Martha Mysko and Willie Wayne Smith Named Interim Painting Artists-in-Residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art
Martha Mysko and Willie Wayne Smith Named Interim Painting Artists-in-Residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art
Bloomfield Hills, Mich., June 25, 2019 – Cranbrook Academy of Art is pleased to announce that Martha Mysko and Willie Wayne Smith have been named interim Artists-in-Residence in the Academy’s Painting department for the 2019–2020 academic year. Former Painting Artist-in-Residence Beverly Fishman left the Academy at the end of the 2018–2019 year.
Mysko is a 2011 graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art Painting Department. Her work involves installation, sculpture, painting, digital media, video, and photography. She has had solo exhibitions in Detroit, New York, Arkansas, and Tennessee, and participated in group exhibitions at venues across the country. She has also taught critical theory, studio art, and art history at Oakland University.
Smith is a 2010 graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art Painting Department. In his work, he utilizes a wide range of processes while working primarily with acrylics and an airbrush, creating layered works that reinterpret personal experiences and societal narratives within a complex array of art languages. He has held solo exhibitions in Detroit, New York, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania, and participated in two-person and group exhibitions across the country. His work has been featured in LAR Magazine, on Art Viewer and ArtSpace, where he was listed as one of ten “artists to discover” at the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) in 2017. His work was recently exhibited at Expo Chicago 2018, and the Dallas Art Fair 2019 with Detroit based gallery Library Street Collective.
“Willie and Martha served as sabbatical replacements for Beverly Fishman last year and formed rich connections with our students,” said Susan Ewing, the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art. “As busy studio artists with thriving practices, we appreciate their return to Cranbrook. We know they will continue to guide our students through the next academic year by providing substantive advice and critique, while also showing them how to shape their individual careers.”
An international search for a permanent replacement will begin in the fall.
Media Contact:
Julie Fracker
Director of Communications
248.645.3329 office
jfracker@cranbrook.edu
