News Release

Micki Watanabe, a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the 2003 artist-in-residence at Evergreen House, the Johns Hopkins University historic house museum located at 4545 N. Charles St. in Baltimore.

Each year, Evergreen selects an emerging or mid-career artist from outside of Maryland to spend June and July gathering inspiration from Evergreen's collections and gardens. The residency provides housing, a stipend and the use of former Evergreen resident Alice Warder Garrett's studio, now located on the grounds of Loyola College. The art produced during the residency forms the basis of a solo exhibition at the museum the following year.

The program was conceived in 2001 in emulation of Garrett's patronage to the artists of her day. Garrett, who lived at Evergreen House from 1921 to 1952, extended invitations to several artists, including Leon Bakst, Henry Varnum Poor, Gari Melchers, Jacques Maroger and George Grosz, who all benefitted from her hospitality and support. In turn, the Garrett family's lives and collections were enriched by its guests.

The rare books and the Dutch marquetry furniture in the museum's collection will be points of departure for Watanabe's creations, which will be collected in Libraries as Reference/Libraries as Object, the anticipated title of her 2004 exhibit. Evergreen House is one of many historic libraries on the East Coast Watanabe plans to explore as inspiration for her sculptures.

Watanabe teaches at both the Parsons School of Design and the Pratt Institute. Her work has been shown throughout the United States and the world, including Care/Of Gallery in Milan, the Bronx Museum, the Henry Street Settlement in New York and the Kunstverein Firma Paradigma in Linz, Austria. She has received numerous awards and grants including an Aim Program Grant in 2002 at the Bronx Museum and The Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2001.

For information on the Artist-in-Residence Program, contact Jackie O'Regan at 410-516-0341 or online at www.jhu.edu/historichouses.