The Studio Museum in Harlem has announced the participants for its 2026 Artist-in-Residence program. They are Derriann Pharr, Simonette Quamina, and Taylor Simmons.
The cohort will be the first to be in residence in the museum’s new building, which opened last fall. For the building’s inauguration, the Studio Museum mounted an exhibition titled “From the Studio: Fifty-Eight Years of Artists in Residence,” in the very space, officially called the Bruce Llewellyn Artist in Residence Center, where future artists in residences would soon work.
Closing on Sunday, that exhibition featured work from nearly every one of the more than 150 artists in residence it has hosted since the program launched in 1969. Past participants include Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jordan Casteel, Lauren Halsey, David Hammons, Maren Hassinger, Titus Kaphar, Simone Leigh, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, and Tschabalala Self.
Pharr, Quamina, and Simmons will be in residence from March 15 until October 15 of this year. Funded by the Glenstone Foundation, the residency culminates in an exhibition, with an accompanying publication, at the Studio Museum. Additionally, residents receive institutional and material support, professional development guidance, and access to the wider Studio Museum community, from its curators to past residents.
“Our new Artist in Residence Center was built as the Museum’s architectural core to acknowledge the program that has been at the heart of our mission since our founding,” Studio Museum director and chief curator Thelma Golden said in a statement. “As the first cohort to inhabit this remarkable new space, Pharr, Quamina, and Simmons join the Museum at a historic moment, and I’m certain their exceptional practices will lay the groundwork for future artists in residence while building upon the legacy of this signature program.”
Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Pharr creates mixed-media portraits of ethereal and fantastical figures, often depicted in blurry landscapes. “Transformation rests at the heart of Pharr’s practice,” a release on the artist reads. “She envisions her figures as a mirror: reconciliation with her internal worth and self-compassion are both negotiated each time a figure is born.” She had a solo show at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles last year.
New York–based Quamina was born in Ontario, Canada, and spent her childhood in the Caribbean and South America, as well as New York. That disparate upbringing informs the monumental prints and collaged drawings that Quamina makes, in which she “reevaluate[s] perceptions of cultural, racial, and social norms, and romanticized ideas of the Caribbean,” per a release. She was featured in La Trienal 2021 at El Museo del Barrio and also had a solo show at Smack Mellon that year.
Atlanta-born, New York–based Simmons typically uses a mix of acrylic, oil, airbrush, and wax in his paintings, drawings, and prints, which often depict scenes from everyday life. “Citing music, found photographs, and viral video clips as inspiration, the artist takes impulsive riffs and remixes that coalesce in his organic and all-over dynamic works,” according to a release. He has had solo shows at Public Gallery in London and the now-closed Helena Anrather in New York.
In a statement, Studio Museum associate curator Yelena Keller, who oversees the residency program, said, “I am thrilled to see Derriann Pharr, Simonette Quamina, and Taylor Simmons usher in a new chapter for the Artist-in-Residence program. These artists, whose practices will continue to push the Museum’s mission, present an exciting opportunity for the Museum and our audiences to engage with the ways in which artists are making today.”
