WORKSHOPS
ProfessionART is a multi-format educational program designed for professional artists with disabilities
ProfessionART
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The project was designed for artists with disabilities in both the US and Russia to improve their professionalization opportunities through an eight-month multiformat educational program. Over the course of the program, we have worked with ten artists from Russia and the US providing group workshops with field professionals, as well as individual curatorial consultations. The workshops have covered topics including “Concept Development and Artistic Research, “Applying for Projects and Fundraising”, “Networking and Communicating with Institutions”, “Selling Art”, “Self-promotion and Marketing”, and “Writing about your Art”
The culmination of the project was an international group Exhibition at the Pushkinskaya-10 art center in St. Petersburg and a documentary film, showing the artists’ works developed during the program. ProfessionART has provided an avenue for dialogue and collaboration between Russian and U.S.-based art professionals, fostering a sense of community and a mutual love of art
PARTICIPANTS
SERGEY ES
Sergey Es was born in Arzamas, Nizhny Novgorod region, where he now lives and works. At the age of 19, he began to engage in art, trying his hand at painting. At the same time he was diagnosed with schizotypal disorder (F21) that after three years developed into schizophrenia. Sergei started his studies at a university at the department of arts and crafts.
However, he could not finish his studies, because he didn't fit into the traditional educational system due to his mental disorder. The following years were the most difficult in Sergey's life and were associated with drug addiction and lawsuits for bank fraud and large corporations. Sergei was forcibly hospitalized at a psychoneurological dispensary.
The author does not exclude this difficult experience from his biography. Instead he processes and reconceptualizes it in his creative work. A new chapter in Sergey's life began in 2020. He set up a studio in his hometown and began his professional development as an artist. In this process, the author prioritizes the search for his own creative language, which reflects his experiences of life with a mental illness and gives hope to creative people with psychiatric diagnoses.
— The main theme I work with is the transformation of images, concepts, ideas, forms and meanings in an individual whose thinking is fundamentally different from generally accepted standards and norms. My work process is as follows: I draw a sketch on the computer, cut a stencil out of self-adhesive film on the plotter, and, using spray paint, apply the image to the canvas. The background is pre-prepared by hand using acrylic paint. This technique is partly dictated by my illness. I have a tremor, so even large details are hard for me to paint evenly with a brush.
By working with a spray can, I leave space for randomness and carefreeness. I like that it makes the work even more unique and almost impossible to replicate. I'd like to get knowledge from competent sources about how the global art community industry is built. In addition to organizational aspects, I want to understand how to develop creative concepts and implement projects. Also I hope to meet new interesting authors, curators, gallerists and other art professionals, to immerse myself in this creative environment, and to get new ideas and inspiration.
JOAN FABIAN
“The work I do stems from the associations with the memories I have. The colors and forms I use come from a memory vocabulary.”
Joan Fabian is a visual artist based in San Antonio, Texas. She completed her BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA at еру University of Texas at San Antonio. She received a Fulbright Scholar Award to Pakistan where she worked and taught painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore. A world traveler, she has exhibited her works at Parsons School of Design in Paris and American Center in Islamabad, and completed two artist residencies in the Netherlands: in Delft and Rotterdam. She has also exhibited locally at Blue Star Artspace, McNay Art Museum and Austin’s Women and Their Work Gallery in San Antonio.
Joan works with such themes as memory, culture, hearing loss, environment and intuitive universal nature of human expression in mark making. Her work was featured at the Smithsonian International in Washington D.C. and at the Museum of Delaware, and is presented in the collections of the US Embassies of Astana in Kazakhstan and Lome in Togo. In March 2022 she created a large public art work for the lobbies of the new San Antonio City Tower entitled The Vibrant Village. Joan’s work was marked by numerous awards, including the Pollock/Krasner Artist Award and the Puffin Foundation Grant.
Joan Fabian is a visual artist based in San Antonio, Texas. She completed her BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA at еру University of Texas at San Antonio. She received a Fulbright Scholar Award to Pakistan where she worked and taught painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore. A world traveler, she has exhibited her works at Parsons School of Design in Paris and American Center in Islamabad, and completed two artist residencies in the Netherlands: in Delft and Rotterdam. She has also exhibited locally at Blue Star Artspace, McNay Art Museum and Austin’s Women and Their Work Gallery in San Antonio.
Joan works with such themes as memory, culture, hearing loss, environment and intuitive universal nature of human expression in mark making. Her work was featured at the Smithsonian International in Washington D.C. and at the Museum of Delaware, and is presented in the collections of the US Embassies of Astana in Kazakhstan and Lome in Togo. In March 2022 she created a large public art work for the lobbies of the new San Antonio City Tower entitled The Vibrant Village. Joan’s work was marked by numerous awards, including the Pollock/Krasner Artist Award and the Puffin Foundation Grant.
In 2018 she was selected as the Allen Haven Artist of the Year.
Recently Joan’s work was chosen as the design for the Department of Arts and Culture’s Official Fiesta Medal 2022.
Recently Joan’s work was chosen as the design for the Department of Arts and Culture’s Official Fiesta Medal 2022.
— I feel so honored to be part of this program and am open to new ideas and collaborations. I’m looking forward to the connection with other artists with disabilities and rejoicing in our accomplishments and growing together.
ELENA SAKHAROVA
“In my artistic practice I investigate the phenomenon of obsession”.
Elena Sakharova graduated from the Russian State Peoples' Friendship University. Her professional practice in contemporary art began at the art schools "Concept" and "Process".
Currently Elena works mainly with painting and graphics, and also studies visual culture. The artist explores themes such as the tenderness of human relationships, the thirst for love and unattainable intimacy.
— In my work, I explore the phenomenon of obsessions. I came to this theme when I would do hundreds of repetitions with a brush. For me, these shapes looked like leaves and buttons at the same time. The leaves gave me the opportunity to talk about my painful alienation and desire for unattainable closeness with people. Buttons, scattered over the surface, played out the scenario of freeing a person who was “buttoned all the way up”.
I plan to make more large-scale works, because I feel myself recovered enough to do so. Most likely they will be more obsessive repetitions that I am currently making.
Elena Sakharova graduated from the Russian State Peoples' Friendship University. Her professional practice in contemporary art began at the art schools "Concept" and "Process".
Currently Elena works mainly with painting and graphics, and also studies visual culture. The artist explores themes such as the tenderness of human relationships, the thirst for love and unattainable intimacy.
— In my work, I explore the phenomenon of obsessions. I came to this theme when I would do hundreds of repetitions with a brush. For me, these shapes looked like leaves and buttons at the same time. The leaves gave me the opportunity to talk about my painful alienation and desire for unattainable closeness with people. Buttons, scattered over the surface, played out the scenario of freeing a person who was “buttoned all the way up”.
I plan to make more large-scale works, because I feel myself recovered enough to do so. Most likely they will be more obsessive repetitions that I am currently making.
VITALIY DIVENTSOV
“I found an artist in myself and I'm trying to reveal it through different lenses of creative approaches”.
Vitaly Diventsov is an artist and curator from St. Petersburg who works in various directions. directions. The author primarily works in installations, objects, street and sound art, and tattoos.
Among his latest projects, Vitaly participated in the art-residency of the foundation “Chetverg” and the exhibition series “ARTTRACK.”
The author is experienced in working with performative practices and collaborations, for example, with the artist Serphima Sazhina. Vitaly's general practice is aimed at the search and implementation of the author’s means of self-expression.
— I have been practicing art for as long as I can remember. I did not study it anywhere, but along the way I have experimented with a large number of self-expression techniques, and am still actively searching for forms and means of artistic self-realization.
Vitaly Diventsov is an artist and curator from St. Petersburg who works in various directions. directions. The author primarily works in installations, objects, street and sound art, and tattoos.
Among his latest projects, Vitaly participated in the art-residency of the foundation “Chetverg” and the exhibition series “ARTTRACK.”
The author is experienced in working with performative practices and collaborations, for example, with the artist Serphima Sazhina. Vitaly's general practice is aimed at the search and implementation of the author’s means of self-expression.
— I have been practicing art for as long as I can remember. I did not study it anywhere, but along the way I have experimented with a large number of self-expression techniques, and am still actively searching for forms and means of artistic self-realization.
— My artistic practice does not have a unifying thematic direction. I enjoy working with templates, to fill ready-made things with their own meanings, or their absence.
I love sound, contemporary art, and experiments! This is the second residency in which I am taking part.
I love sound, contemporary art, and experiments! This is the second residency in which I am taking part.
I hope, it will become an important step on my artistic path and will begin a long-term collaboration. During the last residency I put together an alternative musical instrument, an acoustic noise machine to be exact. In ProfessionART I aim to continue developing in that direction.
OLIVIA TING
“My work is about the threshold of sound/no sound, comprehension/noise, and music/speech.”
Artist Olivia Ting, based in San Francisco, works with moving images, sound, performance, and installation. She graduated from Pomona College, Art Center College of Design, and holds an MFA in Art Practice from U.C. Berkeley. Olivia’s fascination with moving and still images stems from her hearing disability; she is deaf in one ear and has 22% hearing in the other. Without hearing aid, she hears nearly nothing; movements stand in for audio that she is familiar with, but hears and does not hear.
Audiovisual video-making is a way for Olivia to understand sounds, as a compositor puzzling how fragments of her world fit together. Having recently received a cochlear implant she is in the process of watching her brain learn how to hear again in her reconnections with musicianship as a pianist – a strange motley of memory and digital reconstruction.
I'm looking forward to building better tools to support my artistic practice, while getting to know the disabilities art community internationally.
Artist Olivia Ting, based in San Francisco, works with moving images, sound, performance, and installation. She graduated from Pomona College, Art Center College of Design, and holds an MFA in Art Practice from U.C. Berkeley. Olivia’s fascination with moving and still images stems from her hearing disability; she is deaf in one ear and has 22% hearing in the other. Without hearing aid, she hears nearly nothing; movements stand in for audio that she is familiar with, but hears and does not hear.
Audiovisual video-making is a way for Olivia to understand sounds, as a compositor puzzling how fragments of her world fit together. Having recently received a cochlear implant she is in the process of watching her brain learn how to hear again in her reconnections with musicianship as a pianist – a strange motley of memory and digital reconstruction.
I'm looking forward to building better tools to support my artistic practice, while getting to know the disabilities art community internationally.
ANNA LYUBIMOVA
“I work with the boundaries of the body, with physicality and breaking down its perception.”
Anna Lyubimova is an author, illustrator, artist, graduate of the St Petersburg Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design. She works primarily as an author and an illustrator, having twice won the international illustration competition “The Image of the Book.” In August, Anna's illustrated book about typography for beginners will be published in EKSMO.
Anna has also worked on the visual aesthetic of the support group “InvaGirls”— women, disability, feminism. In 2021, Anna participated in the contemporary art studio Episode at Ozero Gallery (St. Petersburg).
At the final group exhibition, the artist presented her project "Body. Comic as Art" which became a graphic reconceptualization of her depersonalization syndrome.
With this same project, Anna participated in the Art Weekend program of the Curatorial Forum 2021 and the anti-exhibition on the platform “The Space of Physicality”.
Anna Lyubimova is an author, illustrator, artist, graduate of the St Petersburg Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design. She works primarily as an author and an illustrator, having twice won the international illustration competition “The Image of the Book.” In August, Anna's illustrated book about typography for beginners will be published in EKSMO.
Anna has also worked on the visual aesthetic of the support group “InvaGirls”— women, disability, feminism. In 2021, Anna participated in the contemporary art studio Episode at Ozero Gallery (St. Petersburg).
At the final group exhibition, the artist presented her project "Body. Comic as Art" which became a graphic reconceptualization of her depersonalization syndrome.
With this same project, Anna participated in the Art Weekend program of the Curatorial Forum 2021 and the anti-exhibition on the platform “The Space of Physicality”.
— My work is often dedicated to the body as the subject of study in art. Together with my viewer, I become acquainted with my body, as for me it is an unexplored realm, just as it is for an outside observer. Right now I am focusing on studying the syndromes of depersonalization and derealization. I work with graphic media, but I am contemplating about taking it to the next level—dimension, installation, or performance.
— I am very glad that I will be able to exchange experiences and make new acquaintances with awesome artists. For me it is important to feel a part of a community, and not to just stew with myself. I look forward to productive work, to finding new meanings and possibilities for collaboration with other artists. I will continue working with the body and studying it, and hope that the project will inspire new ideas and perspectives for me.
MIKA CANNATA
My art explores what it is like to be a hyperactive and neurodivergent individual by investigating movement and stillness.
Michael Cannata is an interdisciplinary artist mostly working with ceramics, metal, 2D media and found items. He was born in Chicago and attended Elgin Community College, where he focused on academic research and worked at the ceramic and sculpture department. He later transferred to The New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University and received his BFA with honors. Michael participated in multiple artist residency programs, including the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark and the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago, where he was also teaching ceramics classes at the Chicago Ceramic Center. Michael is currently a long-term artist-in-residence at the Morean Center for Clay in St. Petersburg, Florida. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
I am expecting to make new artist friends and to learn about different cultures. I am planning on making a large charcoal drawing for the exhibition. I look forward to learning different professional development skills in our meetings. I am also looking forward to talking about our group exhibition and seeing it all put together!
Michael Cannata is an interdisciplinary artist mostly working with ceramics, metal, 2D media and found items. He was born in Chicago and attended Elgin Community College, where he focused on academic research and worked at the ceramic and sculpture department. He later transferred to The New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University and received his BFA with honors. Michael participated in multiple artist residency programs, including the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark and the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago, where he was also teaching ceramics classes at the Chicago Ceramic Center. Michael is currently a long-term artist-in-residence at the Morean Center for Clay in St. Petersburg, Florida. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
I am expecting to make new artist friends and to learn about different cultures. I am planning on making a large charcoal drawing for the exhibition. I look forward to learning different professional development skills in our meetings. I am also looking forward to talking about our group exhibition and seeing it all put together!
ELENA GONTARENKO
“My work is dedicated towards awakening elevated and bright feelings in my observer. In order that they may resonate with that wonder that feeds me.”
Elena Gontarenko is a photo artist based in St. Petersburg. She first got interested in photography in her early childhood, and in 1985 Elena started her own practice. Her works were marked by prestigious awards, including the Metro Photo Challenge where Elena won the Global winner nomination and was awarded a trip to Easter Island.
"Every step is a step into the unknown, the invisible" - this is how Elena describes her creative process. The peculiarity of vision, which at first was perceived as a disadvantage, became a springboard to the disclosure of the creative potential of the author, a chance to see differently. Her creative practice is a view of the world from a special state, when the boundaries between your own self and the world around you dissolve.
The world, which opens up to Elena, has many optical distortions and is deprived of visual detail due to the specifics of her vision. This circumstance is reflected in the author's photographs, which convey the energy of pauses, the state of incomprehension that turns into an epiphany.
Elena Gontarenko is a photo artist based in St. Petersburg. She first got interested in photography in her early childhood, and in 1985 Elena started her own practice. Her works were marked by prestigious awards, including the Metro Photo Challenge where Elena won the Global winner nomination and was awarded a trip to Easter Island.
"Every step is a step into the unknown, the invisible" - this is how Elena describes her creative process. The peculiarity of vision, which at first was perceived as a disadvantage, became a springboard to the disclosure of the creative potential of the author, a chance to see differently. Her creative practice is a view of the world from a special state, when the boundaries between your own self and the world around you dissolve.
The world, which opens up to Elena, has many optical distortions and is deprived of visual detail due to the specifics of her vision. This circumstance is reflected in the author's photographs, which convey the energy of pauses, the state of incomprehension that turns into an epiphany.
— My photographic works are both a luminescence and a manifested imprint of that clarity of consciousness of the inexpressible, which I process as a puzzle of the moment. My entry point into other dimensions, by contacting which I feel awaken. In order to precisely document the wonder of space that reveals itself to me as a person without 97% vision, I use unique hand-made soft-drawing lenses.
I am very glad that I was awarded the attention of the project and the possibility of curatorial support. It is important for me to formulate a goal and achieve it, to analyze the outcomes. I would like to understand how to fully realize the possibilities of the project, taking prior experience into account (photo works, unrealized projects), and unleash my potential as a portrait photographer.
MORIAH FAITH
I’m captivated by the aesthetics of the body: how its contours are beautifully curved, how flesh folds and shifts color in the sunlight or how it changes color when exposed to trauma.
Moriah Faith is a figurative painter from Black Forest, Colorado currently working and teaching out of Boston. She received her BFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design in 2020 and hopes to pursue grad school in the future. Despite growing up with a painful chronic illness, she pursued her art career relentlessly and has been internationally recognized for her self-portraits.
Most recently, Moriah received the Kennedy Center’s grand prize award for Emerging Young Artists. In 2020, she placed 2nd for Representational Excellence at the Federation for Canadian Artists. Outside of her own studio practice, she works as an Art Facilitator for persons with disabilities.
Faith’s work addresses difficult themes and subject matter stemming from her own experience with chronic illness. Her figures are painted in a very physical way, throwing, blobbing, and scraping paint from the surface, until bodies begin to emerge that feel raw, vulnerable, and damaged.
Moriah Faith is a figurative painter from Black Forest, Colorado currently working and teaching out of Boston. She received her BFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design in 2020 and hopes to pursue grad school in the future. Despite growing up with a painful chronic illness, she pursued her art career relentlessly and has been internationally recognized for her self-portraits.
Most recently, Moriah received the Kennedy Center’s grand prize award for Emerging Young Artists. In 2020, she placed 2nd for Representational Excellence at the Federation for Canadian Artists. Outside of her own studio practice, she works as an Art Facilitator for persons with disabilities.
Faith’s work addresses difficult themes and subject matter stemming from her own experience with chronic illness. Her figures are painted in a very physical way, throwing, blobbing, and scraping paint from the surface, until bodies begin to emerge that feel raw, vulnerable, and damaged.
Although painted from self-reference, not all the faces realized in her paintings resemble Faith, reflecting her struggle with body dysmorphia. Parts of the figure are abstracted, paralleling the fractured sense of self that comes from being a cog in the medical system.
Faith discovered that painting served as a neutral ground to confront painful emotions, as well as a key for pain management, slipping into a “flow” state where hours seem to pass in minutes. On canvas, she paints her invisible illness into striking visibility.
Faith discovered that painting served as a neutral ground to confront painful emotions, as well as a key for pain management, slipping into a “flow” state where hours seem to pass in minutes. On canvas, she paints her invisible illness into striking visibility.
I expect to learn more about how to successfully manage an art business and increase my confidence in my professionalism. I'm hoping to learn best practices for approaching galleries and other institutions. I plan to take a deep dive into a red self portrait I started working on but never got to finish.
I look forward to having other wonderful artists to give feedback on my work, especially because many artists can give an entirely new perspective and worldview. I'm also excited to watch everyone's artwork come together for the exhibition.
I look forward to having other wonderful artists to give feedback on my work, especially because many artists can give an entirely new perspective and worldview. I'm also excited to watch everyone's artwork come together for the exhibition.
LARISSA DANIELLE
“I create work to make the unseen seen, to take the speculative and make it fact, to make us feel like we belong, and to show and tell people not to feel pity or embarrassment for us.”
Larissa Danielle is a multimedia artist from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. She holds an A.A. from Montgomery College, a B.A. in studio arts from the University of Maryland and an MFA in sculpture from Indiana University. Her work reflects her love of natural and found materials such as plaster, organic botanicals, light, and textiles.
Through her expressive usage of materials, scale, subject matter, and form she explores the delicate conversations of sexual diversity and disability. Her subject matter talks about the relationships and boundaries of disabled and diverse bodies within the world of intimacy, sexuality, sexual freedom, and self-love.
My expectations from this project is to use the information that will be given to me through the workshops and use it to help me forward my artistic practice. I plan to work on three dimensional pieces that further discuss the topics of disability, relationships and sexuality. I look forward to hearing and seeing all the work and ideas all the artists have to offer.
Larissa Danielle is a multimedia artist from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. She holds an A.A. from Montgomery College, a B.A. in studio arts from the University of Maryland and an MFA in sculpture from Indiana University. Her work reflects her love of natural and found materials such as plaster, organic botanicals, light, and textiles.
Through her expressive usage of materials, scale, subject matter, and form she explores the delicate conversations of sexual diversity and disability. Her subject matter talks about the relationships and boundaries of disabled and diverse bodies within the world of intimacy, sexuality, sexual freedom, and self-love.
My expectations from this project is to use the information that will be given to me through the workshops and use it to help me forward my artistic practice. I plan to work on three dimensional pieces that further discuss the topics of disability, relationships and sexuality. I look forward to hearing and seeing all the work and ideas all the artists have to offer.
EXHIBITION
A MOMENT OF…
GROUP EXHIBITION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROFESSIONART PROGRAM
October 29th — November 27th 2022
Pushkinskaya-10 art center / Studio 203
Ligovsky prospect 53, bld. B, St. Petersburg, Russia
Pushkinskaya-10 art center / Studio 203
Ligovsky prospect 53, bld. B, St. Petersburg, Russia
Participating artists
US: Mike Cannata / Larissa Danielle / Joan Fabian / Moriah Faith / Olivia Ting
RU: Vitaliy Diventsov / Sergey Es / Elena Gontarenko / Anna Lyubimova / Elena Sakharova
Curated by Anastasia Patsey
Project team: Sarah D. Phillips, Maria Fokina, Alena Levina
US: Mike Cannata / Larissa Danielle / Joan Fabian / Moriah Faith / Olivia Ting
RU: Vitaliy Diventsov / Sergey Es / Elena Gontarenko / Anna Lyubimova / Elena Sakharova
Curated by Anastasia Patsey
Project team: Sarah D. Phillips, Maria Fokina, Alena Levina
The Exhibition „A moment of…“ features works by ten artists from two opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the fact that most of them never met in person, they formed a vibrant creative group thanks to regular virtual workshops and critiques for several months in 2022 as part of the ProfessionART collaboration. While their media and narratives, as well as the circumstances and conditions of their practice are very different, one can discover unexpected meeting points and mutual themes in their works.
This moment. Here. Now. What do we want it to be? During such turbulent times the planing horizon shrinks and we learn to live in the moment. Not as a way of avoiding thinking about the future, but as a way of valuing what we have right now and acknowledging how fragile and temporary this is.
ORGANIZERS
