From January through May 2022, eight different artists will be in residence at the Peter Bullough Foundation (PBF), spending a month each with the organization: working in the studio space, exploring the collection, and immersing themselves in downtown Winchester. These artists were selected by the PBF’s residency committee, composed of PBF board members, friends of Dr. Bullough’s, local arts leaders, and the PBF’s first resident alumni. Roughly 15% of those that applied to the program were accepted after several rounds of review and interviews. Applications for fall and spring terms open twice per year.
These eight artists will have time and space to work on their craft, living in the late Dr. Peter Bullough’s home on West Cork Street and working in an adjacent studio space. Each artist receives a small stipend from the foundation towards their living expenses. Artists are encouraged to interact with the local community, building relationships and even hosting lectures or workshops.
In addition to visual artists, this spring’s residents include freelance journalist and nonfiction writer, Hannah Bae, who, in addition to being a 2020 nonfiction winner of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, is currently at work on a memoir about family estrangement and mental illness.
Two resident artists use unexpected materials in their work from from the very tactile to the virtual; this includes artist Lauren Baccus, whose work as a textile artist and a researcher centers around Caribbean identity construction and womanhood. She is currently completing a Masters in Textiles and Material Culture from University of Nebraska, Lincoln, while working on Salt and Aloes, her archive of Caribbean material culture from the past century. Lori Hepner, meanwhile, works primarily in photography, new media performance, and community-centered public art projects. She is currently working on an augmented reality platform for artwork and is a Professor of Integrative Arts at Penn State Greater Allegheny.
From top to bottom, left to right: Jacob Z. Wan, Ibtisam Zaman, Hannah Bae (photo by Arin Sang-urai @photojuice), Lori Hepner, Lauren Baccus, Dillon Bolton, Shirin Towfiq, and Fan Su.
Artists Jacob Z. Wan and Fan Su work across media to share their stories. Jacob Z. Wan utilizes mixed media as contemporary bookbinder, exploring identity, sexuality, and the importance of oneself. He received both his BFA and MFA from the University of Central Florida after moving to the US from China in 2014. A recent MFA graduate from Rhode Island School of Design, Fan Su’s interdisciplinary practice investigates how the body is built, formed, and controlled by politics, society, and culture; this exploration involves glass, fabric, video, and sound. Frequently focusing on the body and its parts, her installations take the viewer through the pain and flexibilities of physical anatomy.
A recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Painting and Printmaking, Dillon Bolton’s work as a representational painter explores queer culture, sexuality, and sensuality and the portrayal of male homoeroticism seen throughout art history. Similar to Dillon, artist Ibtisam Zaman’s work in painting focuses on traditional and narrative portraiture and seeks to humanise identities of people, regardless of their ethnicity, education, sexuality, or gender. Ibtisam is also an incredible spoken word poet.
Last, but certainly not least, is artist Shirin Towfiq, an artist of Iranian descent, whose work spans many forms, from textiles, photography, installation, performance, and socially engaged art. As a second-generation immigrant, her work contextualizes commonly held ideas surrounding family, memory, comfort, and self-constructed identity. She graduated from Stanford University in 2020 with a MFA.
For more information about the Peter Bullough Foundation or to sponsor or connect with an artist during their residency in Winchester, please contact info@peterbulloughfoundation.org.