2010 Voices and Visions Artists

Willy Chyr
installation artist
Chicago, Illinois
www.willychyr.com

in-residence at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, Nebraska), April 2010

“The process of working with balloons and light is one of exploration, not unlike that of scientific research.... Having created a series of sculptures inspired by bioluminescent life forms of the deep sea, I am now entering the next stage of my art. The Midwestern Voices and Visions residency program will provide me with the time and space to focus and experiment. As an emerging artist, I need a creative community in which to express myself and receive feedback. The opportunity to interact with artists from a wide range of backgrounds, and to be inspired and challenged by their work and ideas, would be the most rewarding part of the residency. My time in the residency would be used to develop new patterns and techniques of balloon twisting, to incorporate higher levels of physical computing into my installations, and most importantly, to grow as an artist."

Patrick Hammie
Painter
Champaign, Illinois
patrickearlhammie.com

in-residence at John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), July 2011

“I examine how male artists have historically represented themselves and the male nude as virile, strong, unemotional, intellectual, and aggressive, often in the context of historical themes meant to remove voyeuristic readings of the work. Coming of age in a generation that is post-Civil Rights and post-Second Wave Feminism, I challenge examples of masculinity that valorize such traits."

Ibrahima (IBé) Kaba
spoken word poet
Minneapolis, Minnesota
www.atlanticrock.com

in-residence at Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (Red Wing, Minnesota), July 2010

“This would be nothing short of a lifeline to my creative and spiritual survival. Because not only will this opportunity allow me the time and space to write again, it would give me the opportunity to reinvent my art. The project I have in mind is not only about writing, but a desire to put it all together on stage. Because for a spoken word poet like myself, the stage is the natural next stop after paper. Simply put, I would like to use this residency to write a series of poems for a script about my trip to Guinea, in hope of being a catalyst in creating dialogue and understanding between Minnesotans (and if the opportunity presents itself, Americans) and the growing African immigrant population."

May Lee-Yang
playwright | poet | prose writer | performance artist
Chicago, Illinois
www.mayleeyang.com

in-residence at Art Farm (Marquette, Nebraska), June 2010

“The story that wants to be told is humorous, fun, and crazy. Because of all the identities I carry with me — Hmong, woman, Asian American, refugee, etc. — I sometimes feel as if  I am expected to produce works about identity politics and adjusting to life in the U.S. While these are themes that frequently do emerge in my work, I want this time to explore another part of myself as an artist: I want to spend a concentrated amount of time working on the script for my next solo performance show currently entitled The Sex Lady. In all likelihood, I will change the title to Ten Reasons Why I’d Be A Bad Porn Star."

Linda Rodriguez
poet
Kansas City, Missouri
www.lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com

in-residence at Ragdale Foundation (Lake Forest, Illinois), February 2010

“My current project is a book of poetry, Indian Time. I want to work on this book as a whole in light of the vision I have for it, rather than piecemeal. With a residency, that kind of focus and concentration will be possible. With these poems, I am tracking hidden traces of ancient peoples, searching for my tribal roots wrested from me in adolescence, and at the same time, tracing the 70-year quest of the Western Cherokee for reconstitution of their tribe after it was disbanded by the government at the turn of the century. Knowing I can never be only Cherokee, too mixed-blood, truly mestizo, I stand, as I always have, as a bridge connecting white, Native American, and Latino worlds, a rich, exciting, and exceedingly uncomfortable place to be, the place from which these poems arise."

Adolfo Martinez
painter
Kansas City, Missouri
www.adolfogustavomartinez.com

in-residence at Prairie Center of the Arts (Peoria, Illinois), April 2010

“I attended elementary and high school in Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1975 went to Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas. My current work varies — from my “Sofa Size Series” about obnoxious television commercials, to the “My Familia” series that combines photographs, text, and painting. I am interested in the Midwestern Voices and Visions award because I want a different perspective of what is going on with artists in other areas of the Midwest. Being in Texas in 1975 influenced my artwork to this day, and I think this opportunity will do the same."

Mitchell Squire
sculptor | installation, performance, and mixed media artist
Ames, Iowa
www.mitchellsquire.com

in-residence at Ox-Bow (Saugatuck, Michigan), September 2010

“My practice is a consequence of situation in a geographical and cultural condition with an established relevancy to histories that extend far beyond its borders. While inaccurate to suggest I’m engaged in some type of neo-Regionalism, this is a place wherein my work resides and out of which it intends to arise, to be positioned among the most sophisticated produced by contemporary black artists. My work, though clearly inflected by issues of race, manages to avoid entanglement in the traffic of blackness. Being awarded a Midwest Voices and Vision residency would help any artist of color at so critical a point in their artistic career as mine. But what it would do for Iowa in terms of its history of nurturing a quietly provocative but steadfast emerging artist is simply long overdue."