On the occasion of the publication of AFAM Senior Educator Nicole Haroutunian’s novel-in-stories, Choose This Now, she will be joined for a virtual conversation by current and former American Folk Art Museum educators Claudia Maturell, Natalie Beall, and Sally Paul to share the intersections between their artistic practices, their own work, and the American Folk Art Museum’s collection.
This program is free, but registration is required. For more details or to register, please email: education@folkartmuseum.org.
About the Speakers:
With paper collage and mixed media wall sculpture, Natalie Beall invents new forms containing traces of functionality and fantasy. Her most recent solo exhibition, Pastimes, was hosted in 2023 at Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York. Beall has participated in exhibitions at Fridman Gallery, Tappeto Volante Projects, Good Naked Gallery, Standard Space, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, and the Wassaic Project, among other venues. Residencies include the Saltonstall Foundation, the Lighthouse Works, the Cooper Union, and the Lower East Side Printshop. She is a 2017 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts. Beall holds a BFA from the University of Georgia and an MFA from Columbia University. She is Senior Educator and Manager of Student Engagement at the American Folk Art Museum where she has worked part-time since 2015.
Nicole Haroutunian (she/her/hers) is the author of the novel-in-stories Choose This Now (Noemi Press, 2024) and the story collection Speed Dreaming (Little a, 2015). Her work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Story, the Bennington Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Tin House’s Open Bar, and elsewhere. Nicole is Senior Educator at the American Folk Art Museum, where she has worked on a contractual basis since 2008. She is also a member of the education department at the Noguchi Museum, and has worked in education at the Museum of the Modern Art, the Morgan Library and Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York, among other institutions. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and lives with her family in Woodside, Queens in New York City.
Claudia Maturell (she/her/hers) is an Afro-Cuban creative, educator, and community advocate based in Brooklyn, NY. Her creative work focuses on community, unity, justice, and spirituality, using the mediums of analog photography, painting, poetry, and movement to more deeply understand the social implications of universal spiritual concepts. Maturell’s collaborative community-building practices span over 10 years, centering Black and Brown communities in all aspects of her work. Maturell does not hold any formal art training. She draws knowledge and inspiration from her community and peers. Maturell obtained her MA in Art, Education, and Community Practice from New York University in 2021.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, and based in Kansas City since 2019, Sally Paul is an artist, curator and educator. Currently a visual art resident at Charlotte Street, Sally makes object-like paintings using acrylic paint and paint peels, with a focus on material exploration, punchy color pallets, and spare geometric compositions. She has exhibited at The EKRU Project in the Crossroads, the MdW Art Fair in Chicago, and Shelter, Essex Flowers, My Pet Ram, 247365, and The Arsenal Gallery in New York City. In 2020 Sally Paul co-founded the artist-run gallery Troost Gardens, located at 73rd and Troost Avenue in Kansas City, MO. As an Educator, she has taught at the Museum of Modern Art, The American Folk Art Museum, International Center of Photography, and The Bronx Museum. She received a BFA from Pratt Institute and MA in Art Education from New York University. Paul’s work is currently on view at the Kansas City Public Library and can be seen in Manhattan in an upcoming exhibition opening at 57W57 Gallery at the end of April.
Image: Choose This Now cover provided by Nicole Haroutunian.