2023 Whitaker Artist-in-Residence Exhibition
June 30th - July 29th
2023-2024 Whitaker Artists-in-Residence Marina Peng and Mee Jey explore ideas of cultural identity and isolation, motherhood, and, ultimately, survival through textile-based works.
Craft Alliance proudly presents the 2022-2023 Whitaker Artist-in-Residence cohort: Marina Peng and Mee Jey. For over 15 years, the Craft Alliance Artist-in-Residence program has given early-career artists engaging with craft the space and professional support to build their practice through teaching opportunities, studio access, and funding for materials and professional development. The 11-month program culminates in an exhibition and catalog documenting their time at Craft Alliance.
Marina Peng
Marina Peng (b. 1995) is a visual artist from and based in St. Louis. She received her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions both locally and regionally at spaces including ACRE Projects, Dream Clinic Project Space, Granite City Art and Design District, The Kranzberg, The Luminary, The Millstone Gallery at COCA, PLUG, and the University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery. Recent awards include a Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, a Critical Mass for the Visual Arts Creative Stimulus Award, and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. In addition to her art practice, she is a co-organizer of PSA:, a city-wide public art initiative.
Mee Jey
Born in a large, farmer family with very limited resources in India, Mee Jey’s childhood was spent learning life-skills of using resources in the most efficient manner. These learnings took her to nature, mythology, and books helping to interweave these complimentary sources of knowledge closely.
With research degrees in History and Field Archaeology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, she went on to receive MFA degree in visual arts from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. With solo exhibits and performances at Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum,
Bruno David Gallery (St. Louis), Middlesex University ( London, UK), India Habitat Center (New Delhi). Jey’s works have been shown in group shows in Athens (Greece, Europe), New York (MA), London (UK), Michigan, Miami (FL), St. Louis (MO), Alton (IL), New Delhi (India). She was Artist-in-Residence at the Laumeier Sculpture Park (MO, 2022), Procreate Project (London, 2023) and Resident-Teaching Artist at Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2022-23). She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Craft Alliance and Creative Lab Fellow at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2023). She recently was awarded St. Louis Visionary Emerging Artist Award (2022) and Mother Art Prize International Residency in London (UK, 2023).
Artists-in-Residence at Craft Alliance
For over 15 years, the Whitaker Artists-In-Residence program at Craft Alliance has supported emerging and mid-career craft artists looking to expand their artistic horizons and develop their practice in a collaborative, community-based art center.
Craft Alliance is proud to offer this 11-month program to up to two artists each year, starting in September and ending in July. Artists share a private studio and have access to our six main studio areas outside of class. In addition, they receive a monthly materials stipend, a professional development reimbursement fund, tuition waivers for workshops per session, and various teaching and professional development opportunities. The residency culminates in a group exhibition at the Craft Alliance Staenberg Gallery.
This program is funded by the generosity of the Whitaker Foundation.
