In October, three artists officially began their ten-month stint as the 2023-2024 Galveston Artist Residency (GAR) artists-in-residence. The program, which runs annually and is helmed by Eric Schnell, gives selected artists access to private studios in the GAR building, housing in nearby apartments, and a $1,000 monthly stipend.
The competition to get a spot among local, regional, and national artists is fierce; GAR has stated for past years that since it only accepts three artists for each round, it has had a 1.2% acceptance rate.
Artists who have been selected for this year’s program include the Philadelphia-based duo Andy Davis and Anne Lukin, Houston-based Preston Gaines, and Chicago-based Devin T. Mays. The artists will spend the upcoming months working in their studios, and it is likely we will see, as usual, an exhibition of their work this coming spring.
Learn more about this year’s artists below, via biographies provided by GAR.
Anne Lukins + Andy P. Davis
Andy Davis and Anne Lukins
Andy Davis and Anne Lukins make participatory live performances, moving between psychosocial experimentation and mythopoetic ritual. Their projects play in the space between didactic and ecstatic, concrete and magical. Their work is informed by sacred clowning, a form of serious play in which the performer connects and responds to the live environment. Installations and performances take place in a variety of contexts: from historical sites to public beaches to opera houses, artist-run galleries, the prairie and the forest floor.
Preston Gaines
Preston Gaines
Houston-based artist, architect, and industrial designer Preston Gaines — also known as Inanimate Nature — crafts a compelling fusion of the digital and natural realms. Moving seamlessly between sculpture, projection mapping, and interactive installations, he persistently pushes and redefines traditional artistic boundaries. With a deep foundation in architectural design, Mr. Gaines’ work engages with themes of sacred symbolism, geometry, and nature’s intricacies.
His investigation into the relationship between the natural world and the human psyche enhances the bond between our perception and the surrounding environment. This deep dive intensifies the discourse on the interplay between nature, the human experience, and the cultural and scientific paradigms that shape our perspectives.
Drawing on the universal language of numbers, shapes, and their harmonic relationships, Mr. Gaines channels spiritual and philosophical notions inspired by ancient civilizations, notably Egypt. His immersion into archetypal tenets is driven by an allure for their symbolism and geometry, spanning a range of media from the traditional to the digital.
Devin T. Mays, “An Offering of Things”
Devin T. Mays
Devin T. Mays (b. Detroit, MI) uses sculpture, installation, performance, and pictures to offer observation of what’s seen and unseen. The materials being used in his practice do not always present themselves as anything more than what they appear to be. There is not always a physical transformation at the hands of his facilitation. He often refers to his interdisciplinary practice as an exercise in wandering, a practice-in-practice, a place for things to become Things. Mr. Mays has exhibited at Sculpture Center, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Driehaus Museum, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Belmacz, London; The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago; DePaul Art Museum, and The Gray Center for Arts & Inquiry among others. Mr. Mays holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University and a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Chicago.
