Artpace Unveils Spring 2025 Residency: A Blooming Era for Women Artist

This spring, Artpace invites you to immerse yourself in a vibrant world where rich cultural narratives and flourishing landscapes come to life. With a visionary guest curator and a groundbreaking new residency exhibition, prepare to be captivated by powerful storytelling, bold artistic expression, and themes woven from culture, memory, and political advocacy. Step inside—experience the art, engage with the stories, and be inspired by the Spring 2025 Artist-in-Residence exhibition featuring the works of Lorena Molina, Anita Fields, and Laura Veles Drey, curated by Jami Powell. 

Lorena Molina, Cuando el  Regreso es la cosecha, 2025. Assorted plastic bins, chairs, benches, plastic crates, concrete blocks, plants, soil, sand, framed photographs, fermented, vegetables in glass jars speakers, grow lights, metal garden beds, 360 x 246 x 102 inches. Image courtesy of Samantha Ysaguirre.

The space opens with international artist Lorena Molina's work, Cuando el regreso es la cosecha. The work is constructed from natural elements, including corn, beans, bananas, medicinal plants, and wild Texas flowers. Scattered throughout the space are plastic bins, chairs, plants, and canned, fermented vegetables; Molina incorporates brightly colored plastic containers filled with plants reflecting the vibrant hues of homes and abundant harvests in El Salvador. With the installation, the artist explores themes and experiences related to forced migration in El Salvador and focuses on the hope and yearning to return to this geographical location. Visitors are encouraged to plant seeds and listen to cumbia songs. Engaging with the space and leaving behind significant personal objects allows for an ongoing process of renewal, which fosters reflection and a sense of community.

Anita Fields, When the Elk Created the Earth, 2025. Clay shards, gold spray paint, manufactured practice target elk, 38x 66 x 50 inches. Image courtesy of Samantha Yasaguirre.

Anita Fields,The Earth Carries a Memory, 2025. Print on fabric, hawk bells, yarn, vintage ribbon, braided thread, print on chiffon, 50x 46 inches. Image courtesy of Samantha Ysaguirre.

The following gallery room features artist Anita Fields's work, Where the Light Shines Through. This work explores the kinship between humans and the earth, offering a traditional experience that invites viewers to witness her sculptural craft through an Indigenous Osage lens. Fields guides viewers through ancestral memory with Osage material culture, such as the sculpture piece, When the Elk Created the Earth — a gold-sprayed elk figurine highlighting the resilience and survival of the Osage narrative. Each artwork is constructed with rich textures and detail,  exploring themes of generational knowledge through Native American techniques such as finger weaving, embellishment, and ribbon work, highlighting the importance of personal connection. At the room's center hangs The Sun Leads You Home - a house-like structure with gossamer walls that includes worldly items such as keys and her grandmother's museum tags, mirroring archival preservation techniques and ancestral knowledge. It symbolizes a deep connection between shelter and memory, emphasizing the role of healing in our lives. It suggests that spaces and experiences can serve as a haven, emotionally and physically, inviting the audience to reflect on their past family narratives and traditions they carry.

Winding up to the second floor is the final exhibit of the Spring 2025 residency, where artist Laura Veles Drey showcases Nothing Grows in a Straightline. The artwork explores migration, labor, storytelling, and familial connection through a multi-sectioned installation utilizing familiar materials such as paper ties, plastic produce bins, and embroidery textiles. As they enter the space, visitors encounter layers of a story interwoven in time, memory, and place, revealing the threads that symbolize life tied in connection, migration, and its intersection with race, class, labor, and geography, all while emphasizing the importance of storytelling and reclaiming histories.

Laura Veles Drey, Ancestral Garden, 2025. Digital prints on Lokta fiber paper, plastic produce bags, acrylic  paint, ink, thread 240 x 4 x 120 inches. Image courtesy of Samantha Yasguirre.

Each artist had a unique background and history, yet despite their differences, through their artistic voices and experience during their art residency, they could find a form of community and shared creativity through exploring themes about agriculture, land, memory, and healing. Fields noted that the chemistry was immediate with the other artists, making the collaboration all the more meaningful. She stated,  "When we came here for orientation, it was clear to me that we all had a lot of things in common."  The sense of connection shared amongst the artists revealed another layer to their creative processes, allowing them to collaborate in a way that enriched their artistic expressions and reflected throughout their work.

Artpace’s Spring 2025 Residency Exhibition is open through July 13, 2025. Gallery hours are 10 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday and 12 PM to 5 PM on the weekend.