VIRTUAL- 2020 Open Studios Series: Kaia Nutting and Carrie Ann Wallen

Originally scheduled for April 2020, Charlotte Street Foundation’s Open Studios series is back as an online-only program series! Featuring over 15 studio residents of all practices from dance to painting, this Zoom series provides insight and reflection on how Charlotte Street Studio Residents have reacted (or not reacted) to the critical year of 2020.

The sixth episode of 2020 Open Studios features a live performance from Studio Resident Kaia Nutting and a new music video premiere from Studio Resident Carrie Ann Wallen. This episode will also feature two experimental performances from Studio Residents Seth Andrew Davis and Project c4.

The Q&A streams live over Zoom on Tuesday, December 15th at 6:30 PM. Attendees will receive a Zoom link upon RSVP confirmation.

About Kaia Nutting (@kaiakenakk on Instagram)
We enter this world with little choice of where we live, who our family is, and our early life. However, as we grow up we get to choose who we become. We can only offer our uniqueness, the best of who we are back to the world in hopes of making a difference. I don’t believe that I chose music but I feel like it’s one of the few things I have that I can give back in hopes of making the world a better, more beautiful place. Music is a language that transcends words, transcends borders and political views and unites us in our humanity. Though there are many talented artists in the world, thousands of millions of songs already written, I have to hope that there is room for my uniqueness, and wherever the music goes, that it will be worth making for someone out there. Thank you in advance for believing in my art enough to consider me for this residency, and for offering this opportunity in the first place.

About Carrie Ann Wallen (@mymagicbooty on Instagram)
My practice includes a mix of illustration, interactive installations, theater, video, live music performance, references to contemporary culture, political climate, and the built environment. In a complex, thoughtful & absurd style. I curate themed events and organize community meeting places. Freedom of expression is actively encouraged. By using products of waste culture as props in my performances, I tell unique, fantastical narratives and make people laugh. Lyrically, I pride myself in factual, academic information mixed with dark humor and absurd parallels. In the majority of my work, I try to bring people in, collaborate, and share ideas. My focus is to inspire cheerfulness, inclusivity and resistance to normative ways of thinking and being. Currently, the project I am doing is called Ricki Wallen, a performance art piece that uses video installation & costumes in a musical satirization of social injustice, gender roles and the prescriptive capitalist agenda.

About Seth Andrew Davis (@hermitwizard on Instagram)
My artistic voice comes from balancing and blurring the lines between being a performer-composer. As a performer I’m a guitarist who plays in various groups in the free-improv, and new music scenes. As a composer I write for various ensembles, chamber groups, and as well focus on electronic and computer music. My musical influences run the gamut, and I don’t consider my music to be under any specific genre or school of thought or dogmatic strain. As a performer-composer, I have facilitated, been a part of, and have started many of my own groups which are hybrid in nature, combining various musicians from various music scenes and genres, and have focused on writing for those ensembles. My most recent work has been focused on combining elements of strictly notated material married with improvisation to create variety and chance in my work, allowing for freedom for the performers. As a frequent collaborator, I’ve worked with choreographers, video artists, and playwrights.

About Project C4 (@projectc4kc on Instagram)
Project c4 is a cutting-edge new music ensemble that promotes fresh ideas for the audience by breaking with classical music tradition through free improvisation and newly commissioned music with an original, yet flexible, instrumentation which includes flute, saxophone, percussion, piano, guitar, and computer. By engaging the community through performance, we will increase the exposure to and push the boundaries of experimental music. All this is in pursuit of our goal to inspire others to experience, support, and enjoy experimental music and free improvisation.

About Charlotte Street Foundation’s Studio Residency Program
In its seventeenth year, the Studio Residency Program provides free studio and rehearsal spaces to exceptional young, emerging, and/or already accomplished artists in need of workspace in which to create and to develop their creative processes, professional practices, and peer networks. Through the program’s offerings—which include studio space, monthly meetings, presentations, studio visits, mentorships, public programs, exhibitions, and access to a multidisciplinary network of artist peers—Charlotte Street’s Studio Residency Program encourages creative production, artistic experimentation and collaboration, professional development, and community building.