Seven artists-in-residence at the Fondation des Etats-Unis (professionals and amateurs) are proud to present their work in the gallery on Wednesday, May 3 from 7pm to 8.30pm: Erica Ashleson, amateur photographer Fatima Cadet-Diaby, amateur photographer Laura Francese, drawings Alteronce Gumby, painter Jabu d’Oliscat, amateur painter Taylor Smith, painter Zoe Walsh, painter Every twenty minutes, we will take you on a guided tour of five artists’ studios on the fifth floor, each representing a unique artistic universe: Alteronce Gumby, painter Laura Francese, drawings Taylor Smith, painter Ximena Salmeron, mask making Zoe Walsh, painter The studios will only be accessible from 7pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday, May 3 (departing from the gallery). The official opening will take place on May 3rd at 7pm as part of Art-Hop-Polis, art hopping at the Cité internationale. The full program of the ten houses opened on Wednesday, May 3 is available on CitéScope. Join the Facebook event to receive a reminder !
The Artists
Erica Ashleson is originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She received a Bachelor Arts in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014 and studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence in 2012-2013. Her passion for photography began summer of 2013 while volunteering in Marseille. She’s currently completing a Master 2 in Art Direction and Digital Design at Sup de Pub in Paris.
Fatima Cadet-Diaby is from New York. Playwright, director and producer, she graduated recently from the Mount Holyoke College where she studied drama and she is specialized in musical theater. During the summer, she has done internships with the Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova Entertainment, The Musical Theatre Factory, Repertorio Español, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. She also enjoys painting.
Laura Francese first completed a bachelor’s degree in the History of Art and Archeology at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris. She is currently completing her second bachelor’s at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where she is developing her research in visual arts and design. She has been residing in the Fondation des Etats-Unis since September 2016. Laura’s recent creations share a common taste for narration which expresses itself in words just as much as in images. She is interested in the representation of the most simple and magical aspects of life: color, light, nature, and human relationships. However, she also questions life’s most complex qualities: the depth of facts presumed simple, the hidden faces of people and situations. Laura also has an interesting writing practice in which she is developing a dictionary of illustrated words that she plans to publish.
Alteronce Gumby is an artist from New York City. He received his Masters’ in Fine Arts from Yale University in Painting and Printmaking in May 2016. Before coming to Paris, Gumby has previously participated in international residencies such as The Dumfries House in Scotland, UK, Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria and London Summer Intensive in London, UK. Gumby has also shown internationally with various group exhibitions in New York, London and Los Angeles. Gumby’s work has evolved predominantly around the process of painting, but has also explored expression in other forms such as ceramic, poetry and performance. Gumby was granted a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship through the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris, France for the 2016-17 academic year.
Jabu d’Oliscat was reared in New York City. He is a playwright and a published essayist/columnist. He is an avid reader of Agatha Christie and John Le Carre inspired him for his second thriller novel, “Account for Me”. After his training at the specialized Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, he matriculated at the City College of New York, where he earned in 2012 his Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology and Jewish Studies. He then joined the American University Symphonic Orchestra (violinist) while completing his internship as Policy Analyst at the Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. This summer, he will earn his Master in International Development degree from Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs. Apart from music, one of his greatest passions is painting.
Ximena Salmerón was born in Texas. She graduated from La Casa del Teatro in Mexico City in 2014, one of the three most prestigious acting schools of Mexico City. She has participated in many plays and short-films both as an actress and as a director. She is a member of RáfagaTeatro, a Mexican company that specializes in producing plays in one square meter. Currently she is finishing her first of two years at the professional course at the Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
Taylor Smith received a B.F.A in Painting and a B.A. in Art History from Boston University in 2015. She has participated in several group and solo exhibitions in the U.S., France and Spain, and is currently finishing her master’s in cultural mediation at the Ecole du Louvre this year. She works across several different mediums, including oil and acrylic paint, collage, printmaking, glassblowing and, most recently, outdoor mural painting. Through a creative practice that draws on human interaction and the natural environment as her main sources of inspiration, Taylor’s pieces integrate natural and man-made forms and materials. Often beginning with an existing surface pattern, such as cracking paint on a roof terrace wall in the Canary Islands, or an “automatic drawing” consisting of a set of paint splatters and collage materials she generates herself, Taylor then adds structure to the apparent randomness of patterns she observes in nature.
Zoe Walsh (b. 1989, Washington, DC) earned their M.F.A. in Painting/Printmaking from Yale University in 2016 and their B.A. in Art History and the Visual Arts from Occidental College in 2011. At Yale, Walsh was awarded the Al Held Travel Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome in 2015. Walsh was granted a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship through the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, France for the 2016-2017 academic year. Walsh’s work has been exhibited at venues such as Abrons Art Center, New York, Yve YANG Gallery, Boston and Pieter Performance Space, Los Angeles. While in Paris, Walsh is exploring the intersections of the Romantic Movement in French painting and interfaces between interior and exterior spaces in Le Corbusier’s architecture.
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday from 10am to 12:30pm and 2:30pm to 6pm. Evenings or weekends by appointment only: culture@feusa.org