HOUSTON, TX - Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) is pleased to announce its newest class of residents for 2024 - 2025, a group of 11 outstanding local, national, and international artists working in craft media.

For more than 20 years, the Center’s artist residency program has offered time and space for craft artists to focus on their creative work and interact with the public. The program supports emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media, including but not limited to clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood and mixed media.  Residents are required to have their studios open for at least two days each week, giving visitors the unique opportunity to walk in, ask questions, and watch them work. This deeper level of interaction between artists and visitors allows the public to learn about a range of craft processes and techniques and helps artists to gain exposure, make connections within the Houston community, and educate people of all ages about craft.   
 
HCCC has increased the diversity of its artist residency program by removing financial barriers and expanding its outreach and marketing. This year, HCCC again partnered with Crafting the Future, a nonprofit working to diversify the fields of art, craft, and design, to reach a broader pool of national applicants and offer a BIPOC support grant for the incoming cycle of artists. (The grant allows artists who identify as BIPOC to receive unrestricted funding, ranging from $500 - $1,000, in addition to their monthly honorarium.) As a result of these efforts, two-thirds of resident artists have identified as BIPOC over the past three years.  

HCCC also continues to collaborate with Houston Center for Photography (HCP) on a joint Interdisciplinary Craft + Photography (ICP) Artist Residency. The residency, designed for artists creating work at the intersection of contemporary craft and photography, supports artists with an experimental, multidisciplinary edge, who are testing the boundaries within both fields. ICP residents are hosted in a studio space at HCCC and receive all the benefits of regular resident artists, as well as printing credits and digital lab access from HCP. 

The juried selection of artists is based on quality of creative work, ability to interact with the public, career direction, and program diversity. In addition to 24/7 access to studio space, HCCC provides the artists with a materials-and-living stipend, a variety of professional development opportunities, and a group exhibition at the conclusion of the residency cycle.  
 
The artist residency program is generously supported by funding from the Windgate Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the John & Robyn Horn Foundation; Susan Vaughan Foundation, Inc.; Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation; and the Gordon A. Cain Foundation. Grant support contributes to monthly stipends for the residents, as well as the operational and administrative needs of the program.

HCCC 2024 - 2025 Resident Artists

Perata Bradley, Mixed Media (Houston, Texas)
Summer - Fall 2024

Stephanie Burese, Craft + Photography (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Interdisciplinary Craft + Photography Residency 
Summer 2025
 
Atisha Fordyce, Fiber (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Spring 2025

Nela Garzon, Fiber (Houston, Texas)
Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
 
Gbenga Komolafe, Fiber (Los Angeles, California)
Fall 2024 - Winter 2025
 
Gabo Martinez, Clay (San Marcos, Texas)
Summer - Fall 2024
 
Preetika Rajgariah, Fiber (Houston, Texas)
Fall 2024 - Spring 2025

Macon Reed, Fiber (New Orleans, Louisiana, and New York City, New York)
Summer 2025

James Sterling Pitt, Wood (Houston, Texas)
Fall 2024 - Winter 2025
 
Adam Whitney, Metal (Rutland, Vermont)
Fall 2024 - Winter 2025

Dongyi Wu, Metal (Bengbu, China)
Spring - Summer 2025

The application for the 2025 - 2026 residency cycle opens December 1, 2024. More details about the artist residency program can be found at  https://www.crafthouston.org/artists/residents/apply-to-program/.