We welcome Van Maltese as our incoming International Randal Chair in Painting this semester!

Vanessa Maltese (she/they – b. 1988, Toronto, Canada)
Multidisciplinary in breadth, Vanessa Maltese’s practice deploys various forms of trickery and illusion to pose questions about perception. Maltese is interested in the plasticity of the brain, and how conflicts of perception have the power to change our methods of thinking, even in common everyday experiences. 

Maltese received a BFA from OCAD University in 2010. In 2012, Maltese was the National Winner of the RBC Canadian Painting Competition and in 2018 they attended the Glenfiddich Artist in Residence Program. Maltese has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions across North America, most recently at COOPER COLE, Toronto (2021); Mickey Gallery, Chicago (2020); Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago (2019); Night Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); the National Gallery Library and Archives, Ottawa (2017); Carl Louie, London ON (2017); Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York (2016); Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, New York (2016); Art Museum of the University of Toronto, Toronto (2016); and Erin Stump Projects, Toronto (2012). Maltese currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

Siennie Lee, a current graduate student in the Alfred/Düsseldorf Painting program has been selected for the prestigious and highly competitive artist residency program at the Fine Arts Work Center. 

Since its creation 50 years ago, the Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship has become one of the leading residency programs in the world. 

Each year, the Work Center offers 20 seven-month residencies to a juried group of emerging visual artists, fiction writers, and poets, each of whom receive an apartment, a studio (for visual artists), and a monthly stipend of $1,000 plus an exit stipend. Residencies run from October 1 through April 30. During this time, Fellows have the opportunity to pursue their work independently in a diverse and supportive community of peers. 

The Fine Arts Work Center has hosted more than 1,000 Fellows since 1968, nurturing an accomplished and far-reaching alumni network. The impact of the experience is best illustrated by the extensive list of awards Fellows have gone on to win, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, Prix de Rome, Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Grads attended the opening exhibition “Adjustable Monuments” at the Philara Collection, a contemporary gallery in the Dusseldorf which seeks to promote local emerging artists. The artists participating in the show question how history has been publicly commemorated by exhibiting personal monuments and narratives.

Students traveled a short distance from Dusseldorf to visit Duisburg where a large art collection is exhibited in the MKM. On the outside the museum takes the appearance of the old mill factory where it resides, however on the inside its stunning modern architecture mirrors the prolific 20th century artists on display.

Our grads had the chance to visit Professor Stefan Kürten’s studio to view some of his recent work and hear more about his artistic process.

Grads had the opportunity to travel to Berlin and Leipzig for gallery and museum tours.

In early September, students attended Professor Stefan Kürten’s exhibition HousesHomes at the Beck & Eggeling gallery

The first weekend in Düsseldorf our grads had the pleasure to attend an exhibition by their professor Kevin Wixted.

The first week our grads were in Düsseldorf they participated in the Kunstpunkte, a city wide open student event. Grads exhibited recent artwork with their two professors, Kevin Wixted and Stephanie McMahon. At the opening students met artists from Düsseldorf’s vibrant local art community.

Work exhibited by Grads:

Nina Yushan Lai

Isabel Monti

Siennie Lee

Madeleine Speicher Willis

Emma Barnes

One of the first exhibitions our grads visited in Düsseldorf was at the Kunsthalle.

The show was curated to welcome and celebrate Düsseldorf’s Japanese community, which is the largest in Germany.
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Artists: Takeoka Yūji, Nara Yoshitomo, Murase Kyōko, Andō Yukako, Kinoshita Ryō, Karin Sander, Nakahara Masao, Anca Muresan, Magdalena Jetelová and Arakawa Sōya
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curated by Gregor Jansen and Alicia Holthausen.