February 4, 2023 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Please join us for a guided tour of Combinations and MVP: A Selection of Sculptures From Melvin Van Peebles Blue Room at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, co-curated by Alaina Simone, with a welcome address by Ellen Baxter, founder and executive director of Broadway Housing Communities.
Combinations is co-curated by Alaina Simone and Damien Davis and features a selection of works by Elia Alba, Nicole Awai, Alteronce Gumby, Forrest Kirk, Tyrone Mitchell, Sable Elyse Smith, Chris Watts, Ye Qin Zhu. Also on view is a solo presentation of Rachel Owens’ work “Hypogean Tip” and a selection of sculptures from Melvin Van Peebles’ “Blue Room.”
Admission:
- ArtTable Members – $10
- Member Guests – $15
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Health & Safety
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Accessibility
Please email Haley Carloni, National Programs & Chapters Manager at ArtTable, if you require any specific accommodations for this program.
Getting There
The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling is located 898 St. Nicholas Avenue @ 155th Street, New York, NY 10032. Click here for directions from any location.
The nearest subway stops are 155th Street (A, C) and 155th Street (B, D)
The M3 bus runs north and south on St. Nicholas Avenue and stops at St. Nicholas Ave & W. 153rd Street.
About the Speakers
Ellen Baxter is the Founder and the Executive Leader of Broadway Housing Communities. She has committed more than 30 years to advocacy and housing development to redress the inhumanity of inequality and homelessness in New York City and nationally. A pioneer of supportive housing, Ellen founded Broadway Housing Communities, then known as the Committee for the Heights-Inwood Homeless, in 1983. Under Ellen’s leadership, this nonprofit community-based organization has developed and manages seven buildings in Washington Heights and West Harlem; two early childhood centers; three community art galleries; and a new cultural institution, the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling. BHC’s model provides permanent, affordable housing that integrates the formerly homeless, those with special needs and the working poor, single adults, seniors, and families with children; urgently needed early childhood education and educational advocacy services; and remarkable access to the arts; to improve outcomes for children, families, and entire communities.
Alaina Simone is an art consultant who has produced and curated over thirty exhibitions, artist talks and educational programming across the Caribbean, Europe and the U.S. with leading contemporary artists, including Sir Frank Bowling RA, Ed Clark, and Howardena Pindell. Simone’s practice is informed by her work as a gallerist and artist liaison for international artists, collections and institutions. Simone was the Director of the Merton D. Simpson Gallery from 2011-2015, the oldest African-American owned gallery in the United States. Established in 1954 by collector, artist, and musician Merton D. Simpson, the gallery was dedicated to Modern, Contemporary and Traditional Art of the African Diaspora. Simone’s devotion to community-based projects and arts education continues through her directorship with the Alaina Simone Incorporated and Alaina Simone Productions LLC. She is a founding board member of Verbier 3-D Foundation Sculpture Park and Residency in Switzerland. Simone lives and works in New York City.
Image: Combinations exhibition entryway, photo by Timothy Lee.
Catherine Anchin joined the museum in 2021 as Executive Director, where she leads the direction of the museum and works closely with the Board of Directors to deliver strategic objectives. She brings extensive experience in arts fundraising and administration, as well as a commitment to contemporary visual arts.
Amanda Jirón-Murphy joined the museum in 2020, first as a contract curator then as Curator & Resident Artist/Collector Liaison in 2022. In her role, Amanda curates the resident artists’ exhibitions, manages the artist residency program, and the museum’s collectors’ program, a public program sharing knowledge about art collecting and supporting artists careers.
Blair Murphy joined the museum in 2018 as Curator of Exhibitions, where she shapes the vision for the exhibitions program and curates numerous exhibitions. Previous exhibitions include: 
Heidi Zuckerman is a globally recognized leader in contemporary art and the first woman to build two art museums.
Klaudia Ofwona Draber is the founder and president of KODA—a social practice residency for mid-career artists. She is also the curator of 1-800 Happy Birthday, an exhibition at WORTHLESSSTUDIOS honoring lives and legacies of Black and Brown people killed by the police. Klaudia has lived and led arts, technology and strategy projects in Europe, Africa and the United States. She also works as Head of Public Relations at Polish Cultural Institute New York. Previously she served as a consultant to the British Council Arts, and worked at UBS, managing arts CSR projects. Klaudia is the 2021-2022 Helena Rubinstein Fellow at the Whitney ISP Curatorial Studies Program. She is a member of ArtTable, mentors at New Museum’s NEW INC, and is a member of For(bes) The Culture. Klaudia holds MA in Art Business from the Sotheby‘s Institute of Art New York. She also holds MA in Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics.
Marcia Santoni is the Executive Director of WORTHLESSSTUDIOS where she is leading efforts to provide arts access to the Bushwick/East Williamsburg community, build capacity, and renovate its 10,000 square foot warehouse into a state-of-the-art fabrication facility. Marcia came to WORTHLESSSTUDIOS after spending two years as the Executive Director of Riverdale Neighborhood House, a historic multi-service organization in the Bronx where she launched the Riverdale Food&Farm Hub. Prior to joining RNH, she was Managing Director and COO for Pioneer Works, the Brooklyn-based cultural center dedicated to building community through the arts and sciences. At Pioneer Works she led expansion from $3.5mm to $7mm over three years, helping the artist founders build systems, structure and leadership to match mission. Marcia has a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Columbia School of Business. She has been a member of ArtTable since 2017. 
Elena Zavelev is the co-founder & CEO of CADAF Digital Art Month. A New York City-based entrepreneur focusing on digital art & NFTs, Elena has been successfully building tools for artists, curators & collectors in digital art and NFT space since 2017 with CADAF, Digital Art Month and New Art Academy. Earlier engagements include Christie’s, 1stDibs, Skate’s Art Market Research and more. Elena’s writings can be found on Forbes, Observer, ESP Cultural Magazine and Deloitte. She holds a MA degree in contemporary art and connoisseurship from Christie’s Education.
Andrea Steuer is the co-founder & COO of CADAF Digital Art Month. A collector and entrepreneur in the digital art and Web3 space, Andrea focuses on innovative ways to experience and curate digital art. Andrea manages creative strategy, product & operations for CADAF and Digital Art Month. She has curated multiple shows including: Artificial Seascapes Ars Electronica, CADAF events, VivaTech Paris and is on the International Selectors Committee for The Lumen Prize. Frequent speaker at international events. Previous work: Christie’s, Collectrium & advertising. MA Christie’s Education, Cert Columbia & BFA Pratt Institute.
Katrina London is the manager of collections and curatorial projects of The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She is responsible for the stewardship of the collections within the Pocantico Historic Area, which includes supervising the conservation and care of works of art, curatorial research, and organizing exhibitions and educational programs.
As inaugural Director of the Rubell Museum DC, Caitlin Berry works closely with the Rubells and Director of the Rubell Museum in Miami, Juan Valadez, to realize the Rubells’ vision of sharing their extensive collection of contemporary art with the people who live, work in, and visit the nation’s capital. Berry is responsible for engaging the greater DC community, developing public programming, managing the operations and staff of the Museum, and collaborating with the Rubells and Valadez to oversee the Museum’s installations and exhibitions. Prior to joining the Museum, Berry served as Director of the Cody Gallery at Marymount University in Arlington, VA, where she curated exhibitions such as Nekisha Durrett: Magnolia, Dave Eassa: People and Places You Don’t Know How to Know and co-curated Jennie Lea Knight: Women of Jefferson Place, alongside John Anderson and Meaghan Kent. Independently, she curated Eric Uhlir: Before, After and In Between, and Joseph Shetler: Pursuit of Nothing at Culture House DC. Berry’s areas of focus include the Washington Color School, Mid-Century African American, and contemporary art. A champion of local artists, she curated the 2019 and co-curated the 2020 editions of Art Night, an annual exhibition and fundraiser to support the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA).