The Artists Alliance / Alianza de Artistas Inc. is a New York City based not for profit composed of artists from a broad spectrum of national backgrounds, working in a wide variety of different media. AAI is dedicated to promoting discussion and awareness of the visual arts, sharing information with the public, promoting interaction with local communities, and providing forums for artists.

The artists in A Curious Thread are participating in or are recent graduates of M.F.A. programs in New York City.

Max Glaser received a B.A. with Honors in History and Literature from Emory University in 2008. He is a second year M.F.A student at the School of Visual Arts. Max sees his studio as a laboratory where he can reinterpret the memories to which he has strong emotional connections – such as his childhood fascination with monsters and the decorative surroundings of his southern upbringing in Atlanta, Georgia. He works with found materials including wood, glass and other items associated with construction. His desire to create stems from an innate need to fill spaces.Lori Merhige received a B.A. from the School of Visual Arts in 1999 and her M.F.A from Hunter College in December, 2009. She shares studio space with James Weingrod in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Lori has exhibited extensively during the time between her studies, in addition to managing her family’s lace company. She finds inspiration in the textile crafts that have been lost or taken for granted in contemporary times. Storytelling and fantasy inform her practice and add a narrative layer to her crafted surfaces.

Lori Merhige received a B.A. from the School of Visual Arts in 1999 and her M.F.A from Hunter College in December, 2009. She shares studio space with James Weingrod in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Lori has exhibited extensively during the time between her studies, in addition to managing her family’s lace company. She finds inspiration in the textile crafts that have been lost or taken for granted in contemporary times. Storytelling and fantasy inform her practice and add a narrative layer to her crafted surfaces.

Tom Pnini received his B.A. in Education and Art Teaching from Hamidrasha Beit Berl College in Kalmaniya, Israel in 2008, where he was honored with the Outstanding Artistic Excellence Award the same year. He is a second year M.F.A student at Parson’s School of Design at the New School University. His recent series, the “Demo” projects are interventions in the public space that use some of the same characteristics as a theatre set to create playful, surreal, large-scale illusions captured on video and presented as short films. Like all good theater, the viewer is both aware of the project's artifice and beguiled by the fantasy presented.

Maria Jose Duran received both her B.A. in Fine Arts and a High School Teaching License from at Universidad Finis Terrae, Chile in 2006. In 2008, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship (2008-2010) and the Chilean National scholarship (2008-2010). She graduated in Spring 2010 and received the Alumni Scholarship award to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York. Using childhood as a referent, Duran explores the interconnection of vulnerability – fear – protection as an emotional chain that supports her practice and guides her interest in soft materials that are capable of maladroit, visceral transformations.

James Weingrod received his B.A. in Visual Arts from Brown University in 2004, where he was honored with the Roberta Jocelyn Award for Excellence in Art the same year. A graduate from the Hunter College MFA program in December, 2009, James has set up a shared studio space with Lori Merhige in Brooklyn. He seeks to engage the viewer’s imagination by refashioning domestic items as portals to another realm of contemplation and existence.

A Curious Thread connects to the area’s history of production and craftsmanship. Merhige’s grandmother grew up on the Lower East Side, working as a seamstress there, and Merhige’s work offers a modern interpretation of that legacy. Glazer, Pnini, Duran, and Weingrod, while not immediately connected to the area, offer work that is informed by the hand-made, tactile aspects of craft.

Juxtaposed with the bustling theatre of Essex Market, a reminder of the origins of the Lower East Side, A Curious Thread harkens back to a previous era, when the buildings of the Lower East Side were home to factories and tenements, life played out between both public and private spheres, and the economy of the area included textiles, furniture makers, and theaters.

DTL | Projects is a collective initiative by contemporary art curators Diane Vivona, Tara Riley Chazen and Lexie Palmer. The group looks to support artists in the formative stages of their career by providing formal opportunities for the public to view the work, and informal events during which artists and an interested public can interact. Email: dtlprojects@gmail.com

Cuchifritos is open Monday through Saturday, 12 - 6pm

The exhibition is FREE and open to the public.
Cuchifritos gallery and project space is handicapped accessible.

CUCHIFRITOS is a program of Artists Alliance, Inc.(AAI) and its focus is on art as it relates to community, social issues, and public space. This program is generously supported in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. This program is made possible by public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. We thank the following for their generous support: The Greenwall Foundation, The New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Art World and members of Artists of Artists Alliance Inc. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers, without whom this program would not be possible.

Image: Lori Merhige, Matriarch, 2009, mixed media, approx. 7' x 3' x 3'.
Photo courtesy of the artist and Cuchifritos gallery and project space

Become a fan of
Cuchifritos on Facebook

Current Artists-in-Residence

Gail Biederman

Sonya Blesofsky

Brian Scott Campbell

Bang Geul Han

Watch Spring 10 residents
Natsu and Olek's Studio Visits with NY Art Beat.

The Rotating Studio Program studios can be visited by appointment, please call 212-420-9202 or aai@aai-nyc.org

Our thanks to the panel for their time and expertise: Ian Cofre, Independent Curator; Eduardo Difarnecio, Artist & AAI member; Shinnie Kim, Program Manager, International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP); Kimberly Marrero, Independent Curator + Arts Advisor - KM Art Advisory; Jen Mazza, Artist, LES - RSP Resident, Fall 08

Special thanks to Julie Quon, 2010 Open Call Manager, Katherine Fox, Kimberly Zhu, Program Assistants and AAI Board Members Zeina Assaf and Bill Massey.

The Lower East Side - Rotating Studio Program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

CUCHIFRITOS ART GALLERY PROJECT SPACE

This program of the Artists Alliance Inc. is located in the heart of the Essex Street Market. The focus is on contemporary art as it relates to community, social issues, and public space.

Cuchifritos' mission: to act as a forum for exploring fundamental ideas, issues and concerns associated with the Lower East Side through the medium of contemporary art, to highlight the work of underrepresented artists, including artists from this, and similar communities

Rotating Studio Program News

Spring 2010 artist-in-residence Natsu is featured in Common Jive, Elizabeth Foundation Project Space, New York. Through May 15, 2010.

Spring 2010 artist-in-residence Vidal Centeno is featured in the DIALECTS series at the Bronx River Arts Center. April 9 - May 29, 2010

AAI's programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Economic Development Corporation and made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, A State Agency. AAI would like to thank all the AAI members and volunteers who make these programs possible. AAI has also received generous support from the following: