Grant, Juried Collection For Sale, and More!
Modern Ornament, an art project by burnsbothends
It’s been a while since I’ve sent something out, but lots has been happening recently. I never want to waste your time with small updates, so here’s the overview!
I was awarded a Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council! This grant is helping me get equipment that will help me make better art, as well as launch a website. I’m in the middle of re-documenting my art, so the website isn’t live yet, but you’ll be the first to know when it launches. I plan to have a store along with my portfolio, information about my process, an archive of all my work, and more! Here’s a picture of me with the big check they made for all 44 recipients!
Image description: A fat white person with black and green hair, glasses, and a black N95 mask holds a comically oversized check that reads “Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council: Arts loud and clear; April 29, 2025; pay to the order of 44 Creative Entrepreneurs; $88,000; eighty eight thousand dollars, for CEA Grant, signed Pittsburgh Arts Council”. The check is obviously not valid. The background is worn brick and event clutter. 3 pieces of mine were selected for the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh juried Summer Variety store! You can see the whole collection here. My pieces are titled Numinous, Holiette, and Esoteric, and they are selling for $300 unframed, $400 framed. I’m honestly honored and flattered to be in such incredible company on the shop.
I was selected for a virtual residency at Radiant Hall Homewood, a local studio and artist programming organization. My residency is sponsored by Nisha Blackwell of the incredible Knotzland. Since I’m immunocompromised, I do not have a physical studio space in the facility, but I am participating in programming, having regular conversations with Radiant Hall staff as well as Nisha, and starting to plan a culminating exhibit for the end of my residency.
I have a few pieces up on display at Radiant Hall Homewood Suite 207, including Esoteric from the AAP store! If you go to an event there, take a look!
I’m also going to have about a dozen pieces up at the Sharpsburg Library for the month of June! I don’t have a lot of detail on this yet, but it’s moving pretty fast (understandably, considering the deadline).
I’ve been applying for all sorts of grants and calls for artists as well, and when there’s more good news I’ll be sure to let you know more. One of the things I’ve applied for would be explicitly to help me get a PAPR (powered air-purifying respirator), which would let me participate in more in-person programming safely. I am deeply hopeful that this is something I’ll be able to acquire this year, because so much of participating in the arts involves in-person events. It’s especially important because in April my partner and I finally caught COVID. It was not fun, to say the least. We seem to have come out of it with minimal lasting effects, for now, but since I’m high risk and immunocompromised, it’s very risky for me to do anything in a shared space with others (especially since most people have stopped masking).
As always, you can view all the art I make at my Tumblr - until I get my website up and running, at the very least! I have stepped back from posting a new piece every day, because I’ve also got a new full time job, but I recently have made sure I’m posting at least twice a week.