2023 CARD Fellow: Paloma Vianey

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The Phillips Collection is proud to announce our inaugural cohort for the CARD Fellowship, a collaboration between the Phillips, the Nicholson Project, and the DC Public Library to support the local art community. Meet artist Paloma Vianey, a multimedia artist from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

CARD Fellow Paloma Vianey

Could you tell us a little bit about your artistic background and journey so far?

I began painting during my teenage years when the violence in my beloved hometown (Ciudad Juárez, Mexico) peaked. As I began painting the urban landscapes I grew up in, the language of painting gave me a sense of freedom I had never experienced before. My work became about portraying the strengths and vulnerabilities of my community. Additionally, as someone who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border every day for school, my work depicts this aggressive division in the North American landscape. When I moved to the United States five years ago, I experienced a harsh difference in culture and politics. The longer I distance myself from my home city, the more I reflect on my experience growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border, helping me conceptualize my work further.

What are your ambitions and aspirations as an artist, and how do you think the fellowship can support you in achieving them?

As an immigrant and emerging artist who moved to Washington, DC, at the beginning of this year, I have found it difficult to make meaningful connections within the area’s art scene. I have built a strong work ethic and have a prolific art practice, but I do not have much sense on how to professionalize and make my work sustainable. I hope this opportunity ameliorates that, as I could really use the guidance.

I am excited about being part of a fellowship that would connect me with The Phillips Collection, the DC Public Library, and The Nicholson Project all at once. I need experts in the arts to guide me on how to professionalize my work. Additionally, I am very excited about the promotional support provided, the bi-weekly meetings, and all the feedback I will obtain that will help self-improvement.

From Paloma Vianey’s Chimarras Paintings series

How do you envision your art positively impacting the community?

My work educates the public about a city that is almost two thousand miles away from here. Through the paintbrush, I am telling a different narrative than the one portrayed by the media. Additionally, I am painting vernacular places that would normally not be represented in the sanctity of an oil painting, places that have witnessed all aspects of Mexican life.

Paloma Vianey, Ciudad Juárez, 2021, Oil on canvas, 45 x 56 in.

Which artist inspires you and has influenced your artistic journey so far?

It is difficult to name just one artist. Teresita Fernández and her installations reflecting on land and colonialism have always inspired me. Adriana Varejão, a Brazilian artist, helps me expand my understanding of painting and how versatile the medium can be. Njideka Akunili Crosby and her intimate, beautiful portraits are also a big inspiration.

From the Archives: Stokely Webster Sketch

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Library and Archives Detail Megan Sommerfeld on a favorite find in the Phillips’s archives.

During my Library & Archive Detail I focused on processing the Research Office’s documents on the artists whose work is represented in The Phillips Collection. The goal of Archival Processing is to improve both the physical and intellectual access to information. To achieve such improvements many steps must be taken such as surveying, arranging, describing, and preserving materials with archival safe storage materials. One aspect I love about processing is that it is so hands-on. In order to properly process archival materials, one must go through the file thoroughly to ensure all materials contained are housed safely. While processing the file of artist Stokely Webster, I came across a very special find: A sketch by Mr. Webster, created in 1994 when he visited The Phillips Collection. Mr. Webster graciously left the sketch with the Director’s Office after his visit. The sketch depicts Richard Diebenkorn’s Girl with Plant (1960). Currently, Richard Diebenkorn’s Girl with Plant is on display; you can pay it a visit on the second floor of the Goh Annex.

Sketch by Stokely Webster at The Phillips Collection in 1994

Regarding sketches, Stokely Webster once stated, “If your observations in making this ‘sketch’ have been keen and sensitive, the very fact that they were done quickly and without hesitation may make them more telling than a version of the subject done later from the sketch in the studio.”[1] Looking at Webster’s sketch it is clear he completed the sketch quickly and without hesitation. What stands out in most detail is the figure in front of Diebenkorn’s Girl with Plant; Webster emphasizes the figure’s side profile and stance in relation to the painting and the doorway of the gallery. I personally wonder what sparked Webster’s interest to capture this moment. I found it fascinating how he labeled different areas of his sketch “red” and “yellow” to recall which colors were used by Diebenkorn. In the end, Webster was far less concerned with technique and instead focused on, “Finding for himself a simple way to get what he sees transferred to the Canvas.”[2]

Now, I invite you all to visit The Phillips Collection with your sketchbook and pencil and sketch what inspires you during your visit, just like Stokely Webster did during his visit in 1994.

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about Stokely Webster or other artists with work represented at the Phillips Collection, please email archives@phillipscollection.org to make an appointment.

[1] Stokely Webster, Stokely Webster and His Paris, New York, London, and Venice, 2001.

[2] Webster, Stokely Webster and His Paris, New York, London, and Venice.

Shifting Perspectives through Photography

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Phillips Educator Kimberly Willison reflects on the Phillips’s 2023 Summer Teacher Institute, which focused on how photography can empower us to see differently.

Photo of Frank Stewart by Cheriss May, Ndemay Media Group

With the school year underway, it’s a wonderful time to reflect on the powerful impact professional learning can have on the lives of teachers and ultimately their students. A collaboration with the University of Maryland, The Phillips Collection’s 2023 Summer Teacher Institute had the theme of Focal Point: Shifting Perspectives through Photography. The five-day institute inspired by Frank Stewart’s Nexus, attracted over 35 educators from public and private institutions near and far, including many teachers from schools in Washington, DC, northern Virginia, and Maryland, and even some from as far away as Navajo Nation, Chinle, Arizona and Ecuador.

Photography is all about perspective—we see a person, place, or object through the lens of the photographer and also through the lens of our own perceptions. Teachers brought their rich perspectives to the week-long institute motivated by a desire to join a community of arts integration educators, a belief that arts integration can improve student learning, and an interest in exploring photography as an artistic medium for themselves and their students. The participants learned strategies to support social and emotional learning while learning about the Phillips Collection’s artworks, artists, and resources.

During the week, the educators learned from three local artists. Phillips Education Assistant and artist Davinna Barkers-Woode led a workshop about elements of photography including composition, viewpoint, and perspective.

Photo by participating teacher Jon Berg exploring viewpoint and perspective

Phillips Educator, artist, and former special needs art teacher Monica Cohen Lenoff led participants through a workshop to create masks expressing hidden and revealed parts of their identities.

Photo of Reveal/Conceal Mask by participating educator Elizabeth Clarke

DC-based portrait and editorial photographer Cheriss May led an interactive photography workshop about storytelling and shifting perspectives. She provided professional guidance on techniques for capturing powerful moments through photography and inspired educators to make meaningful connections with those they photograph.

Photo by participating educator Amanda Dempsey working with reflective surfaces

Working with some of the themes explored in Frank Stewart’s photographs, the educators considered how photography might be used to explore, refine, and communicate our understanding of our ancestors, our culture, and the world around us. They thought about how a shift in perspective might open up possibilities for seeing our everyday surroundings, ourselves, and others in a new light. They considered how photography might be used to open up lines of communication in their classrooms to allow for deeper interpersonal connections and awareness and acceptance of varying perspectives.

Photo by participating teacher Angela Cirillo capturing elements of culture

As a culminating project, the participants constructed a visual autobiography through photographs to consider how their personal identity, culture, and life experiences impact how they see the world. They examined how varying perspectives, composition, and other elements of photography can empower us to see differently. Through this process, they explored how factors like power, empathy, self-awareness, and respect play into the art of photography.

Reflecting on the Summer Institute, one participant commented, “This was a very enriching experience and one I am so happy to have participated in. I look forward to sharing techniques with colleagues and students.” Likewise, the Phillips Education team looks forward to welcoming students and teachers to the museum this school year.