METRO LOS ANGELES
ARTIST STUDIO INCUBATOR
PREVIOUS ARTISTS
2021-2022
Solomon Henry
Solomon Henry is a story teller and artist from Los Angeles. He creates dynamic and powerful photographic portraits and finds purpose in showcasing the abundance of beauty in his environment.
Nandi Jordan, Ph.D
Nandi is a self-taught artist, filmmaker, sociologist, wife and mother of two. Her art uses mixed media collage, film photography and printmaking to tell stories about the conflicts and contradictions in modern day black life. Her work is deeply influenced by her upbringing - an identical twin and the child of two black academics - and her training as a sociologist and researcher. While her work is very personal it also connects to broad themes in black popular culture and mainstream American social life.
Gbenga Komolafe
Gbenga is a current ZEAL studio member draws inspiration from parallels between the traditional African art practices looted from his Yoruba ancestors and the innovative craftsmanship of mid-20th-century queer and black American communities, both being pillars of postmodern abstraction. Through their introspective and process-driven practice, Gbenga meditates on the often unrewarded labor of their queer and diasporic forefolks who envisioned utopia thorugh experimentation and worked to actualize thsi vision through the radical act of survival.
Danielle Hill
Danielle Ariel Hill is a current ZEAL studio member and started out as an intern for the artist studio incubator program. Cleveland-born artist and arts manager based in Pasadena, CA. At the center of her work is interdependency, love, connection, and familial practices. The intersection of her practice blossoms through art exploring nature, spirituality, and interconnectedness evoking awareness of the present state of being.
Bryant Woolcock
A South Central Los Angeles native, visual artist Bryant Woolcock creates work that captures Black life in imaginative ways that dance between cinematic, surreal, and escapism. He has worked extensively in the realm of still images and is also making motion pictures. As he continues to expand his artistry through innovative imagery and ideas, Woolcock’s creative expression knows no bounds.
Adrian White
Adrian is a lens'-based artist specializing in photography, video installation and the archive. Grappling with a false allure of truth, he documents the African diaspora in an effort to connect with his ancestors. History is manipulated, reconfigured to fit agendas. Their systematic extermination has been erased from history and silenced in classrooms. he remembers them, connects with them - so that we can begin to heal.
Autumn Breon Williams
Autumn Breon who was a former faculty for the studio incubator program creates art that investigates the visual vocabulary of liberation through a queer Black feminist lens. A graduate of Stanford University, she studied Aeronautics & Astronautics and researched aeronautical astrobiology applications for NASA. Autumn’s examination of contemporary art throughout the African Diaspora began when she was living and working in South Africa. Through inquiry-based interaction, she invites audiences to participate in the examination of freedom, intersectional identities, and Diasporic memory.
Chef Chanell
Chanell is a culinary artist who is passionate about creating food for the soul, the use of fresh quality ingredients, and letting flavors speak for themselves. Chef Chanell uses her creativity to provide menu consultation, stir up magic + coordinate details of each experience offered to ensure a one-of-a-kind affair.
2019-2021
Devin B. Johnson
Devin B. Johnson is a painter from LA, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in Fine Arts from the California State University of Channel Islands (2015) and a Masters of Fine Arts at Pratt Institute (2019). He was one of sixteen artists from around the world selected for the inaugural year of the Black Rock Senegal residency, and was featured in the Northeast and MFA issue of New American Paintings (2019).
Eilen Itzel Mena
Eilen Itzel Mena is an Afro-Dominican American artist, writer and community organizer originally from the South Bronx.Her visual arts practice synthesizes Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism and African Diaspora spiritual frameworks through interdisciplinary work. In her social practice, she serves as a Co-Director and creative collaborator for Honey and Smoke and principal member of ZEAL.
Avila Santo
Avila Santo is an award winning percussionist, composer, martial artist, dancer, educator and multi media artist from Los Angeles California. He has released two albums, (Omnipresence & Maze). Avila is a multiple recipient of the DCA Artist in Residence Grant, and participated in the Zeal Studio Incubator program.
Reva Santo
Reva Santo is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative alchemist. She graduated in Film Studies from Columbia University, where she was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts for her script Ash(é), and the Henry Evans Travel Fellowship to conduct arts-based research in the Caribbean.
Mylo MU
Mylo MU is a music producer and visual artist utilizing music to design a new world for his listeners. Hailing from Inglewood, CA, Mylo’s music was birthed in the heart of Leimert Park’s rap scene. MU layersmetaphors, life experiences, and sparks of knowledge over creamy jazz and and spaced out memorable hip-hop rhythms converting abstraction into a witty sonic aesthetic.