Our Story
During the first Pandemic shutdown in 2020, 15 members of our artist collaborative made the bold move to re-examine our mission.
After almost 15 years as a Philadelphia based, mother-centric artist group we decided to open up our mission to a larger audience of artists. With this expanded mission came our new name- Artessa Alliance.
Artessa Alliance is a group of women-identified visual artists from the Greater Philadelphia area who are committed to supporting members’ respective creative practices and collaborating on artistic projects.
We envision a world where the work of women artists—and all artists—is valued and vital.
Our (New) Story Continued…
Our original mission to support mothers seeking relief from the isolation of parenthood seemed to have grown up with our children. We had more freedoms but still cherished the support and opportunities our women’s collective very much provided. We decided to grow our collaborative to allow for diversity of age, background and community interests and to share our strengths and experience with more than just mother-artists.
Our Name, Mission, and Vision
The Artessa Alliance name was chosen on the premise that we are a tessellation of women artists–each single member made stronger by our combined power.
In crafting our new vision, discussion revolved around the aims we were striving to achieve as women artists. We worked through our most important achievements over the course of our collective, what core values held us together, and what we hoped to accomplish for our future. At the heart of that exchange was the recognition that our most important connection is finding camaraderie in our art practice. We found value assisting each other in bringing our original art to a conversation with the community through exhibitions.
Moving Forward
Artessa Alliance will continue to support women, and women identifying artists, but we’re leaving behind the motherhood requirement. Our group’s evolved mission will continue to include their foundation of supporting each other with creative opportunities. We are linked, allied women artists who adapt to the world around us. We engage individually and collectively with the community by creating relevant and thought-provoking art. Our hope is to inspire others to work towards positive change. As we move forward, adapting, monitoring and adjusting, our vision is to explore, learn, and hone our craft as we continue to speak to you through our art.
Kimberly Mehler’s tessalated mural at George Washington Carver High School of Science and Engineering
We Are…
Artessa Alliance members are accomplished visual artists who are also authors, educators, business owners, art editors, international workshop leaders, designers, curriculum developers, jewelers, painters, photographers, muralists, web developers and bloggers. Published work has been featured in periodicals (Newsweek, Trends, Country Living, Philadelphia Stories, Horticulture Magazine, etc.) and in Fine Art Books (Forgotten Philadelphia: Art and Writing Inspired by Philadelphia Heritage Sites and Extraordinary Gifts: Remarkable Women from the Delaware Valley). Members have been profiled on NPR, Newsworks.org, PHL Channel 17, 95.7 BEN FM’s Woman of the Week, XPN Arts Crawl, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many local publications.
Artessa Alliance artists have achieved numerous honors including:
Grants: Leeway Foundation for Art and Change, Cultural Alliance/PA Council on the Arts, Delaware Division of the Arts, Rivers Merging, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Carnegie Institute, University of Hartford Graduate Thesis Grant to Paris, France
Fellowships: Fulbright Fellowship, Temple University Fellowship, Yale University Summer School of Music and Art Fellowship
Awards: Philadelphia’s Mothers in Charge Peacemaker Award, Best in Show at Abington Art Center & Best of Philly, Cheltenham Center for the Arts Linda Brener Award, Mural Arts of Philadelphia commissions.
Residencies: Iceland, Ireland, Wyoming, Pennsylvania.
The Artessa Alliance artists work in a variety of mediums including acrylic, ceramics, collage, encaustic, fiber, photography, printmaking, metalsmithing, wire, new media, oil, and watercolor.
Membership
Artessa Alliance maintains a membership of about 15 women visual artists in the Philadelphia area. Membership is generally by invitation or nomination. We are not currently accepting new members.
Exhibition History
Our collective of women artists includes a rich and accomplished history of exhibitions, projects and markets. We continue to collaborate on new work, the key to our mission.