16 Recent Art Exhibitions in NYC That I Found Inspirational (by Women)

December 01, 2019 in INSPIRATION, ART

I regularly see art exhibitions in NYC and beyond and I have been trying to make sure I show up for shows featuring women artists. Because women are still extremely underrepresented in the art world, it makes me very excited and somewhat hopeful when I see work in galleries and museums by women.

I’ve been meaning to share this post as a roundup of some of my favorite recent shows for a while, but have been delayed because: I had to find all the photos in my phone and download and upload and you know, I wanted to have something intelligent to say about each piece (I mostly gave up on this, but I may add thoughts later), and I kept having more and more to add and just got overwhelmed with the post.

Tonight I decided I just need to post what i have so far because I think it is important to record my own personal inspiration and also to document who is showing women. Hopefully you can see some of this work and/or follow these artists (note: some are not alive) and maybe be inspired to see more shows wherever you are! I’m extremely spoiled because I am in a city with art up all the time. I’m sorry many of these shows are no longer up — I will try to be more prompt in the future. If you want to see what' I’m seeing in real time, follow me on instagram @stephanie.echeveste_art or @distillcreative.

Below are some shows I’ve seen recently. Check them out!

CURRENT SHOWS

Tianyi Zhang At Elijah Wheat Showroom

On View: until December 15, 2019

Where: Elijah Wheat Showroom at 1196 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn

It’s hard to be successful at video art, but Tianyi Zhang’s 99 Agreements is fascinating and well done. Her use of character, place, and language plus the expert installation by the Elijah Wheat Showroom team create a really moving show. Check it out before it’s over!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tianyii1/

Website: http://www.zhangtianyi.org/

Haegue Yang at the MoMa

On View: until April 12, 2020

Where: MoMa at 11 West 53 Street, Manhattan

Try to go during one of the ‘daily activations’.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yanghaegue/

Website: http://www.heikejung.de/

VIa instagram.com/sadgirlpop by Christine Mi

Christine Mi at Pearl River Mart

Christine Mi runs the comic Sad Girl Pop and is part of the show Asian Babies at Pearl River Mart.

You can follow Christine Mi on Instagram at @sadgirlpop.

On View: until January 12th, 2020

Where: Pearl River Mart at 395 Broadway, NYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sadgirlpop/

Website: https://www.patreon.com/sadgirlpop

Shantell Martin at Church on Governors Island

On View: Permanent?

Where: Governors Island, NYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shantell_martin/

Website: https://shantellmartin.art/

(On my list to see: Jody MacDonald, ,Friday and Sunday 1-6pm until January 17, 2020 at Radiator Gallery and Zilia Sánchez at Museo del Barrio, Wednesday to Saturday 11am – 6pm, Sunday 12pm – 5pm, until March 22, 2020)

PAST SHOWS

Pia Camil at the Guggenheim

This was a one time performance, which included a children’s choir and a fabric artwork that everyone stuck there heads in, but I think the most notable thing was how many brown people we present. It made me feel like I belonged.

On View: When: Friday, November 8, 2019

Where: Guggenheim at 1071 5th Ave, NY, NY

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piacamil/

Website: https://www.piacamil.me/

Carmen Herrera in City Hall Park

I discovered Carmen Herrera’s first major outdoor sculpture exhibition Estructuras Monumentales while walking home from my studio one night when the F train was rerouted to the A line. It was a lucky accident to stumble upon her work, which was moving to see in the dark. I did not now of her work and now cannot wait to learn more.

On View: July 11th - November 8th, 2019

Where: City Hall Park

Instagram: NA https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/carmenherrera/

Website: NA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Herrera

Esperanza Cortés at Smack Mellon in Dumbo

On View: September 28 - November 3rd, 2019

Where: Smack Mellon at 92 Plymouth St., Brooklyn, NY 11201

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esperanzacortes11/

Website: http://www.esperanzacortes.com/

Tschabalala Self at MoMA PS1

Read this interview with Tschabalala Self in T Magazine!

On View: June 9–September 8, 2019

Where: MoMA PS1 at 11 West 53 Street, Manhattan

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tschabalalaself/

Website: http://tschabalalaself.com/

Gina Beavers at MoMA PS1

On View: March 31–September 2, 2019

Where: MoMA PS1 at 11 West 53 Street, Manhattan

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gina_beavers/

Website: https://www.drawingroomplay.com/ginabeavers

Julie Becker at MoMA PS1

Where: MoMA PS1 at 11 West 53 Street, Manhattan

When: June 9–September 2, 2019

Instagram: NA https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/juliebecker/

Website: NA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Becker

Leslie Roberts at Minus Space in Dumbo

On View: September 7 - October 26th, 2019

Where: Minus Space at 16 Main Street, Suite A, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lesliejaneroberts/

Website: https://leslierobertsart.com/home.html

Anna Valdez’s Bird Vase in Studio via Hashimoto Contemporary — Anna Valdez’s *Bird Vase in Studio* via Hashimoto Contemporary

Anna Valdez at Hashimoto Contemporary in LES

On View: October 5 - 26th, 2019

Where: Hashimoto Contemporary at 210 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missannavaldez/

Website: https://www.annavaldez.com/

Mrinalini Mukherjee at the Met Breuer

The show was particularly moving for me. Check out this review.

On View: June 4 - September 29, 2019

Where: Met Breuer at 945 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10021

Instagram: NA https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/mrinalinimukherjee/

Website: NA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrinalini_Mukherjee

Maria Qamar at Richard Taittinger Gallery in LES

On View: August 1 - October 6, 2019

Where: Richard Tattinger Gallery at 154 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hatecopy/

Website: https://hatecopy.com/

Rachel Ness at 1969 Gallery

I was here via NYC Crit Club and we actually got to talk to the artist and learn more about her process and basically I wrote down MAKE MORE STUDIES because Ness does studies so well and it shows.

On View: September 8 - October 27, 2019

Where: 1969 Gallery at 103 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccanessart/

Website: http://www.rebeccalness.com/

Shyama Golden at The Hall

On View: September 20th, 6pm

Where: THE HALL at 9 Hall street in Brooklyn NY

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shyamagolden/

Website: https://shyamagolden.com/

Guanajuato, Guanajuato -- land of my great-grandparents

November 10, 2019 in ART

Earlier this year I went to Guanajuato, Guanajuato and León, Guanajuato to visit the places where my great-grandparents are from. The scenery of both areas — Guanajuato, Guanajuato and Hacienda Echeveste, León, Guanajutao, were both fascinating and gorgeous. I have many thoughts about this trip that I think will be coming out in new work soon, but for now here are some watercolors I did while wandering the streets of Guanajuato. I took an Urban Sketching Tour - Airbnb Experience with Pau which really helped me get over my fear of sketching in the streets. It also sparked my #100daysofwatercolor project, which I started soon after I got back to NYC. I hope to get back to Mexico and continue exploring my family history.

Mural for JPG Legal / Distill Creative

October 17, 2019 in STYLE, ART

All year I’ve been wanting to do a mural and I am finally doing it! I am not much of a painter, more of a fiber artist and printmaker, but I have gotten more and more interested in painting, partially due to my work as an art consultant (see Distill Creative). I also had a lot of fun doing watercolors for the #100dayproject and have been taking an oil portrait class, so painting has been on my mind.

I started this process with Jeremy (JPG Legal)’s employees by having us all go on a photo scavenger hunt. We walked around DUMBO and took photos of places that inspire us.

Next, we put all the photos together and picked our favorite ones. Then I took those and thought about them and created a design inspired by those photos and our experience.

Stay tuned for progress!

Fall update: Fellowships & my self-guided MFA!

September 16, 2019 in IN THE STUDIO, ART

I have been busy these last few months both working in the studio and starting a few fellowships I just got into!

I am super excited to be a teaching artist fellow at the Center for Urban Pedagogy and a Creative Community Fellow with National Arts Strategies. In addition, I just started Art Career Monthly, an art crit group led by NYC Crit Club!

This is all part of what I call a self-guided MFA — basically pulling together free or cheap resources to give myself a well rounded arts education and build networks in the art world and art for social change world. In addition to the fellowships, I’m taking a Spanish class at Idlewild, Introduction to the Portrait with Manu Saluja at NY Academy of Art, Choreography classes at EXPG when I can, Barre classes at Shakti Barre, taking a bunch of skillshare classes in Graphic Design on my own. and trying to do 15 hours of studio time a week.

Already I feel overwhelmed and like I’m in the first semester back to school, but in a very good way. I know I have a lot of skills to develop to be the artist I want to be and I also know I need structure in order to stay accountable and use my time wisely.

Last year I was part of the Thrive Mastermind group, which had monthly online meetings, and I found that helped me keep art top-of-mind, but I realized what i really wanted was to be able to gather physically with other artists near me (hello, I’m in NYC) and also get critiques of my work to push me further. I enjoyed my time in the mastermind group and I’m going to continue in their online network as I do think it’s important to be a part of networks bigger than myself!

Last semester I also took the Building a Second Brain class (Tiago is the husband of my friend) and already I am using the skills and techniques I found in that class to be more organized and feel less like ‘AHH THE INTERNET’. Everything I read, learn, am inspired by, now goes somewhere (more or less) and I feel like it makes what I do much more valuable because it’s actually building up to something — or many things — instead of just coming into my brain and leaving. I’m basically making my treasure chest of ideas and mini plans so when I am ready to execute I don’t have to start from scratch. Using Tiago’s methods has also helped me think about how I want to approach my art practice and create my own method for developing new work and finally I feel like I can and I can stop trying to figure out what everyone else is doing (because most of them don’t know and/or it cannot be replicated!).

It seems like a lot of people my age still don’t really know what they want to spend their time on or what they want to do with their lives — or they’ve reached their initial goal and are like “now what?” and I am very, very thankful that I do not feel that way. This is mostly why I am super excited when I can go into the studio on a Saturday or Sunday (and don’t have social plans) or why I’m not as interested in escaping my life — like I am sure a vacation would be nice and I love to travel, but I’d much rather be doing the work I want to be doing. (That being said, I do go a little crazy if I don’t have some form of inspiration on the horizon, but I luckily live in NYC where I can just walk down the street and stumble upon something).

Do I sometimes wonder ‘What is the point?’ — yes. I do. And sometimes I cry and feel overwhelmed. But more often then not, I now that right now I don’t really need to have a grand answer — I just need to keep going. Keep learning, keep building my business, and keep making art.

Happy fall!

-Stephanie

100 Days of Abstract Watercolors - Day 82!

August 02, 2019 in ART

I am only 18 days away from completing the 100 day project!!!! For the past 82 days I’ve been doing one abstract watercolor a day.

It started out extremely hard and I hated everything I made, but now it’s just something I do and I am either am indifferent about the piece or I love it.

I really enjoyed this particular challenge because it’s forced me to just play around with watercolor, which is something I 'have been trying to learn. I love the way paint moves with water and I like playing around with different colors and styles. I try to limit myself to 10 minutes when making these!

Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Stephanie Echeveste_100 Days Abstract Watercolor_100 Day Project_7.jpg

Stephanie Echeveste_100 Days Abstract Watercolor_100 Day Project_13.jpg

Stephanie Echeveste_100 Days Abstract Watercolor_100 Day Project_27.jpg

100 days abstract watercolor - 1 (1).jpg

100 days abstract watercolor - 1 (2).jpg

100 days abstract watercolor - 1 (4).jpg

You can purchase any of these abstract watercolors on my shop here! Just check out my Instagram account @stephanie.echeveste_art to see which day you want and then write it when you purchase!

Woven Memories: A Fiber Art Exhibition

June 24, 2019 in ART

Last week we had the opening party for Woven Memories: A Fiber Art Exhibition, which was the culmination of my teaching residency with SU-CASA at Grand Street Settlement in the Lower East Side.

We had artwork from the participants of my class on the wall, including embroidery, weavings, shibori, and macramé. It was really lovely to see all of their work and I am very proud of each of them! They all create unique, beautiful works of art using techniques they did not know previously.

We celebrated with a DJ and had a true dance party. The center and I also gave out certificates to everyone who participated and some students even came up and spoke about the class. I was very touched by all the kind words an by how happy everyone was to see their work up on the walls and celebrate.

This experience was much more rewarding and uplifting than I expected, it was also harder than I expected, but helped me grow as a teacher and an artist. I am thankful to have spent so much quality time with the seniors in my neighborhood and I hope to be back with them soon!

Above are images of some of their work. You can read through my other blog posts on SU-CASA that I wrote throughout the program.