ARTWorks
Known as ARTWorks, the initiative is structured as a six-month fellowship focused on career sustainability for emerging, underrepresented visual artists in New York City.
ARTWorks Fellows receive practical knowledge to navigate the aesthetic and socioeconomic complexities and substructures of the New York art world. Through fiscal and technical support, Fellows develop a creative vision and practice, expand their professional network through in-person meetings with art world luminaries, gain knowledge from lectures on diverse topics related to their field, and exhibit their work in the Community and Miller galleries at JCAL. Fellows are also regularly mentored by an appointed “master artist,” whose experience and insight will provide guidance to the cohort.
About the Program Manager
Sherwin Banfield is a Queens, NY based mixed-media artist with recent work attempting to explore journeys of identity and ancestry. Sherwin's creative practice tends to deconstruct the imaginative and physical journey of identity within his preferred subject matter, the human experience. While exploring the journey of his subject, he would seek to draw a connection between their personal stories and established culture, frequently imposing mythological and imaginative ideas as accessories within his sculptures. His portrait busts and figurative works are expressions of mood meant to draw out the inner identity of his subjects. Accompanying each sculptured identity are accessories of light, sound and/or cultural references that hyper realize this identity to compliment the organic design of their facial, skull and anatomical structure. The goal is to create a projection of attitude, aura and lived experience within his sculpted figures.
Meet the 2025 Resident Fellows
Courtney Symone Staton, is a Black, North Carolina - raised director, producer, poet, and editor dedicated to facilitating change through the sharing of stories. As lead producer, her debut documentary “Silence Sam,” a participatory poetic hybrid about a movement to remove a Confederate monument from UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus, premiered at BlackStar in 2019 and has now screened across the country. Her work has been featured on PBS, the Washington Post, the News & Observer, Ms. Magazine, among others. A 2018 NeXt Doc Fellow, she works to drive viewers past the point of empathy to the point of healing and action.
Julia D. Shaw is a dynamic, self-taught, emerging artist from Jamaica, Queens. She reignited her childhood dream and artistic passion in 2016. Julia’s vibrant mixed-media creations incorporate upcycled materials, photography, drawing, painting, fiber art and collage. Shaw’s healing journey through art inspired her to become a teaching artist, sharing her craft in workshops across New York. Julia’s artwork has graced numerous group exhibitions, from QPA’s Annual “Colors in Black” Art Exhibit, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Queens College Library, Flushing Town Hall, to the prestigious Harlem Fine Art Fair and, the 65th Annual Fulton Arts Fair.
Marleen Moise is a Haitian and queer multidisciplinary artist native to Queens, New York. Their work centers around themes of self-exploration and community as they use their art to share stories, connect with others, and ultimately, heal. Marleen uses their ability to create intimate and thought-provoking images to envision how safe spaces would look and feel for traditionally marginalized groups, especially Black queer people. Through photography, Marleen strives to help others feel seen, heard, and loved.
TEDF is a printmaking artist born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He works predominantly in relief printmaking, dabbling in mixed media and painting. With ten years of practice, TEDF developed an unorthodox method of implementing printmaking’s tenets; carving but not printing. The mounted block itself communicates an assurance with every cut, scrape, or break not felt when printing. Musicians and athletes predominantly inspire TEDF. The spontaneity in developing melodies and the unpredictable nature of sport enamor him.He employs this spontaneity in his process by using creative energy to execute each piece directly, forgoing a sketch/proof of concept stage.
Eujin V. Ra is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, video, animation, and 2D media. Her practice blends rhythmic motion, layering, and musical elements to create immersive narratives that explore personal and cultural experiences. Her work has been featured in The Road Ahead (RIVAA Gallery, NYC, 2024) and Resonance (Miller ICA, Pittsburgh, 2024). Eujin has received honors including the Carnegie Mellon Student Leadership Award (2024) and the Samuel Rosenburg Award (2023).
Laura OsCam is a Colombian interdisciplinary artist born in 1990, raised in a family where embroidery and craftsmanship were essential for making a living. She earned a degree in visual arts, exploring themes of beauty and body agency through illustration. After migrating to the U.S. in 2018, she struggled to reconnect with her art until the Guggenheim Museum invited her as a Teaching Artist. Her personal journey through grief and trauma now informs her mixed-media sculptures, blending textiles, clay, paper, and thread. Laura’s work reflects migration and body agency while she serves as a museum educator across New York City institutions.