree at the University of California, San Diego, and studied in the Graduate Program in Folklore at the University of California, Berkeley.

About Íø±¬ÃÅ

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Press Contact

Do you have a news tip, story idea or know a person we should profile on Íø±¬ÃÅ News? Send an email to internalcomms@syr.edu.

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