OPEN SOURCE: Creative Expression: The Art of Writing it Down for Yourself

Join Artspace New Haven in its Open Source 2022 Art Festival: In Common Spaces for a program in its week-long series with IfeMichelle Gardin, nico wheadon, and Gabriel Sacco for a three-part, choose-it-yourself writing workshop exploring the ways in which cultural producers write about artistic work, and artists tell stories and write statements and grant applications. The workshop will begin with a mapping of these various writing perspectives for 15-30 minutes. After, participants will break out into groups with each of the leaders based on their interests for a crash course in art writing, storytelling, and artist statements and applications. We will write together for 40 minutes. Followig the breakout sessions, participants will gather again for a 30 minute Q&A  to summarize takeaways. 

nico wheadon’s writing section

Storytelling: Successful writing for art reviews, criticism, and other published texts. 

IfeMichelle Gardin’s writing section

Organizing workflows: We will spend time Journaling lists for pursuing our Creative passions

Gabriel Sacco’s writing section

Artists statements and pitches: We will spend time identifying key concepts in your practice and writing them into a short elevator pitches and concise artist statements.

The title of this workshop, Creative Expression: The Art of Writing it Down for Yourself, was developed by IfeMichelle.

IfeMichelle Gardin is a Cultural Coordinator, beginning in 1995, with the IfeTayo Cultural Arts Festival, 2005-08 Kwanzaa celebrations at Long Wharf Theater, and as community engagement lead for the Shubert Theater, Arts Council of Greater New Haven and Yale University. Ife created the Arts@Work Project in the summer of 2009 to teach youth about the opportunities in production and backstage positions in theater. The production was performed at Yale Afro-American Cultural Center and at the National Black Theater Festival in North Carolina. 

Ife created and founded the Elm City LITFest in 2020. Elm City LITFest is a celebration of LITerature, LITerary Artists and LITerary Arts of the African Diaspora. In 2022, Ife founded KulturallyLIT the mission is to enhance awareness of the Arts of the African Diaspora. KultuallyLIT produces DiasporaCON, a Elm City LITFest, LIT KWANZAA celebration, and the Diaspora Book Awards.

nico wheadon is an independent arts consultant, curator, educator, and writer based in New Haven, CT. She is also founder and principal of bldg fund, LLC; a visiting critic at the Yale School of Art; and a board member at The National Academy of Design and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. An advocate for BIPOC and womxn artists in all endeavors, she uses her myriad platforms to deepen the canon of contemporary art, whilst cultivating an engaged community of practice. As a consultant, nico delivers cultural strategy to artist-entrepreneurs, cultural institutions, government agencies, and philanthropic foundations—her approach is informed by her unique perspective as a practitioner working across sectors. An independent curator, nico has recently curated exhibitions at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Welancora Gallery, Sapar Contemporary, and Future Fairs, and has supported strategic initiatives at the Legacy Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Barrett Art Center, and the Association of Art Museum Curators. nico is a contributing writer to Artnet News, The Brooklyn Rail, and C&, and is the author of Museum Metamorphosis: Cultivating Change Through Cultural Citizenship, published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers and The American Alliance of Museums Press. In recent posts, nico served as an Adjunct Professor of Art at Brown University, Barnard College, and Hartford Art School (2016 – 2021); Inaugural Executive Director of NXTHVN (2019-2020); Inaugural Director of Public Programs and Community Engagement at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2014-2019); Curatorial Director of Rush Arts Gallery (2007-2010); and Curatorial Assistant at The Studio Museum in Harlem (2006-2007). nico holds an MA in Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship from Goldsmiths, University of London (2011), and a BA in Art-Semiotics from Brown University (2006).

Gabriel (Gabe) Sacco (He) is an interdisciplinary artist who performs for video, sound, images, and writing. Gabriel is from New Jersey and graduated from Fairfield University with a BA in International Studies and Politics. He lives in Shelton, CT and holds an MFA in Visual Art from Rutgers Mason Gross School of The Arts. Gabriel is an educator, learner, and worker who develops ideas surrounding social responsibility and the role of usefulness in art making, anti-racist pedagogy, and generative and sustainable production models for artists. Cooking, sewing, and gardening influence Gabriel’s practice as an inheritance of the deceased.