Curatorial Residency

Since our Curatorial Residency program began in early 2018, Wave Pool has given FOURTEEN emerging curators the opportunity to execute an exhibition in our main storefront gallery with mentorship, resources, and fiscal support.

We know that Curators are often the gatekeepers for artists’ seeking exhibition opportunities, and that beyond internships at local museums, Cincinnati is overwhelmingly lacking in opportunities for aspiring curators.

Given the dearth of prospects for aspiring arts organizers locally, the Curatorial Residency Program enables those in need of experience to pursue this kind of professional development.

This program seeks to foster ongoing professional development for individuals with curatorial inclinations, in order to find their voice and gain valuable hands-on experience.

The 2025 resident will receive:

·      a modest exhibition budget of $2,000

·      a curatorial honorarium of $500

·      mentorship

·      administrative support

·      marketing assistance 

·      gallery space to fulfill bold visions

Forming new creative partnerships and engaging community residents through programming, our Curatorial Residents serve Wave Pool’s mission of pairing communities’ knowledge of their needs with artists’ sense of possibility.

The Wave Pool Curatorial Residency Program is decided by an open call and juried process in the Fall for the following year.

The 2025 Curatorial Residency Program is funded by supporters of our annual fundraiser.

Applications for 2025 are CLOSED.

2025 Curatorial residency:

EXUBERANT RESISTANCE
Works by Colleen Merrill, Josie Love Roebuck, and River F. Berry
Curated by Erin Adelman
August 22 - October 19, 2025

Textile-based art – quilting, crocheting, weaving, sewing, and more – has held a vital position in American society, often rooted in practicality and utilitarian usages. Though the hours invested in a quilt, crocheted blanket, or piece of clothing varies, most artists require ample time to sit with their work and achieve their vision. Despite the centuries-long necessity for fiber-based work, many textile artists are only being celebrated in recent decades. Because our relation to fabric is almost as old as our species’ history, we have a deeply embedded – although often unconscious – relationship with textiles. The artists in my proposed exhibition each investigate the collective and personal lineages associated with fiber art and their processes of creation. These artists relive memories of soft touches and intimate familial moments while they work, which culminates into a plush object that signifies comfort and protection. However, there is exuberant resistance within the soft curves and gentle textures of these artworks: resistance to governmental oppression, emotional detachment, and singular definitions. River Berry’s installations and fiber work kindly carve space for practicing care and processing generational trauma and mental illness. Colleen Merrill’s vibrantly textured work prod at gender roles and how women are governed, soft sculptures often snaking across a gallery’s floor or vining up a wall. Equally colorful in appearance are Josie Love Roebuck’s tapestries, which probe society’s patriarchal and racial strongholds and demonstrate the energy she has devoted to celebrating her identity rather than deprecating it.  

This three-person exhibition will demonstrate the duality of textile work, both as objects of softness for your emotions to spill upon and as objects of resistance in the face of oppressive power structures.

Past Curatorial Resident Exhibitions:

If you are interested in sponsoring a future Curatorial Residency please click here for more information.