Our Community

Throughout the year, we hope to have artists of many manners and wonderful wonderments creating and crafting delectible -- and meaningful -- art. Our only requirement is that they allow it all to be seen as it is being seen. Hear and see it from the voice and the vision of the artist. And be sure to tell us what you think. That's how a community is built.

Josias Figueirido

Josias Figueirido is an artist from Spain based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. With a focus on painting, Figueirido’s work combines digital and analog technologies to explore stories that speak of friendship, community, and belonging. In 2022, impacted by living and working at the US-Mexico border, Figueirido created his signature fictional characters Piri the Dreamer and Flying Coyote, two cartoon creatures who emerged out of a blend of ideas related to migration and immigration, biographical events and personal experiences.

Josias received an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia (2017), a Post-Graduate Diploma in Drawing from the Royal Drawing School in London (2010), and a BA in Fine Arts from London Metropolitan University in London (2008). Figueirido has been an artist in residence at The Fabric Workshop and Museum (Post-Graduate Apprentice Program), Dumfries House, Moritz-Heyman Residency, Vermont Studio Center, and The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. The story of Piri the Dreamer and Flying Coyote speaks of universal friendship and the unexpected bond that grows between people who were never intended to meet or get along but are united by the same desire for a new beginning far from their places of origin.

Figueirido says, “For me, fictional stories blend both imagination and reality and are capable of connecting people cross-culturally. As an artist, fiction gives me control over my stories. I enjoy the freedom of deciding what is possible.”

Figueirido embraces technology. His process involves analog and digital tools. The world of Piri the Dreamer and Flying Coyote is built in 3D modeling software, and it is disseminated primarily through exhibitions of airbrushed paintings and animations in augmented reality.

Education

MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA), 2017
Post Graduate Diploma (Drawing), The Royal Drawing School (London, UK), 2010
BA Fine Art, London Metropolitan University (London, UK), 2008

Awards

Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency (2023)
Wassaic Projects Artist Residency (2022)
National Endowment for the Arts, Challenge America: Arts Engagement in American Communities (2021)
Millay Arts Artist Residency (2021)
Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences (2020)
University Creative Project Grant, Texas A & M International University (2020)
Vermont Studio Center (2019)
Moritz-Heyman Artist Residency (2018)
CRE Fellowship, Second State Press (2018)
The Horseman Collection Purchase Prize, The Horseman Foundation and PAFA (2017)
FMC Tower Curator’s Award, FMC Tower and PAFA (2017)
Fine Arts Venture Fund, PAFA (2016 & 2017)
Dumfries House Artist Residency (2016)
Post-Graduate Apprentice Program, Fabric Workshop and Museum (2015)
Antonio Quesada Painting Prize, Francisco Fernandez del Riego Museum (2011)
Paintings in Hospitals Purchase Prize, Royal Drawing School (2010)

Patrick Theimer

Owner, collector, and advocate. Always curious. Sometimes I write about it, which you can find here: Vohkl. Sometimes I talk about it, which you'll discover when you visit. You can find out more about me on LinkedIn, or just shoot me an email. If it's about art, I'm all ears.