New Faces at WSW: Spring 2016 Edition
January 22, 2016
A few weeks ago, we welcomed our first group of 2016 interns to WSW. Mary Gordon couldn’t get enough of the studio after her Summer Internship with us in 2014, so she returns as a Studio Intern along with recent SUNY New Paltz graduate Elizabeth Melnyczuk. They are joined by Allora McCullough, Chili Bowl intern, and Kieran Riley Abbott, Nonprofit Management intern. Without further ado, we’d like to introduce to you the newest members of the WSW family!
Mary Gordon
Title: Studio Intern
School: Kansas State University
Major: BFAs in Painting and Printmaking
Where are you from?: Manhattan, Kansas (the little apple)
Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Paul Klee, Ben Shahn, and Gustav Klimt
What art-making supplies did you bring with you to WSW?
The basic watercolor set I bought while visiting family in Germany. They bring back good memories, I can take them anywhere, and watercoloring is a meditative thing for me to do with minimal clean-up.
What do you like to listen to while you work?
My current Pandora station is set to Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
What are you most excited about for your time at WSW? Do you have any projects planned?
I’m really looking forward to seeing the products of Art-in-Ed and discovering the work of new artists-in-residence. I’m also looking forward to ArtFarm and getting my hands dirty this spring. I don’t have any specific projects planned yet, but I hope to experiment with new techniques and somehow integrate them into my work.
What’s your dream job?
I would really love to work in a print studio/artist space geared toward art & ecology.
Allora McCullough
Title: Ceramics Intern
School: SUNY New Paltz
Major: MFA in Ceramics
Where are you from?: I have lived in 15 different US states, but have been in New York since November 2012. So I guess it’s home for now, but my family lives near St. Louis, Missouri.
Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Ceramic artists who inspire me include: Lindsay Pichaske, Crystal Morey, and Christina West. It may be cliché, but I’ve always loved Monet. I cried the first time I saw one of his paintings in person.
What is your favorite art-making tool?
A handmade wooden curve with a knob. I don’t know what to call it, but it’s great for sculpting.
What do you like to listen to while you work?
I listen to everything from Baroque era classical to 80’s punk and contemporary pop. I try to keep studio music upbeat and energetic.
What are you most excited about for your time at WSW? Do you have any projects planned?
I’m really excited to combine some of my animal drawings with clay using silkscreen decals. It’s so nice to have a variety of studios available.
What’s your dream job?
I love travel and I love clay, so I want to make a living by selling my ceramic work at travelling craft shows. Hopefully this will also support my figure sculpture habit.
Elizabeth Melnyczuk
Title: Studio Intern
School: SUNY New Paltz
Major: BFA in Printmaking and a Minor in German Studies
Where are you from?: I grew up in East Meadow on Long Island, but since I’ve been living in the town of New Paltz the last two years I began calling my house in town “home” and East Meadow “home home.”
Top 3 Favorite Artists:
George Bellows, José Antonio Suarez Londoño, and Karen Kunc. Kunc is a practicing contemporary printmaker and professor who really inspired me after she visited New Paltz and critiqued my thesis.
What art-making supplies did you bring with you to WSW?
Moving up here it felt like my car was mostly filled with paper, some of which I made with the studio time I earned as an intern at Dieu Donné two summers ago. I also brought some silkscreens and my favorite etching needle that got spray painted yellow somewhere along the way.
What do you like to listen to while you work?
I’ve recently started a collection of girl-fronted punk bands. So far I have Rilo Kiley, Sleater Kinney, Bikini Kill, and the Cranberries on tangible CDs. I just got my own car, so I’m excited to have a bunch of CDs stashed in the glove compartment.
What are you most excited about for your time at WSW? Do you have any projects planned?
I’m most excited to be surrounded by art-making women who are driven and hilarious to talk to at potluck lunches. At New Paltz, I lived with a bunch of girls who were art majors in different areas and I really missed the creative energy that we had. I’m also looking forward to the short commute to work/the studio…only 82 steps! In terms of projects, I don’t have anything super specific planned but I’m starting to find a deep appreciation for all things silkscreen, so I think I will be making work utilizing that process.
What’s your dream job?
My dream job is to be a Master Printmaker. I am such a print geek, but my recent time spent at the Lower East Side Printshop really opened my eyes to the great relationships printers have with artists that they publish. Erik Hougen, the Master Printer there, publishes work for that shop, as well as for his own small company, and still manages to keep a personal studio practice. Working alongside him really gave me hope that I’ll get to do all that one day, too.
Kieran Riley Abbot
Title: Nonprofit Management Intern
School: University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Major: BFA inPrintmaking
Where are you from?: Minneapolis, MN
Top 3 Favorite Artists:
Tauba Auerbach, Julie Mehretu, Sol LeWitt
What art-making supplies did you bring with you to WSW?
I made sure to bring my metallic silver silkscreen ink and materials for paper marbling. Other than metallic ink, my favorite tool is an X-ACTO blade for slicing paper and vinyl into wacky or super-precise shapes.
What do you like to listen to while you work?
Beach House
What are you most excited about for your time at WSW? Do you have any projects planned?
I’m really looking forward to using the silkscreen and letterpress studios. Producing a foldout map/book is one project I’m considering; possibly a calendar.
What’s your dream job?
In the future I want to start an artists’ book publishing press. The working title is Xallarap Press.