STONELEAF RETREAT

River Valley Arts Collective + Al Held Foundation Fellowship

In 2021 the annual River Valley Arts Collective + Al Held Foundation Fellowship at STONELEAF was inaugurated. This annual fellowship provides the artist with a stipend and support from each organization. STONELEAF provides accommodation and studio space for the fellows to make works for an exhibition curated by River Valley Arts Collective at The Al Held Foundation.

“The Al Held Foundation has been a site of art making since Held bought a former dairy farm in 1965 and converted it to artist studios and a residence. The foundation is pleased to be able to support a new generation of artists through this innovative partnership with STONELEAF and RVAC." Daniel Belasco, Executive Director, The Al Held Foundation.

"RVAC has an expansive definition of what it means to be a Hudson Valley artist, and we recognize that many artists who are deeply affected and inspired by this region may not have a permanent home here, or are in the process of transitioning to a life in the area. We are able to support and present their work by partnering with STONELEAF, where they can take up temporary residence and have a studio space to prepare for the exhibitions that we present at the Al Held Foundation. In turn, this collaboration allows us to welcome voices and perspectives that enrich our creative community."  Alyson Baker, Founder and Executive Director, River Valley Arts Collective.

DEVYNN EMORY is the 2023 RVAC + Al Held Fellow and their performance work-in-progress, commissioned by River Valley Arts Collective, developed at STONELEAF RETREAT with collaborators Martita Abril and Maura Nguyen Donohue will premiere at The Al Held Foundation this summer. devynn emory is a choreographer/dance artist (beast), dual licensed bodyworker (sage), ritual guide, medium and registered nurse- practicing in the fields of acute/critical care, hospice, COVID and currently gender affirming surgery and integrative health in NYC. they are currently working toward their PMHNP (psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner- december 2025). emory's performance company devynnemory/beastproductions finds the intersection of these fields, walking the edges of thresholds- drawing from their multiple in-between states of being, holding space for liminal bodies bridging multiple planes of transition while finding reciprocity practice as a constant decolonial pathway. they are currently working on and touring a multi-media performance trilogy centering medical mannequins holding the wisdom of end of life experiences of their patients, matriarchs and loss in community. born on Lenape Land, emory is a reconnecting descendant of the Lenape on their father’s side and settler ancestry on their mother’s side. they live on Lenape Munsee and Canarsee land (Brooklyn NY).

KITE is the 2023 RVAC + Al Held Fellow and her works will be on view at The Al Held Foundation, curated by RVAC Director and Curator Sophie Landres, June 25 - October 15, 2023. Kite aka Suzanne Kite is an Oglála Lakȟóta performance artist, visual artist, and composer raised in Southern California, with a BFA from CalArts in music composition,and an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School. Kite’s scholarship and practice investigate contemporary Lakota ontologies through research-creation, computational media, and performance. Recently, Kite has been developing a body interface for movement performances, carbon fibre sculptures, immersive video and sound installations, as well as co-running the experimental electronic imprint, Unheard Records. Kite has also published in several journals and magazines, including in The Journal of Design and Science (MIT Press), where the award winning article, “Making Kin with Machines,” co-authored with Jason Lewis, Noelani Arista, and Archer Pechawis, was featured. Kite is currently a 2023 Creative Capital Award Winner, 2023 USA Fellow, and a 2022-2023 Creative Time Open Call artist with Alisha B. Wormsley. Kite is a Research Assistant for the Initiative for Indigenous Futures, and Artist in Residence and Visiting Scholar at Bard College.

MOKO FUKUYAMA was the 2022 RVAC + Al Held Fellow and her works Ashes to Ashes #1 & #2, which were included in the 2022 On The Grounds exhibition, came back to reside at STONELEAF as Onsite Works in 2022. Moko Fukuyama is a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow. She has previously received grants, fellowships and commissions from notable art institutions such as Rema Hort Mann Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Jerome Foundation, SOHO20, MacDowell, Yaddo, Recess, The Shed, ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) and more. She completed her residency at The Kitchen, New York, New York in spring 2021. During the residency, she created American Recordings, Act I: American Harvest and Act II: American Frequency in collaboration with Yo! Vinyl Richie. She was a 2021 fellow at Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, Minnesota and Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, New York. In 2022, she was an artist-in-residence at Stoneleaf Retreat and had works in the exhibition, 'On The Gounds', at the AlHeld Foundation curated by Alyson Baker, River Valley Arts Collective. She recently had her solo exhibition Streaming Surface at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, New York.

JOY CURTIS was the inaugural RVAC + Al Held Fellow and her work Celestial Bodies, which was included in the 2021 On The Grounds exhibition, came back to reside at STONELEAF as an Onsite Work in 2022. Joy Curtis (b. Valparaiso, IN) received her MFA in sculpture from Ohio University in 2002 and, since then, has lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY. She is represented by Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY, where she has had 5 solo shows. Recent exhibitions include: With Every Fiber, Pelham Art Center; Cult of the Crimson Queen, Ceysson and Bénétière; Found Outside at the Aldrich Museum (CT); Weight Over Time, T.S.A (Brooklyn); The Working Title, The Bronx River Art Center; Tensile Strength, ZieherSmith; Object ‘Hood, Leslie Heller; Eternal Return, Nurture Art; The Finishers, The Wassaic Project (NY); and Greater Brooklyn, CRG. Curtis is the recipient of fellowships from Socrates Sculpture Park and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and an award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2021, she was an artist-in-residence at Stoneleaf Retreat and had works in the exhibition, 'On The Gounds', at the AlHeld Foundation curated by Alyson Baker, River Valley Arts Collective. Her work has been reviewed in the New Yorker, Hyperallergic, Artcritical, and Saatchi Online, and featured on Gorky’s Granddaughter and James Kalm’s Rough Cut video blogs.

The Al Held Foundation is charged with the stewardship of Al Held’s art and creative legacy. Based in Boiceville, NY at Held's former home and studio, the Foundation’s mission is to foster the appreciation and advancement of the principles of modern art and the public’s understanding of Held’s contribution to art of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In the last decade the Foundation has facilitated the organization of exhibitions, lent works of art, promoted scholarly research, and conducted educational programs in the United States and abroad. The Foundation is represented by White Cube.

River Valley Arts Collective is a Hudson Valley-based, W.A.G.E. certified organization committed to fostering an inclusive creative community that is responsive and attuned to the ecology of our region. Through partnerships with neighboring arts organizations, foundations, studios, and farms, we curate exhibitions, commission new work, organize outdoor installations, give artists both material and monetary grants, coordinate residencies, host workshops, and spark discussions on a wide range of subjects. As a nexus for regional artists and artisans to connect and collaborate with each other as well as with the broader community, we create a generative space for experimentation and shared learning. Our efforts foster the production of work that is as aesthetically and conceptually groundbreaking as it is environmentally aware.

Since 2020, River Valley Arts Collective has been proud to partner with the Al Held Foundation on a series of exhibitions presented in Al Held’s former drawing studio as well as outdoor installations on the foundation's grounds.