Artist Trust's Meet the Artist (MTA) program is an integral component of the annual Artist Trust Fellowship Program. Every recipient of the Fellowship is asked to create and present an event outside of their geographic area of residence or to a community that would not ordinarily have access to their work. These events must be presented within one year of receiving the Fellowship and may include a public reading, lecture, workshop,or performance. Meet the Artist events bridge our artistic community with the diverse communities in Washington State, increasing awareness about the vital roles the arts and artists play in our culture. The following are reports from selected Meet the Artist events from 2008 Fellowship recipients; click here to read more. 

The following are recent Meet the Artist events with 2008 Fellowship recipients.

On the Fairhaven campus of Western Washington University, Debra Baxter lectured about her work to a sculpture/installation class of 32 in Bellingham. She shared motivations, influences, and the truth about what her work was about. They had a lively class discussion, led by instructor and past Artist Trust grant recipient John Fedorov, about the difference between making and appropriating objects, which involved questions such as: How does being a woman influence an artist's work? How was Debra trained? What tools does she use? Debra explained how getting an Artist Trust grant has helped her to continue to produce and perfect her project for an upcoming show June 4, 2010 at the Howard House. The class was engaged and very excited to learn about Artist Trust.

Diem Chau gave a hands-on miniature tree and landscape workshop at the Asian Counseling and Referral Service in Seattle. Her main goal was to teach people something fun they can make with relatively simple tools and techniques. The class was very well-attended by a diverse group of people, from children aged 6-7 to seniors in their 60s. Diem wanted to use craft and creativity to reach out to a non-art crowd. It was her first time teaching a workshop, and had such a great time that she’s going to conduct another workshop for them in the Spring. Diem mentioned that she regularly gets asked to do workshops for groups and organizations and has regularly turned them down, until now!

James Coupe offered a presentation about his film work at the Capitol Theater in Olympia, hosted by Olympia Film Society's Helen Thornton and projectionist Joaquin de la Puente. James’s recent work involves “automatically-generated films”; he found it interesting to screen them in a movie theatre that dated back to 1924. He showed excerpts from films that influenced his work, as well as some new projects. “It was a really great experience to be able to engage with a cinema audience: it gave me a chance to discuss how my installations often include the audience as active participants.” James also introduced a new work, Today, too I experienced something I hope to understand in a few days, a project that uses Facebook status updates as film scripts, putting the audience in front of the camera.

Operation Bigfoot explores the intersection of contemporary art and cryptozoology. Two contemporary wildlife artists, Justin Gibbens, Fellowship recipient, and Eugene Parnell, former grant recipient, conducted a survey of the public, both online and in person, about their personal experiences with the cryptozoological phenomenon known as Bigfoot, or Sasquatch. The artists were on-site at Seattle's Westlake Park on July 11, 2009, as a part of ARTSPARKS to act as real-time forensic sketch artists, giving visual form to the eyewitness descriptions of Bigfoot provided by interviewees. Finished sketches from the project are available at www.eugeneparnell.com/bigfoot.

Chad Goller-Sojourner designed a class for 35 students of all levels of experience at Newport High School in Bellevue, from those who have never explored spoken word to seasoned writers and performers. Chad exposed them to the history of spoken word, several acclaimed spoken word artists and also, through writing exercises, performance exercises and feedback, students gained some basic tools needed to create and perform. The focus was spoken word that enlivens political, social, and identity issues, much as Chad’s work Sitting in Circles With Rich White Girls: Memoirs of a Bulimic Black Boy does. In the end many students expressed interest in continuing this spoken word exploration.

On a beautiful late fall Sunday afternoon, Wynne Greenwood visited the town of La Connor to share her work to a small but welcoming audience at the Museum of Northwest Art. Curator Kathleen Moles and director Gregory Robinson were gracious hosts. The concurrent exhibit, “Dreaming,” was a good fit as Wynne admired that the show was brought together by a theme and not a specific form, much like her own body of work. She was excited as well to think about herself in the context of Northwest art amongst local greats such as Kenneth Callahan.

Phillip Mazuad presented his work to a full house at Evergreen College in Olympia. The audience consisted of visual arts and photography students, other students and non-students as well. Two-thirds of his near-50 slides concerned his nocturnal work (the line of work submitted to Artist Trust's for the 2008 Fellowship), and the rest with Sur l'Herbe, an altogether distinct project. People were encouraged to ask questions and bring up comments during the presentation, which they did not hesitate to do. After the presentation several people, including Evergreen organizer Susan Aurand and Mazuad, met again later at a pleasant Thai restaurant in downtown Olympia, for more discussion of art, artists, mathematics and life over good food and Thai beer.

Lucia Neare presented her work to 50 architects and designers at Olsen, Sundberg, Kundig, Allen Architects in Seattle. The informal address included a slide presentation and discussion of her year-long site-specific work, Lullaby Moon, and focused upon how free public performance can transform and enliven civic spaces. The presentation concluded with a lively interval of questions and answers. Neare states, “This event was a wonderful opportunity to meet and share my work with others who are dedicated to transforming the landscape and culture of our city. I am very pleased to report that over the months following this presentation, a number of the architects from the firm repeatedly attended performances of Lullaby Moon, and I am so grateful to Artist Trust for fostering this connection.“

At the monthly meeting for the Seattle Dermatological Society at Virginia Mason Hospital, Ariana Page Russell gave a lecture titled "Thin Skin: Art of Dermatographia" to a group of professional dermatologists. About 5% of the general population has dermatographia but many people don't know that's what causes their skin to flare up. The doctors were surprised by some of the email and blog responses that Ariana shared regarding her artwork, which incorporates her skin condition. They liked the variety of patterns Ariana draws on her skin and photographs, and loved the wallpaper she made. Peggy Weiss, of the Harborview Art Collection, arranged the talk.

Lisa Telford held a class on making frogs out of red cedar at The Evergreen State College Longhouse’s Education and Cultural Center in Olympia. Lisa presented her step-by-step guide to making the frogs, spoke about Artist Trust, and encouraged participants to give the frogs as gifts to the Longhouse’s family of artists for its re-opening.

Jim Woodring presented his first full-length graphic novel, Weathercraft, to students and faculty in the Fine Arts Department at Washington State University in Pullman. He showed the novel page-by-page and gave a narrative explanation of the story. He also spent considerable time talking about Artist Trust and urging students to learn about the organization.

Robert Yoder conducted a workshop at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon. The workshop, titled "Cut and Paste," was open to students and teachers. Skagit Valley College used this opportunity to cross-promote the Museum of Northwest Art's current show, "Finds Refined," which Robert was in. The eight adult students were artists in various media that wanted to work with collage in hopes of adding collage elements to their own studio practice. Robert began the day discussing Artist Trust and the various beneficial offerings; he passed out information on becoming a member and other opportunities. The class was lively and eager to work, and they created images for over five hours (many even worked while eating lunch). Each student made at least four collages during the day with some making as many as eight!

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Click here to read about Meet the Artist events with 2007 Fellowship recipients.

Click here to read about Meet the Artist events with 2006 Fellowship recipients.

Click here to read about Meet the Artist events with 2005 Fellowship recipients.