Atlantic World Art Fair Partners with Fountainhead Arts — First Artist in Residence: Curtis Santiago
Atlantic World Art Fair (AWAF) is thrilled to partner with Miami’s Fountainhead Arts, an arts organization that empowers artists to build a better future. The Atlantic World Art Fair and Fountainhead Arts are committed to elevating the practices and careers of contemporary artists from the Atlantic Caribbean region and its Diasporas.
Founded in 2008 by collectors Kathryn and Dan Mikesell, Fountainhead Arts operates a residency program that invites domestic and international artists to live and work in Miami for one month. This new partnership will allow one artist participating in each Atlantic World Art Fair to complete a residency.
Artist Curtis Santiago is the first to be selected for the prestigious Fountainhead Artist-In-Residence program. Curtis was presented in AWAF 2022 by Kingston, Jamaica-based online gallery platform Suzie Wong Presents. His residency is scheduled for October 2023.
From the 96 artists featured in AWAF 2022, a shortlist of 10 artists was selected by curator Maria Elena Ortiz, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. The final review was completed by a panel of curators and scholars, which included Allison Glenn, a senior curator at Public Art Fund in New York; Susanna Temkin, a curator at El Museo del Barrio in New York; Rodrigo Valenzuela, a Fountainhead alum, visual artist and professor of photography at the University of California Los Angeles; and Melissa Wallen, the director of the de la Cruz Collection in Miami.
Lisa Howie, founding director of Atlantic World Art Fair, says: “Congratulations to artist Curtis Santiago! Born and raised in Canada with Trinidadian parentage, Curtis is known for his miniature dioramas that create other worlds. Although Curtis is also a painter, I like that Fountainhead chose an artist working in such an unusual medium. This is important to the work of the Atlantic World Art Fair, which annually presents a catalogue of artwork that often challenges traditional art expressions from the region.”
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with AWAF to bring a Caribbean artist to live and work in Miami and be immersed in its unique Caribbean heritage,” says Kathryn Mikesell, co-founder and executive director of Fountainhead Arts. “Partnerships like these help us create important dialogues between our two regions and further elevates the voices of artists living along the Atlantic.”
Susanne Fredricks, founder of the online art platform Suzie Wong Presents: “As the gallery that presented Curtis’s artwork at the Atlantic World Art Fair 2022, we are very proud that Fountainhead has selected him for their stellar residency programme, and we look forward to a fruitful engagement!”
About Fountainhead Arts
Fountainhead’s mission is to elevate artists’ voices, visibility and value in our society and make their work accessible in a welcoming and inclusive environment. Offering a year-round residency program and the countywide open studio program Artists Open, Fountainhead empowers artists to build thriving careers while cultivating and nurturing a community that supports them and their work. Major support for Fountainhead is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Florida Division of Arts and Culture, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation, the Arison Arts Foundation, and others. Learn more here
About Atlantic World Art Fair
The Atlantic World Art Fair is the only online marketplace dedicated to contemporary Caribbean art from the region, the Atlantic islands, and the region’s wider Diasporas. This is a dynamic, under-represented art territory with complex, intertwined histories, relations and cultures informed by peoples of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. The Atlantic World Art Fair offers a catalogue of provocative artwork from emerging to established artists. Learn more here
About Artist Curtis Santiago
Curtis Santiago is best known for his miniature dioramas that recreate stories pulled from the headlines and shed light on underrepresented histories. His work has been exhibited globally at museums and biennials, including the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art in 2019, the New Museum, the Drawing Center, and SITE Santa Fe. In his multimedia practice, Santiago transforms reclaimed jewellery boxes into scenes that feature creative retellings of oft-catastrophic events. These diminutive but powerful tableaus serve as memorials and calls for social change. Learn more here