2023-2024 POST-BAC RESIDENTS
FaSade Fagoroye
FaSade G. Fagoroye (B. 2001) lives in NE, Washington D.C and will be graduating In May 2023 with a BA in Studio Arts and a minor in French and Francophone Studies at Dickinson College, PA. As a visual artist FaSade holds a deep fascination with narrative drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and bookmaking. In particular she is drawn to the language created between images (primarily with the integration of traditional visual storytelling elements) and text as a mode to explore ideas pertaining to history, race, and identity in America.
“I believe that the Modern Ancient Brown Post-Baccalaureate Residency in Studio Art will allow me the opportunity to expound upon themes that I am currently exploring in my work (storytelling, identity, and race) as well as provide me the space and time to continue my experimentation with book art and narrative painting and drawing. I am excited this fall to be able to be in an environment, engaging in meaningful conversations with a community of BIPOC artists and thinkers who are similarly grappling with these ideas.”
Saylem M. Celeste
Saylem M. Celeste (they/themme) is a Detroit-born, place-based, Transformative Justice Practitioner that utilizes art, facilitation, and sound for collective liberation and healing. A lost generation quilter, saylem has incorporated the legacy of quilting into their practice as a guiding principle, in order to circumvent symptoms of capitalism and other carceral systems as a means to access liberation and freedom for traditionally misrepresented communities.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to develop new methods, experiments and techniques for providing communal care! With a dedicated space to evolve my practice with intention, I look forward to the ways in which this opportunity for artistic development with Modern Ancient Brown will guide the blossoming forms of care I seek to provide for Detroit."
Isabella Kiser
Bella Kiser is an interdisciplinary Filipino American artist from Chicago, IL currently based in Detroit, MI. She uses fibers, sculpture, performance, virtual reality, and sound to build her world of Soft Architecture. Kiser defines this term as “a malleable and ever-changing building technique that is in constant exchange with memory. It is a fabritecture of susceptible surfaces formed from intangible experiences.” Her work critiques American productivity culture, explores concepts of home, her identity and relationship with race, otherness, and examines physical sensations associated with both comfort and discomfort. Kiser received a BFA in Studio Art and a BS in Environmental Studies from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Combined Degree Program.
“I am ecstatic and honored to be the next Modern Ancient Brown Post-Bac resident. This residency will provide me with the knowledge, physical resources, and community support that I need to accelerate and push boundaries within my practice."
Cassandra Mayela
Cassandra Mayela (b. Caracas 1989) is a self-taught textile artist working and living in New York since her forced migration from Venezuela in 2014. Her personal experiences have shaped her curiosity for clothing’s story-telling capacity and how migration affects one’s perception of identity. Her work is largely community-orientated, exploring one’s feelings of belonging through garments' materiality and fundamental changes in fabrics.
Most recent exhibitions include: EFA NY (NYC, 2023) JO-HS (CDMX, 2023), NADA House (NYC, 2022), Olympia (NYC, 2021), NARS Foundation (NYC, 2021), La Salita (NYC, 2020), and Vacation Gallery (NYC, 2019).
"I see this as a life changing opportunity, not only for my practice but as a whole experience. I’m honored and excited to see what can come out of it."
As part of its developing Core Program, the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation will launch its Post-Baccalaureate Residency in Studio Art and Critical Studies. The Foundation wants to support studio practitioners as well as artists seeking to develop their work in dialogue with Critical Studies. Each year, four Post-Baccalaureate Artists in Residency will be chosen for a five-month residency. As a part of the Core Program, the Post-Baccalaureate Residents will have access to our 1,000 sq ft studio space located in Southwest Detroit. Each Fall and Spring one Resident will be chosen from Detroit and one Resident will be chosen from a national pool. The two Residents will share studio space. The Detroit Resident will receive a monthly stipend of $1,500 per month and . The national Resident will also receive a monthly stipend of $1,500 per month along with an additional $1,500 to help with accommodation in Detroit. Should they wish, Post-Baccalaureate Residents will have ample opportunities, facilitated as appropriate by the Foundation, to interact with the broader Metro-Detroit community of artists, writers, and scholars. The minimal commitment asked of each Resident will involve: use of the studio space; participation in crits and mentoring; a conversation at the Foundation about their work with an invited audience; participation in one curated dinner conversation at the Foundation; permission to publish some of the work undertaken at the Foundation in the Foundation’s annual publication of work by Residents, Fellows, and invited participants; and finally, we ask that the Foundation be acknowledged upon publication or exhibition of work supported by the Foundation. The program will make invitations to a diverse group of Post-Baccalaureate Residents to encourage them to take the time and space to explore their chosen media.The application cycle will begin in January 2023 with results announced in April 2023. The Foundation highly encourages BIPOC applicants.
THE RESIDENCY
