Spring Residency 2021
at Bethany Arts CommunityDuring their time on site, these resident artists will develop new works while engaging with the local community.
Resident Artists
Cassandra Clark, Cherie Lee, Maryanne Buschini, Ian Eaton, Arya, Oluwadamilare (Dare) Ayorinde, Christine Shaw, Jacinta Yelland, Jacqueline Libby
Artist in Residence Programs:
- Artist in Residence: Sustainable, hand painted fashion accessories workshop with Cassandra Clark. May 12 at Bethany. Register.
- Artist in Residence: Public Talkback with inFlux (Christine Shaw, Jacinta Yelland, and Jacqueline Libby). May 13 on Facebook Live. Learn more.
- Artist in Residence: Open Studio and Demonstration with Sculptor Cherie Lee at Bethany. May 22. Register.
- Artist in Residence: Artist talk and show with Maryanne Buschini. May 25. Register.
- Artist in Residence: Reading of STEVE, a one-man play in progress, with writer Ian Eaton. At Bethany. May 26. Limited registration.
- Artist in Residence: Streaming Concert with Original Songs by Arya. May 27. Register.
Cassandra Clark
About Residency
Residency Plan
Cassie will focus on sustainable, hand painted fashion and accessories using recycled plastic clutches from shopping bags and paint.
Bio
Cassandra Clark is an artist living in Brooklyn, New York. She believes that every child starts out as an artist, and some people just don’t grow out of it. Her main subject area is surreal portraits of women and the feminine form. She recently started making Jewish and abstract paintings as well. In summer of 2018, she did an internship with amazing artists in Beit Shemesh, Israel. I learned so much and felt that my skills grew. When not making art, Cassie is a teacher at a school for kids with disabilities. She loves to cook, bake, and explore the city with friends
Cherie Lee
About Residency
Residency Plan
Cherie will be making most of her time immersing herself in the diverse community and culture of BAC and the Hudson Valley region at large, balanced by the solitude of much anticipated studio time. With this approach, Cherie intends to close-in on her production of current hand-carved ostrich eggshell collection, while opening up the development of future works, informed by her time spent in this nurturing space. If her first residency with Bethany taught her anything, it’s anything can happen during residency. She’ll be making some noise, kicking up some dust and shamelessly feeding her insatiable sense of wonder.
Bio
Maryanne Buschini
About Residency
Residency Plan
Artist Maryanne Buschini shares her research and investigation of water, with a focus on the residents in in the Kensico Reservoir land and water mass, from original native inhabitants prior to 1680, through the early European settlers, the acquisition of the land for the New York City water system, to present day users of the reservoir. Maryanne uses photographs and painting to record the history.
Bio
Maryanne Buschini (b. 1953, White Plains, NY) earned an Masters of Art from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia PA, and a BFA from Kansas State University. She has studied extensively at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA and workshops in the US and Ireland; and awarded a painting residency at Bethany Arts Community, Ossining, NY.
She has worked as a graphic designer/illustrator and taught art in K-12 and university settings in the Philadelphia area. She maintained her studio painting practice during this time, working and raising 2 sons with her husband, John.
Maryanne Buschini’s artwork has received awards and exhibited in juried group exhibitions at DaVinci Art Alliance, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia PA; the Duke Gallery -Community Arts Center, Wallingford PA; Goggleworks, Reading PA; Rye Arts Center, Rye NY; the Museum of the State of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg PA; as well as a solo show in 2019.
The artist lives and works in Malvern, PA.
Ian Eaton
About Residency
Residency Plan
While in residency, Ian Eaton and his collaborator will work together to begin to explore new stories for the development of a full-length one-man play, based on his short story currently called STEVE, which was created, written and performed by Ian Eaton and developed with Houses on the Moon Theater Company. The play explores what it means to be an artistic, young man growing up in the projects of Harlem. How does a chubby, violin playing black kid navigate through that world? Ian’s performance uses humor and beautiful storytelling to describe his journey and the lessons he’s learned along the way
The goal is to come away from the residency with an outline of what the full-length play will be. They will achieve this through a series of improv and writing exercises; exploring the piece physically through theatrical exercises and moving it from what is currently inside Ian’s head and body to the page.
Bio
Ian Eaton credits his enrichment in theater beginning at Harlem School of the Arts, studying voice, violin, and acting as a youngster. He continued studying acting at LaGuardia High School (Fame High), and graduated with a BFA in Acting from City College. He has appeared on television, credits include Law and Order, and HBO’s Oz. Independent films, such as Signs He Made at Home portraying outsider artist Royal Robertson, and has had the privilege of performing national tours throughout the east coast. Theatrical roles include Charlie Parker in Flight at the Metropolitan Theatre, Esteban in Day of the Kings at INTAR, and performing Tara’s Crossing at The Lucille Lortel and Othello at The Clarion Theater. Has also spent 14 summers performing Shakespeare free of charge with Connecticut Free Shakespeare (CFS) most recently as Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew.
Ian is a proud member of Only Make Believe, a non-profit organization that creates and perform interactive theater for children in hospitals and care facilities.
Arya
About Residency
Residency Plan
During her residency, Arya plans on finishing songs for her upcoming EP “insides”. In addition, she will be writing new songs, poems and instrumentals as well as reworking old demos.
Bio
Somewhere between the 90’s and now, far-removed from her Serbian upbringing, Arya “appeared.”
Moving to the United States from Belgrade, after more than a decade as a classical pianist, wasn’t easy. Neither was casting aside the jazz degree she found herself with four years later—deciding that she was done hiding behind a Baby Grand.
Arya found herself in Austin, TX as an artist ready to bare her everything—hope, sadness, love, heartbreak and the lies she gathered along the way. She shares her voices as an artist through a blend of pop, R&B and elements much darker—hell-bent on proving that you can dance and cry at the same time.
Arya released her debut EP, “it wasn’t love.” in 2019, followed by her singles “Choosy,” which she describes as “a love letter to all the fuckboys” and “Bed”—an intimate look at her mental health and an “anthem for being okay with not being okay.”
Both singles are currently receiving airplay on Austin’s KUTX 98.9. Alongside the release of “Bed,” Arya launched her “Better Every Day” merch line that donates proceeds to the SIMS foundation—an organization focused on providing mental health services to people in the music industry.
Arya is preparing her next single for release this Spring, while simultaneously working on her first Visual EP, tentatively titled “Insides.”
Oluwadamilare (Dare) Ayorinde
About Residency
VIEW EVENTS >
Residency Plan
Performing Artists Choreographer Oluwadamilare (Dare) Ayorinde shares his creative process. While in residence, Dare is beginning a new process, “exploring themes of intimacy. That word feels poignant with the new norm of quarantine. There’s a new intimate knowledge of myself and my immediate spaces that I have a dichotomous relationship with. I don’t think of this as a response to the Covid Pandemic but cannot exclude our present realities from our process. We will dig with improvisation and contact being our entry point.”
Bio
Oluwadamilare (Dare) Ayorinde is Nigerian – Black freelance performing artist living in New Jersey. Since Rutgers University he has worked with Colleen Thomas, Bill Young, Netta Yerushalmy, Stefanie Batten Bland, Susan Marshall, Kayla Farrish, Douglas Dunn, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (broadway lab), The Trisha Brown Dance Company, Kyle Marshall and Miriam Gabriel + Carlo Antonio Villanueva. He has presented work at Smush Gallery, Morristown Museum, Judson Church, Participant Inc Gallery and more. In 2019 he was Dance on the Lawn’s fifth Emerging Choreographer and a Chez Bushwick resident. Last year he was a New Jersey State Council On The Arts Fellow, named top 25 to watch in Dance Magazine and nominated for “Outstanding Performer” by the Bessie Committee. This is his second time being at Bethany Arts Center and first time where he is focusing on his work.
Christine Shaw
About Residency
Residency Plan
Influx will be developing material for The Choice- the first iteration of The Motherhood Project. The Motherhood Project is a decade long series of performances that track the journey of three woman as they face the choice to have children and the consequences of that decision.
Bio
Christine Octavia Shaw is a devised theater creator and performer dedicated to making work that asks her audiences impossible questions. Past and current provocations include: How do we wrap our heads around the immensity of natural disasters and our climate? (Sheet Metal Soup, 2019); How do we reckon with the absurdity of death? (The Usual, 2019); What does “surviving” sexual assault actually look like and how does a person heal? (The Aftermath, 2021); and how do women navigate the complex choices around motherhood? (The Motherhood Project, 2020-2030). Her work was in residence with Bethany Arts Community in 2020 and she is an inaugural artist-in-residence with the Yale University Schwarzman center for her work on The Wandering (premiering April 2021). Georgia-born and raised, she attended Yale University where she studied theater and dance. Since then, she has performed and created original works in Chicago (The Home for Wayward Artists), New York (The Araca Project), and Philadelphia. Now Philadelphia-based, she recently received her MFA from the UArts/Pig Iron program in devised theater.
Jacinta Yelland
About Residency
Residency Plan
Influx will be developing material for The Choice- the first iteration of The Motherhood Project. The Motherhood Project is a decade long series of performances that track the journey of three woman as they face the choice to have children and the consequences of that decision.
Bio
Jacinta Yelland is an actor and theatre maker of Australian, Asian and indigenous descent. She creates untamed and intricatephysical theatre and living installations that draw inspiration from real-life stories that are under-represented in theatre.Jacinta has collaborated and performed with notable theatre companies across America and Australia including David Gordon, Quintessence Theatre Group, Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists, Asian Arts Initiative, Tribe of Fools, Visual Expressions, The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective,RealTV, Elbow Room, ZenZenZo, and Playwriting Australia. In 2020, she was an Associate Artist with award-winning Almanac Dance Circus Theatre. Sheholds a Master of Fine Arts: Devised Performance from The University of the Arts/Pig Iron Theatre Company and a Bachelor of Creative Industries: Drama from Queensland University of Technology. She completed the ZenZenZo Company Internship and was supported by Arts Queensland to study at École PhilippeGaulier, Paris. Jacinta is the recipient of Australia Council for the Arts’ Marten Bequest Scholarship, Career Development Grant, and Resilience Fund, American Australian Association’s Dame Joan Sutherland Fund, and Network of Ensemble Theaters’ Remote Connection Grant in 2020 and 2021. She has been an artist-in-residence atBrunåkra, (Sweden), LesRochers(France) and Bethany Arts Community (USA).
Jacqueline Libby
About Residency
Residency Plan
Influx will be developing material for The Choice- the first iteration of The Motherhood Project. The Motherhood Project is a decade long series of performances that track the journey of three woman as they face the choice to have children and the consequences of that decision.
Bio
Jacqueline Libby is a creator, actor, and theatre collaborator based in Philadelphia, USA. Jacqueline’s work focuses on the intensity of human connection by zooming in on the subtleties and minute details of life and exploding them for the stage. Through intricately ordinary choreographies, stripped back dialogue, and opratic images, Jacqueline’s work invites people to think about their life, and the world around them in deep and personal ways (The Usual, 2019. Bullseye, 2019). Energized by all forms of theatre making, Jacqueline has spent the last four years collaborating with many artists from across the United States and abroad. These artists include Yael Bratana and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Bury Your Weapons, Not Our Bodies, 2018), Sean Graney (A Ring Never Ends, 2016), Thadd McQuade (Make Trouble Shakespeare, 2016), and Colleen Sulivan (Much Ado About Nothing, 2016). Jacqueline has studied under Maria Horne (Strasburg), Jo Strømgern (Dance), Nichole Canuso (Dance Theatre), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Method), Kate LoConti (Viewpoints), and Phylicia Rashad (Monologues). Jacqueline has completed a Master of Fine Arts in Devised Performance at the University of the Arts led by the Pig Iron Theatre Company (Dec 2019).
Residencies and programs at Bethany Arts Community are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor’s office and the New York State Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Westchester, Humanities NY and numerous individual donors.