Samantha Jane Mullen Named Next Thurber Park Artist-in-Residence
The Madison Arts Commission is pleased to announce sculptor Samantha Jane Mullen will be the next Thurber Park Artist-in-Residence.
Mullen will move her studio practice to the Trachte Building in Thurber Park at the beginning of October. There she will create art in polymer clay, paper clay, and mixed media, and open her process to the community through monthly open studios and workshops.
The Thurber Park Artist Residency provides a local artist with a free private studio space, community engagement funding, and public art mentorship.
An opening reception celebrating her residency will be held Tuesday, October 6, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm at Thurber Park, 3325 Thurber Ave. The public is invited to meet the artist, view her work in progress, and learn more about Samantha's hopes and intentions for her residency.
Samantha Jane Mullen is exactly the kind of emerging artist MAC wants to bring to Thurber Park: bold, curious, generous, and willing to invite the public into her process. This residency is about more than showcasing finished work, it's about building a space where an artist can grow and the surrounding neighborhood can watch creativity happen, ask questions, and get their hands dirty alongside her. We couldn't be more excited to provide her an opportunity to move production out of her home and into a designated studio space and to see what she creates there during her residency.
Nick Pjevach, Madison Arts Commission Chair
I feel like an adventurer embarking upon a journey into the unknown, buzzing with energy, ideas and anticipation while also humbled and intimidated by my selection as the next Thurber Park Artist-in-Residence. The creation of art has always been a relatively private act for me, unless you count my pets and partner, who have had no choice but to live within the chaos of creation on every surface of our home for years. I am so grateful to, for the first time, have a space fully dedicated to my practice where I can welcome the public into that same chaos and share the beautiful mess that is sculpting. I believe curiosity, creativity and play are vital to humanity and if I can in any small way help build safe spaces for those things to flourish within my community I will have done my duty as an artist. I plan to take advantage of this residency to go bigger and weirder than ever before and to use this opportunity to not only expand my sculpting vision but to build bridges with other creatives of all ages and disciplines. Let's make teeth! Monsters! Music! Dance! Friends! Come find me in the park.
Samantha Jane Mullen, Thurber Park Artist-in-Residence
About the Artist
Samantha Jane Mullen is a sculptor and multidisciplinary creator in Madison, WI using polymer clay, paper clay and various other mediums to create playful yet shocking narrative works focused upon our connection to the land, society, childhood and monsters. Samantha Jane builds a mythology within her work around colorful and beastly incarnations of mental illness, celebrating and inviting the creatures within like wolves to the fire and giving them a little treat. From years of hawking her artistic wares on the streets of New Orleans to being shown in galleries internationally, this self-taught sculptor has accepted the unpredictable plot of living and intends to dance forward into the bizarre with an open heart and busy hands.
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Jennifer Bastian Completed
Focused on fiber arts, memory, and processing grief through hands-on community workshops and projects like the Community Grief Garland and neighborhood banners.
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Ash Armenta Completed
Printmaker and UW-Madison alum who engaged the community in print, drawing, and kitemaking/flying/playing.
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Eric Adjetey Anang Completed
Inaugural resident who showcased woodworking & coffin making from his Ghanaian roots.