Photo: Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.
Stephanie M. Santana (b. Los Angeles, CA) constructs mixed media textile works and print editions that explore interior worlds, mythologies, navigational tools and resistance strategies of African diasporic origins. Rooted in the responsive encounter with archival material while engaging with the expansive traditions of quilting, printmaking, painting and collage; her practice centers an interest in unearthing useful information and alternative spaces of self-definition.
Recent exhibitions include solo presentations Ways of Knowing at The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA (2024) and The Armory Show, New York, NY (2024). Santana’s work has been included in group exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN; Textile Arts Center, New York, NY; and John & Robyn Horn Gallery at Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC; among others. Her work is held in permanent collections that include Whitney Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Getty Research Institute.
Santana is the recipient of a Dieu Donné Workspace Residency (2025), A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship (2024), Ace Hotel Artist Residency with curatorial partner Powerhouse Arts (2024), NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship (2023) and a Kahn/Mason SIP Fellowship with EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (2023). Her work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Hyperallergic and Pressing Matters.
Santana is a founding member of printmaking collective Black Women of Print. She lives and works in New York.
CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Call & Response, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2024 Spatial Awareness, Ace Hotel New York, New York, NY. Curated by Eric Shiner, President, Powerhouse Arts
The Armory Show, with EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
Ways of Knowing, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA. Curated by Lauren Rosenblum, Jensen Bryan Curator, The Print Center
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 IFPDA Print Fair, with Black Women of Print, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
2024 Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles, Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY
Lore, UT Downtown Gallery at University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN
Common Thread, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
Ancestors in Progress, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
The Meeting Point, Blackburn Study Center at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
2023 IFPDA Print Fair, with Black Women of Print, Javits Center, New York, NY
2022 The Power of Portraiture: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
RETOLD: Chronicles and Other Stories, John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC
What the Mirror Said, Richard F. Brush Gallery, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY
2021 A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN
Embodied, Center of Knowhere, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Black Histories, Black Futures, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
DU-GOOD, Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2020 The Dream Deferred, Blanc Gallery, Chicago, IL
The Dream Deferred, Samford University Art Gallery, Birmingham, AL
AWARDS, GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2024 A.I.R. Fellowship Program, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Jurors: Stamatina Gregory, Marcela Guerrero & Sam Vernon
2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
Kahn Mason Studio Immersion Project Fellowship, EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
Finalist, 97th Annual Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA. Jurors: Dr. Makeda Best & Curlee Raven Holton
The Stinnett Philadelphia Museum of Art Collection Award, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
The Print Center Council Award, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
Sustainable Arts Foundation Fellowship, Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
Summer Paper Institute, Dieu Donné, Brooklyn, NY
2022 Windgate Foundation Artist Grant, Little Rock, AR
Holly Jordan Fellowship, In Cahoots Residency, Petaluma, CA
RESIDENCIES
2025 Dieu Donné Workspace Residency, Brooklyn, NY (forthcoming)
2024 BRIClab Contemporary Art Residency, Brooklyn, NY
Powerhouse Arts/Ace Hotel Artist Residency, Brooklyn, NY
Interlude Artist Residency, Livingston, NY
Artist-in-Residence, The bell hooks center, Berea College, Berea, KY
Work-in-Progress Residency, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
2023 Wassaic Project Artist Residency, Wassaic, NY
2022 Artist-in-Residence, Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC
In Cahoots Residency, Petaluma, CA
PANELS, PRESENTATIONS & LECTURES
2024 Artist Talk, Narrative Quilting: Textile as Record, TATTER, Brooklyn, NY
Panel, Dindga McCannon & Stephanie Santana, Blackburn Study Center at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
Visiting Critic, MFA Printmaking Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design Panel
Panel, Resonances: Histories and Community in Print, Print Center New York, with Dindga McCannon and Scout Hutchinson
Artist Talk, Stephanie Santana: Ways of Knowing, The Print Center, with Lauren Rosenblum
Artist Talk, Ways of Knowing, The bell hooks center, Berea College
2023 Panel, Kindred Conversations: The Santana Project, The Luminal Theater
2022 Panel, Continuum: A Conversation with Black Women of Print, IFPDA Print Fair
Artist Talk, The Brodsky Center Traveling Seminar on Contemporary Prints, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2021 Panel, Honoring the Legacy of Emma Amos, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Panel, Shape Cultural, Artistic Spaces with Black Women of Print, SCAD Museum of Art
Artist Talk, Curators Circle: Prints and Drawings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Artist Talk, Activating the Archive, The Design Center at Barnard College, Columbia University
Artist Talk, Black Women of Print Speaker Series: Stephanie Santana, Manhattan Graphics Center
2020 Panel, Visible Figures: Black Womanhood in Printmaking, Mid America Print Council
Panel, The Santana Project, RE-FEST New York, CultureHub
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA
Janet Turner Print Museum, California State University Chico, Chico, CA
Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, OR
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
University of San Diego, San Diego, CA
University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY