A HUGE, HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS!First, we’d like to extend an extra special THANK YOU to the women of A Place at the Table, and especially Susan Grabel, who made the celebration here at the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday, May 19th so much fun–and meaningful! We appreciate their support and know everyone had a great time! We also can’t wait to link the blog to some video footage from the event as well! Thank you to Niki DiCesare of Bella Films and her crew for all their hard work on that. In the meantime, above are some fun photos of the event showing performances by Phoebe Legere, The Brazilian Sisters and Vernita N’Cognita. We also wish to thank all the women who signed the advertisement supporting the initiative at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in the May Gallery Guide! What a kind and thoughtful gesture!
Before coming to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Melissa Messina earned her MFA from Pratt Institute where she received the Presidential Merit Award in Painting. While there, she coordinated the 2005–06 Visiting Artist Lecture Series, which featured such artists as Vanessa Beecroft, Mariko Mori, Judy Pfaff, and Joan Snyder. During this time, she also worked as a Curatorial and Sales Associate for a private dealer in New York specializing in modern abstraction. Prior to moving to New York, Messina was hired by the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs as an independent curator and executed several regional and national group exhibitions for their public art galleries, City Gallery East and City Gallery at Chastain. In Atlanta, she was also Assistant Director at Comer Art Advisory, LLC, in 2004, and a Curatorial and Marketing Associate for the art consulting firm, Barkin-Leeds Ltd., 2001–2003. She recently was the Assistant Curator to Ernesto Pujol for the exhibition Mediating America (June 2006) at the Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, and was invited to jury the exhibition Adam's Rib Eve's Air in Her Hair (January 2007) at the feminist art gallery SOHO20 in Chelsea. Her own artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the Southeast, New England, and New York.