Austin artist and Okay Mountaineer Sterling Allen has been chosen to be an artist in residence at Artpace San Antonio in 2009. Though it’s just down the road from us, this is a major deal, as Artpace draws artists from all over the globe – each two-month residency includes one artist from Texas, one from the U.S. outside the state, and one from abroad – and gives each artist not just an apartment and studio space but a weekly living stipend; a materials budget; wood, metal, and computer facilities; and technical and administrative support, all for the purpose of creating new work, which is then exhibited for two months. Allen will live in Artpace and create new art from late January until late March, and his new art will be exhibited starting March 19 with a nice, fancy catalog. In residence with him will be Christian Tomaszewski of New York and Richard Grayson of London. Curator Trevor Smith – currently curator-in-residence at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College – had a studio with Allen as part of the selection process. As if that weren’t great enough, Allen will follow up his Artpace residency with a May-June residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Neb. Every year, Bemis provides more than two dozen artists from around the world with studio spaces, living accommodations, and monthly stipends in a pair of urban warehouses totaling 110,000 square feet. In past years, great local artists like Peat Duggins and Young-Min Kang have had residencies there.
This article appears in June 20 • 2008.