Announcing 2023 Puerto Rico Artist Fellows

For our fifth year, the Studios at MASS MoCA is pleased to celebrate a new group of Studios at MASS MoCA Puerto Rico Artist Fellows. Over the next year, we will welcome five artists in sculpture, photography, painting, and writing for residencies at the museum. Artists receive funded residencies of up to four weeks, including housing, studio space, daily meals, museum access, plus travel and living costs, for artists of all disciplines.

The program began under the initiative and fundraising efforts of Mari Rodriguez Binnie and William Burton Binnie in 2018, in response to Hurricane Maria. Today, our work continues to support artists on the island during what remains a tumultuous time, including the impacts of Hurricane Fiona in September 2022.

We invite you to meet our newest Puerto Rico Artist Fellows below. And if you haven’t yet seen 2018 Puerto Rico Fellow Gamaliel Rodriguez’s 60-foot installation in the MASS MoCA Hunter Center Hallway, La travesía / Le voyage, be sure to visit before the exhibition closes January 15, 2023.

The 2023 Puerto Rico Fellowship program is supported by the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation.


Elsa María Meléndez

Caguas, Puerto Rico

In residence: March 1st - March 28, 2023

Photo by: Frank Elías

Elsa María Meléndez is a visual artist born in Caguas, Puerto Rico (1974) with a 25 year artistic career. She has exhibited collectively in more than 95 exhibitions in the United States, Uruguay, Cuba, Ireland, Romania, Portugal, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Meléndez was one of the Commended artists and also received the People’s Choice Award at the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery at Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Her first solo exhibition in the United States, “Vengo de una isla de confusión” (“I Come from an Island of Confusion”) opened at Alabama Contemporary Art Center on September 2022, traveling to the Rollins Museum in May 2023. In 2019 she received the Flamboyán Artist Fellowship in partnership with NALAC. She was nominated for the 2019 USA Fellowship, United States Artists. In 2014 Meléndez was invited to a mid-career solo exhibition “Perreta al argumento: 18 años de producción”, by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña at the Museo Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina, La Puntilla, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Among other distinctions, she has received the Lexus Fellowship, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in 2009.

Meléndez stands out for incorporating printmaking techniques, embroidery and large accumulations of textiles and synthetic materials. The iconography in her work draws on characteristics that define the social and cultural idiosyncrasies of her environment. Meléndez's work documents uncertainty, while defending the right to doubt in debates between tragedy, comedy, innocence and malice. Her work makes visible cultural contradictions and the lack of public policies that enhance the quality of life of Puerto Ricans. Through the representation of women in public and private life, she develops an antithesis of behavioral judgments by denouncing misogyny.

Her work is included in the contemporary art collections of the Rollins Museum of Art, Florida; Glendale Community College in California; Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University, New Orleans; Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte de la Universidad de Puerto Rico; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico; La Casa de Las Américas in Havana; Museo de Arte de Ponce; Ateneo Puertorriqueño; Lolita Rubial Foundation in Minas, Uruguay and in the Museo de Arte de Caguas, among others. Her work has also been reviewed in important journals and in the contemporary art books "Hinca por ahí, escritos sobre artes y asuntos limítrofes" by Nelson Rivera, Ediciones Callejón 2016, "Frescos: 50 Puerto Rican Artists under 35" by Celina Nogueras Cuevas, Muuaaa 2011 and, in the catalog published by the Programa de Artes Plásticas del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña "Perreta al argumento: 18 años de producción de Elsa María Meléndez", 2015, among others. After completing the Fine Arts Bachelor degree at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, she studied curatorship, registration and collection management at the Smithsonian Center for Education Museum Studies in Washington, D.C. and in SUAGM in Gurabo, Puerto Rico among many others institutions. 

Meléndez has also worked on curatorship and research projects with the Colección Nacional of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and has curated and designed more than 50 exhibitions for the Museo de Arte de Caguas, Puerto Rico, where she works as Curator.

Elsa María Meléndez es una artista visual nacida en Caguas, Puerto Rico (1974) con 25 años de carrera artística. Ha expuesto colectivamente en más de 95 exposiciones en Estados Unidos, Uruguay, Cuba, Irlanda, Rumania, Portugal, República Dominicana y Puerto Rico.

Meléndez recibió una Mención honorable y también recibió el premio People's Choice en el Concurso de Retratos Outwin Boochever 2022, National Portrait Gallery en Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Su primera exposición individual en Estados Unidos, “Vengo de una isla de confusión” inauguró en Alabama Contemporary Art Center en septiembre de 2022 y viajará al Museo Rollins en mayo de 2023. En 2019 recibió el  Flamboyán Artist Fellowship en asociación con NALAC. Fue nominada para la beca United States Artists 2019 USA Fellowship. En 2014 Meléndez fue invitada a realizar una exposición individual de mitad de carrera “Perreta al argumento: 18 años de producción”, por el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña en el Museo Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina, La Puntilla, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Entre otras distinciones recibió la Beca Lexus, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico en 2009.

Meléndez se destaca por incorporar grabados, bordados y grandes acumulaciones de textiles y materiales sintéticos. La iconografía en la obra se nutre de rasgos que definen la idiosincrasia social y cultural de su entorno. Documenta la incertidumbre, al tiempo que defiende el derecho a la duda en debates entre tragedia, comedia, inocencia y malicia. Su propuesta visibiliza contradicciones culturales y la falta de políticas públicas que procuren calidad de vida para los puertorriqueños. A través de la representación de la mujer en la vida pública y privada desarrolla una antítesis de los juicios del comportamiento al denunciar la misoginia.

Su obra está incluida en las colecciones de arte contemporáneo del Rollins Museum of Art, Florida; Glendale Community College en California; Newcomb Art Museum en la Universidad de Tulane, Nueva Orleans; Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte de la Universidad de Puerto Rico; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico; La Casa de Las Américas en La Habana; Museo de Arte de Ponce; Ateneo Puertorriqueño; Fundación Lolita Rubial en Minas, Uruguay y, en el Museo de Arte de Caguas, entre otros. Su trabajo ha sido reseñado en importantes publicaciones periódicas y en los libros de arte contemporáneo "Hinca por ahí Escritos sobre artes y asuntos limítrofes", 2016 de Nelson Rivera, Ediciones Callejón, "Frescos: 50 Puerto Rican Artists under 35", 2011 de Celina Nogueras Cuevas, Muuaaa y, en el catálogo publicado por el Programa de Artes Plásticas del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña "Perreta al argumento: 18 años de producción de Elsa María Meléndez", 2015 entre otros.

Meléndez ha trabajado también en proyectos de curaduría e investigación con la Colección Nacional del Instituto Cultura Puertorriqueña y, ha curado y diseñado más de 50 exposiciones para el Museo de Arte de Caguas, donde se desempeña como Curadora.


Fotografía: Rafael Collazo @rafacollazofoto

Garvin Sierra Vega

San Juan, Puerto Rico

In residence: May 17th - May 30th, 2023

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1977. Garvin Sierra Vega holds a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture and Graphic Arts from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. During his formative years he worked as an assistant to prominent sculptors such as Ramón Berríos and Soucy de Perellano. Parallel to his work as a visual artist, Sierra Vega currently works as a freelance graphic designer, exhibition designer and set designer. His work has been exhibited internationally in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Japan, Slovenia, Mexico, Portugal and the United States, among others, and is part of prestigious private and institutional collections, most recently appearing in no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria at the Whitney Museum and also at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC), Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) and the Museo de Historia y Antropología de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (MHAA). His artistic production has been reviewed in important publications on Puerto Rican art including: "Interconexiones, lecturas curatoriales de la colección del MAPR", "careos/relevos: 25 años del museo de arte contemporáneo de puerto rico" and "Frescos: 50 artistas puertorriqueños menores de 35 años". He also designed the scenery for the play "El Maestro II". Some of the distinctions he has received include: First Prize Poster for "Retorno 1903-2003, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and Honorable Mention in the Plastic Arts Contest of the Puerto Rican Athenaeum (both in 2001); First Prize Design Bombay Sapphire Cup (2003); First Prize Collective of Puerto Rican Artists 26th Graphic Biennial, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2005) and Honorable Mention in the Young Art Contest Oriental Group (2009).

Nace en Ponce, Puerto Rico en 1977. Posee un Bachillerato en Bellas Artes con concentración en Escultura y Artes Gráficas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras. Durante sus años de formación trabajó como asistente de destacados escultores como Ramón Berríos y Soucy de Perellano. Paralelo a su trabajo como artista plástico, Sierra Vega se desempeña actualmente como diseñador gráfico independiente, diseñador de exhibiciones y escenógrafo. Su obra ha sido exhibida internacionalmente en países como Argentina, Colombia, Japón, Eslovenia, México, Portugal y Estados Unidos, entre otros, y forma parte de prestigiosas colecciones privadas e institucionales recientemente en no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria at the Whitney Museum, y tambien en el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC), Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) y el Museo de Historia y Antropología de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (MHAA). Su producción artística ha sido reseñada en importantes publicaciones sobre el arte puertorriqueño que incluyen : “Interconexiones, lecturas curatoriales de la colección del MAPR”, “careos/relevos: 25 años del museo de arte contemporáneo de puerto rico” y “Frescos: 50 artistas puertorriqueños menores de 35 años”. Tambien diseñó la escenografía de la obra teatral el Maestro II. Algunas de las distinciones de las cuales ha sido merecedor incluyen: Primer Premio Cartel por "Retorno 1903-2003, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras y Mención de Honor en el Certamen de Artes Plásticas del Ateneo Puertorriqueño (ambas en el 2001); Primer Premio de Diseño Copa Bombay Sapphire (2003); Primer Premio Colectiva de Artistas Puertorriqueños 26a Bienal de Gráfica, Ljubljana, Eslovenia (2005) y Mención de Honor Certamen de Arte Joven Oriental Group (2009).


Photo by Rosario Fernández

Norma Vila Rivero

Caguas, Puerto Rico

In residence: May 17th - May 30th, 2023

Photographer, multimedia artist, exhibit coordinator and cultural manager Norma Vila Rivero received a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (2005) and a master’s degree in Art Administration in Ana G. Mendez, Universidad del Turabo (2010). In 2011, she co-founded METRO: plataforma organizada, an artist-run space, and from 2015 until 2018 was the Director of ÁREA: lugar de proyectos. In 2017, she was selected to participate in DebtFair by the Occupy Museums Collective at the Whitney Museum Biennial. In 2018 she presented her project "A metaphor against oblivion", at The John & June Allcott Gallery at Chapel Hill University in North Carolina, USA. In 2020, she received the NALAC Fund for the Arts to continue with her ongoing project "A metaphor against oblivion". In 2021 she was invited to be part of "Suspended Time: Myrna Báez and Norma Vila Rivero" a duo show with Myrna Báez curated by Cheryl Hartup at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Oregon, USA. Subsequently, the Museum acquired one of her works for their collection. Currently, Vila Rivero is the director and co-founder of REUNIÓN, an artistic collective and a space for exhibition projects that was launched in March of 2022. Vila Rivero's work has been presented in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina, Mallorca, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, St. Croix, and and many states of the U.S. Her work is included in the contemporary art collections of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Oregon), the Luciano Benetton Collection (Italy), the Puerto Rico Museum of Art (MAPR), the Dra. Josefina Camacho Museum and Center for Humanistic Studies in la Nuez (Universidad de Turabo, Caguas, PR) and the FIART Foundation (Madrid, Spain), as well as in several private collections.

Vila Rivero employs a broad spectrum of mediums to explore social science, phenomenology, semantics, and the human condition in an artistic practice that weds aesthetics to social engagement. The aim is to subtly address emotional issues or intense social themes from a humanist point of view. Through photography, installation, sculpture and mixed media, Vila Rivero has criticized and offered a comment on the role of religion in wars, the immigrant condition, economic inequality due to gender, and recently the threat/aftereffects to environmental sustainability by disproportionate development without long-term planning and the privatization and subsequent overexploitation of the natural resources in Puerto Rico. This type of development ("economic growth") usually prioritizes foreigners over citizens. Her aim is to subtly create works whose meaning is elaborated and interwoven in a contemplative-collective network instead of being suspended in a space for individual consumption. She often responds to social oriented themes, objects with high significance, or situations in her surroundings. Site specificity is usually the point of departure for her creative process, involving research into the site and its surrounding geographical impacts. Vila Rivero always tries to combine many disciplines that work inclusively and socially.

"Currently, my work offers a critical look at the transformation of Puerto Rico’s environment. Inspired by two themes, landscape and absence, my intention is to convey a wake-up call about the effects of economic growth on environmental sustainability and the island’s inhabitants. For 16 years, through photography, interventions-installation or mixed media, I have commented on social problems that concern me. Whether to criticize or comment on our condition as a colony, the role of religion in wars, the condition of the immigrant, economic inequality by gender and recently environmental sustainability in the face of economic growth. I analyze and aesthetically approach those conflicts and resistances. It is important to make them relate to each other to unite aesthetics with social commitment."


Photo by Salima Hamirani

Ana Portnoy Brimmer

Luquillo, Puerto Rico

In residence: June 14 - July 11, 2023

Ana Portnoy Brimmer is a poet and organizer from Puerto Rico. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature from the University of Puerto Rico, and is an alumna of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. To Love an Island, her debut poetry collection, was originally the winner of YesYes Books’ 2019 Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest. The Spanish edition is forthcoming from La Impresora. Ana is the winner of the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest 2020, and was named one of Poets & Writers 2021 Debut Poets.Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Southeast Review, Gulf Coast, Society and Space, Sixth Finch, Foundry Journal, Sx Salon, The Breakbeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT, Aftershocks of Disaster: Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm, among others. Ana is the daughter of Mexican-Jewish immigrants, resides in Puerto Rico and finds hope in the poetics of dance parties and revolution.

​Ana Portnoy Brimmer es poeta y organizadora de Puerto Rico. Obtuvo su bachillerato y maestría en Literatura en Inglés de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, y es egresada del MFA en Escritura Creativa de Rutgers University-Newark. To Love an Island, su primera colección de poesía, fue originalmente ganadora del premio Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest 2019 de YesYes Books. La edición en Español del libro está próxima a salir con La Impresora. Ana es ganadora del premio 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest 2020 y fue nombrada una de les Poets & Writers 2021 Debut Poets. Su trabajo ha sido publicado o está próximo a salir en el Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Southeast Review, Gulf Coast, Society and Space, Sixth Finch, Foundry Journal, Sx Salon, The Breakbeat Poets Volume 4: LatiNEXT, Aftershocks of Disaster: Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm, entre otros. Es hija de inmigrantes Mexicanxs-Judixs, reside en Puerto Rico y encuentra esperanza en la poética del bailoteo y la revolución.


Natalia Sánchez

Arecibo, Puerto Rico

In residence: August 23 - September 19, 2023

Natalia Sánchez was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico in 1992. She received her BFA at Columbus College of Art and Design in 2015. After Hurricane Maria, she returned to Puerto Rico, basing herself in the town of Arecibo where she continues to develop her painting, multimedia and community engagement practices with themes influenced by her immediate landscape.

Through her work, she seeks to document and deconstruct neglected moments found in Puerto Rico’s current urban landscape, which reveal our collective psyche in the context of Puerto Rico’s colonial history. She reconfigures this as a reflection: We shape the landscape that shapes us, acknowledging the landscape as a mirror. Her project “Pais Espejo” (2021), funded by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), consisted not only of paintings of the historic yet destitute town of Arecibo, but also gathered anecdotes and history about the town told by elders, historians and urban planners. These efforts resulted in a 50 minute documentary that Sánchez shared back with her Arecibo community. Her most recent series of paintings, “Fracto” (2022), while still responding to the paradigms of architecture in Puerto Rico and the reality of decay in our landscape, also embraces abstraction. These new works exist between the realm of reality and the imaginary; in a plane of constant ideation and timelessness.