Joan Mitchell Center

Joan Mitchell Center A program of the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Center is an artist residency center located in New Orleans, LA.

Programming

The core program of the Center is an artist-in-residence program, which offers both time and space for artists to create work in a contemplative environment, along with opportunities for visiting artists to engage with the local arts community and experience the rich cultural possibilities of New Orleans.

05/27/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Hakeem Olayinka: “I paint portraits of myself and my friends and the people in my life. I often paint different figures masked or disrupted by fields of color... the obstructions that come in everyday life, looking through windows, fences, peeking through peepholes.”

Hakeem Olayinka (.olayinka) is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY, and was a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about Olayinka’s work at hakeemolayinka.com.

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing: Mahsa Biglow Ara
Production & Editing: Melissa Dean
Music: On the Flip by Density & Time (CC0 license)

All artwork shown © Hakeem Olayinka, 2026

05/22/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Vee Adams: “I’m interested in looking at the more-than-human world, the world of plants, fungi, microorganisms, lichens, to investigate possibilities for other worlds, in what other futures are possible out there.”

Vee Adams () is an artist based in New Orleans and was a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about Adams’ work at vadamsprints.com.

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing & Production: Melissa Dean
Music: Pulsar - The Grey Room by Density & Time (CC0 license)

All artwork shown © Vee Adams, 2026

05/20/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Shaina Simmons: “I often meditate on what the future of Black women looks like. And for me, I’m planting those seeds through my work. Maybe I’m not having the opportunity to see it through in my real life. But if I can create it, I think that imagination also inspires change.”

Shaina Simmons () is an artist based in New Orleans and was a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about her work at theshainalynn.com.

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing: Mahsa Biglow Ara
Production & Editing: Melissa Dean
Music: Lonesome Star by Unicorn Heads (CC0 license) with additional audio from The Diaspora of Twerk and AfroFuturo by Shaina Simmons.

All artwork shown © Shaina Simmons, 2026

05/15/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Big Queen Kelly: “I am here to honor my elders and my ancestors. My main purpose now is to keep the culture alive, to keep it going.”

Kelly Pearson Boles, known as Big Queen Kelly of the , was a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about Big Queen Kelly’s work at .

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing: Mahsa Biglow Ara
Production & Editing: Melissa Dean
Music: Cumbia City by An Jone (CC0 license)

All artwork shown © Kelly Pearson Boles, 2026

05/12/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Naomi Kawanishi Reis: “There’s a way in which things that are beautiful tend to get ignored or diminished or just put to the side. But I feel very strongly that there is power in beauty. In plants, in ornamentation—all these sort of vestiges of culture that usually are carried by farmers or home gardeners, people who have been taking care of things for generations.”

Naomi Kawanishi Reis () is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY, who was a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about her work at naomireis.com.

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing & Production: Melissa Dean
Music: Jomon Grove by The Mini Vandals (CC0 license)

All artwork shown © Naomi Kawanishi Reis, 2026

Reis

05/08/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Ana María Agüero Jahannes: “When I make my work, I tend to choose the most ancient and the most by-hand process. I think some of that is trying to reconnect with how things were made, when things were made with love and things were made to last.”

Ana María Agüero Jahannes is an artist based in New Orleans and is a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about Jahannes’ work at .

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing: Mahsa Biglow Ara
Production & Editing: Melissa Dean
Music: Outlaw’s Farewell (part I) by Reed Mathis (CC0 license)

All artwork shown © Ana María Agüero Jahannes, 2026

05/05/2026

with 2026 Artist-in-Residence Gabrielle Tolliver: “Thematically, I’ve just been looking at the world around me, and I keep describing it as a house that’s burning. But the house has been burning. I’m a Black woman in America. And I’ve had to live in this burning house, and those who’ve come before me have had to live in that same burning house and get really accustomed to the flames.”

Gabrielle Tolliver () is an artist based in New Orleans and is a Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center. This interview was filmed at the Joan Mitchell Center in March 2026. Learn more about Tolliver’s work at gabrielletolliverart.com.

Interview: Sly Watts
Videography: Cfreedom Photography
Editing: Mahsa Biglow Ara
Production: Melissa Dean
Music: Outlaw’s Farewell (part II) by Reed Mathis (CC0 license)

All artwork shown © Gabrielle Tolliver, 2026

04/03/2026

At the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, we offer artists dedicated time and space for the creative process through residencies ranging from 6 to 10 weeks in length. Artists have opportunities to engage with arts professionals, partner arts organizations, and others in the community.

Eligible artists must either be based in New Orleans (for the last five years) or native to New Orleans, or be a former grant recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation based anywhere in the United States. Former Artists-in-Residence of the Center are not eligible to apply, with the exception of the JMF Early Art Practitioners (EAP).

The application for 2027 residencies is open now through May 29! Visit joanmitchellfoundation.org/residencies (link in bio) for more details and to access the online application.

Video: The studio building at the Joan Mitchell Center

Address

2275 Bayou Road
New Orleans, LA
70119

Telephone

+15049402500

Website

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