Athens Residency Fall 2019
Tomashi Jackson (born 1980, Houston, TX) is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, textiles, sculpture, and video to place formal and material investigations in dialogue with recent histories of displacement and disenfranchisement of people of color, resulting in formalist compositions of exuberant color, bold geometries, and intricate layerings of material. She was invited as part of the Parrish Art Museum’s 2021 annual invitation to an artist to consider the entire Museum as a site for works that transcend disciplinary boundaries, encouraging new ways to experience art, architecture, landscape, and community.
Miranda Lash is the Ellen Bruss Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Lash has organized a wide range of exhibitions including Eamon Ore-Giron: Competing with Lightning/ Rivalizando con el relámpago; Jason Moran: Bathing the Room with Blues; Keltie Ferris: *O*P*E*N*; the retrospective Mel Chin: Rematch; Rashaad Newsome: King of Arms; and Swoon: Thalassa. In 2017 Lash and Trevor Schoonmaker co-organized the acclaimed exhibition Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art. From 2008 to 2014 Lash was the founding curator of modern and contemporary art at NOMA.
In the Fall of 2019, ARCAthens’ second residency took place—hosting ARCAthens Visual Art Fellow Tomashi Jackson and ARCAthens Curatorial Fellow Miranda Lash. This six-week program was our first collaboration with ATOPOS cvc—a non-profit arts organization located in central Athens. During the residency the Tomashi and Miranda lived and worked in a dedicated space within the headquarters of ATOPOS cvc.
Between diving deep into the antiquities of Athens, to exploring the city’s contemporary cultural offerings, ARCAthens’ programming provided a diverse selection of activities for the Fellows to learn and immerse.
Facilitating exchange and encouraging discourse between the Fellows and the Athenian community are integral parts of our program. Much of the calendar was dedicated to creating opportunities for this cross-pollination of ideas which took on many forms—from conversations at a table to visiting active spaces.
Dynamic interaction was also cultivated through group gatherings such as a ‘meet-and-greet’ with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Fellows of ARTWORKS, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017 to nurture and support Greek artists. Held in the courtyard of ATOPOS cvc, topics of conversation ranged from how artists and institutions approach social issues, to how access to information and education has transformed in society. There was particular interest in understanding the nuance between the different ways that such issues manifest themselves in Greece, Europe, and the U.S.
Both Miranda and Tomashi each spent a day with Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) students from the 12th Laboratory run by Associate Professor Poka Yio, which opened opportunities for sharing and learning. Tomashi and Miranda, established professionals in their respective fields, imparted knowledge and, in turn, got a glimpse into the thoughts and conversations happening among the coming generation of emerging artists in Greece.
Tomashi and Miranda also spent time researching and creating. Miranda would often zip around town for studio visits with local artists (or meetings with curators), while Tomashi would focus on working with materials and talents she had found in Athens.
In the mix were cameos from members of ARCAthens’ Advisory Council showing their support: artist Jannis Varelas, artist and professor Pedro Barbeito, and art historian Kalliopi Minoudaki.
On October 29th, ARCAthens held a public event at newly-opened the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation—a formal platform on which Tomashi and Miranda shared insights into their practices as well as thoughts on their experiences in Athens. (More about the event here.)
On November 15th the ARCAthens Fall 2019 Residency Program concluded with each Fellow leaving with not only enriching experiences, but with enough curiosity still to return for more.