Maria Gaspar

Maria Gaspar (born 1980)[1] is an American interdisciplinary artist and educator.

Maria Gaspar
Born1980
Chicago, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
EducationBFA Pratt Institute, MFA University of Illinois at Chicago
Known forInstallation art, Sculpture, Performance art, Social Practice
Notable workRadioactive: Stores from Beyond the Wall, Unblinking Eyes, Watching, Sounds for Liberation, 96 Acres Project, Brown Brilliance Darkness Matter, On the Border of What is Formless and Monstrous
AwardsLatinx Artist Fellowship; Guggenheim Fellowship in the Creative Arts; United States Artists Fellowship; Art Matters Award; Robert Rauschenberg Artist As Activist Fellowship; Creative Capital Award; Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist Grant; National Endowment for the Arts; Sor Juana Women of Achievement Award, National Museum of Mexican Art

Her works have been exhibited at venues including the MoMA PS1[2] in NYC, Museum of Contemporary Art located in Chicago,[3] Artspace in New Haven, CT,[4] African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA, and many others. Gaspar's work has been written about in the New York Times Magazine,[5] Artforum, The Chicago Tribune, Hyperallergic, and many other publications.

Early life and education

Gaspar was born in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago in 1980. She is first-generation to parents who migrated from Mexico to Chicago's West Side in the 1960's. Her mother was a teacher and professional clown and later went on to be a community-radio DJ in Little Village at a station called WCYC that was part of the Boys & Girls Club.[6] Gaspar has stated in numerous interviews that her mother's work has deeply influenced her art. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, which had a strong art department, and started her public art career painting community murals.[6] She received a BFA from Pratt Institute in 2002 and in 2009 she received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.[7]

Career

Gaspar is an Associate Professor of Contemporary Practices at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gaspar was the founder and director of The 96 Acres Project.[8] Gaspar's body of work has received numerous awards including a 2022 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2015 Creative Capital Award,[9] and a 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellowship,[10] amongst many others.

Notable works
  • Unblinking Eyes, Watching[11]
  • Radioactive: Stories from Beyond the Wall[12]
  • Sounds for Liberation[4]
  • The 96 Acres Project (2012–2016) is a collaborative project that examines the impact of incarceration through artistic interventions at the Cook County Jail located in her native community in Chicago.[13][14]
  • Brown Brilliance Darkness Matter[15]
  • On the Border of What is Formless and Monstrous[16]
  • City As Site[17]

Awards
  • 2022 Latinx Artist Fellowship[18]
  • 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship[19]
  • 2021 United States Artists Fellowship[20]
  • 2020 Frieze Impact Prize[21]
  • 2020 Art Matters Grant[22]
  • 2018 Imagining Justice Art Grant[23]
  • 2017 Art Matters Grant[24]
  • 2017 Chamberlain Award for Social Practice at the Headlands Center for the Arts[25]
  • 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellowship[10]
  • 2015 Creative Capital Award[9]
  • 2015 Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist Grant[26]
  • Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts in 2014 by art critic and historian, Lori Waxman[27]
  • 2008 Sor Juana Women of Achievement Award in Art and Activism from the National Museum of Mexican Art[28]

References
  1. "Brown Brilliance Darkness Matter | National Museum of Mexican Art". nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  2. Cotter, Holland (2020-09-24). "Making Art When 'Lockdown' Means Prison". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  3. "UBS 12 x 12: New Artists/New Work: Maria Gaspar". MCA. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  4. Wu, Brianna (16 October 2017). "What does liberation feel like? Laughter". yaledailynews.com. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  5. Bradley, Adam (2022-08-11). "The Artists Taking on Mass Incarceration". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  6. "Maria Gaspar". People Issue. 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  7. "mgaspa". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  8. "96 Acres Project". MIT – Docubase. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  9. "Creative Capital – Investing in Artists who Shape the Future". www.creative-capital.org. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  10. "Maria Gaspar". Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  11. Kamin, Blair. "New Chicago Architecture Biennial opens and wants to upset the way you see the city. That's why you should see it". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  12. Davis, Ben (2019-12-30). "The 100 Works of Art That Defined the Decade, Ranked: Part 2". Artnet News. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  13. Waxman, Lori. "Chicagoan of the Year in Arts: Maria Gaspar". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  14. "What Role Can Artists Play in Prison Reform?". Hyperallergic. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  15. "An Experiment in Reimagining Freedom: A Profile of Maria Gaspar". Newcity Art. 2016-04-19. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  16. "Maria Gaspar". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  17. Anania, Billy (2022-04-18). "Sustainability as a Form of Resistance in Art". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  18. "Latinx Artist Fellowship". Mellon Foundation. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  19. Greenberger, Alex (2022-04-08). "Guggenheim Fellowships Go to Filmmaker Ja'Tovia Gary, Artist Maria Gaspar and More". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  20. "United States Artists Announces 2021 USA Fellows". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  21. "Frieze Impact Prize In Partnership with Art for Justice". Frieze. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  22. "Art Matters Announces 2020 Grant Recipients". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  23. "2018 Spring Grant Recipients Announced – Art for Justice". Art for Justice. 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  24. "Art Matters Foundation". Art Matters Foundation. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  25. "2017 Artist in Residence awardees – Announcements – Art & Education". www.artandeducation.net. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  26. "Artist Programs » Artist Grants". joanmitchellfoundation.org. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  27. "2014 Chicagoans of the Year". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  28. "Sor Juana Women of Legacy | National Museum of Mexican Art". nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.