Several CalArtians, including Cassils, My Barbarian—featuring Malik Gaines—and Cauleen Smith (counterclockwise from top), were named United States Artists Fellows.
On Tuesday (Jan. 16), the Chicago-based United States Artists (USA) announced its annual fellowship class of 45 artists and collaboratives who will each receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant for their respective art practices. The artists, selected from nine disciplines and from throughout the U.S., include CalArts alumni, faculty and guest artists.
Among the recipients:
- Cassils (MFA Art/IM 02), a multidisciplinary and performance artist and CalArts alum, has been listed by the Huffington Post as “one of ten transgender artists who are changing the landscape of contemporary art.” Cassils most recently curated the 2017-2018 Artist Performance & Lecture Series—named Vital Signs—at Stanford University;
- Art School Faculty Cauleen Smith, an experimental filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist, has work currently on view in the ROYGBIV group show at the Kate Werble Gallery in New York; and
- My Barbarian, a collective of artists Jade Gordon, Alexandro Segade and alumnus Malik Gaines (Critical Studies MFA 99), performs its latest interactive, multimedia project, Bride of the White Widow, at the Miami Light Project at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse in Miami, Fla., on Jan. 20.
Other recipients of the USA fellowship include CalArts guest artists and visiting lecturers including playwright Luis Alfaro, dancer and choreographer Oguri, and poet and cultural critic Fred Moten.
Founded in 2006 by the Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson and Prudential Foundations in direct response to the cuts in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, USA provides unrestricted support to artists working and living in the United States. Since its inception, USA has issued more than $22 million directly to more than 500 artists working in all disciplines and at every career stage.