Habitation & Collective Exhibition
May 16-17, 2026 / 11AM-6PM
Barn at 264 Titicus Road, North Salem, NY, 10560
Art Direction: Monique Allain
Artists: Anita Fina Kiewra, Bibiana Huang Matheis, Maria-Gracia Donoso, Monique Allain, Paige De Leo, Penny Dell, Sally Frank.
Photographer: Helen Houghton
Blitz comes from the German word for lightning, implying a swift and decisive action. The title combines the idea of engagement, rapid occupation and the concept of art. Art is a powerful tool for transformation. ART BLITZ is a form of “ARTIVISM”. Advocating and being engaged with what we believe is part of our responsibility as artists, although we should never lose the poetics in our voices.
ART BLITZ are a series of events offered by artists to institutional, private, and public spaces. The project consists of one-day pop-up actions or habitations for a longer period to be replicated, forming an artistic wave of interventions which support human rights and nature preservation. The artworks presented vary in each performance, making events new and fresh.
The precise and effective actions have unlimited potential for growth, happening within the same consistent pattern, thus constituting an identity.
Our première, a performance with a pop-up exhibition, took place on April 11 at Bedford Playhouse. ART BLITZ AT THE BARN is our second initiative! What is going to be the next…?
The project aims to insert art into daily life. It poetically advocates for collaboration. It also enables a direct connection to the public, giving voice to the artists.
Click here to know more about the project.
CONCEPT & ART DIRECTION
Monique Allain
Photo by Helen Houghton
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photo by Jim Siano
Short Bio: Helen H. Houghton, photographer, grew up on Long Island’s North Shore, and has lived for extended periods in New York City, Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and the Bay Area. In addition to being a photographer, she is a conservatory-trained pianist, a poetry editor and anthologist, and has served on multiple poetry boards, including the Hudson Review and three decades with the Academy of American Poets. She has a BA (English and French) University of Utah, and MA (Comparative Literature) U.C. Berkeley, and has done post-graduate work at Stanford, Oxford, and NYU. Helen currently lives in North Salem with her husband Frank. She photographs horses and wildlife, and author events and parties in Manhattan, and elsewhere.
Statement: One of the joys of being a photographer is following the light, a gift we receive each morning. At special moments that light shines within an object or living being giving it extra vibrancy and emotion, revealing something hidden right before our eyes. It is my goal to share the excitement of seeing with fresh eyes the visual poetry in this complex, unfathomable, and wonder-filled world we live in.
ARTISTS
Photos by Helen Houghton
Anita Fina Kiewra
“The Hudson River School” gets new meaning in Anita Fina Kiewra’s artwork – you are in the middle of the Hudson, and you are rowing.
Anita is a rower, and her printmaking practice includes intaglio, relief, and screen prints. She oversees the Community Printmaking Studio (PUF Studios) at the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory for Hudson River Housing, Inc., where she is a project manager in Community Development.
She has invited fellow printmakers from far and near to join her, including several of the printmakers from PUF Studios.
Short Bio: Bibiana is an artist, fine arts photographer and curator who combines installation art, collage and photography. She has studied at the Maryland School of Art and Design and at the Corcoran School of Art. Bibiana has been involved in a variety of projects ranging from mixed media installations to performance art, with recent focus on environmental issues. Her work has appeared in major exhibits and publications in the US and Europe, in New York City, Chicago, and Berlin. Her photograph is on permanent display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture – Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. Bibiana is the founder, co-chair and curator for the Inspiration Art Group International, a not-for-profit organization in the State of New York.
Statement: My art promotes love for the planet and engages themes of ecology, sustainability, climate change, endangered species, clean water, deforestation, and humanity. A recurring heart symbolizes love for nature—what remains, what we have lost, and what is still worth protecting. You may sense a quiet plea: in my work, as in ecosystems worldwide, nature asks for care. I depict the world and confront threats such as plastic pollution.
Maria-Gracia Donoso
Short Bio: María-Gracia Donoso is a Chilean-French interdisciplinary artist based in New York. Born in Chile and raised in France, her practice spans drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video, and installation. She holds an MA in New Media from Pompeu Fabra University and studied Art in Paris at École Penninghen (ESAG). Working across analog and digital processes, her multidisciplinary practice spans over three decades, with exhibitions across Japan, France, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Nigeria, Australia, and the United States, and participation in international residencies, workshops, and research programs. Her work is included in public and private collections, and she is the recipient of several international awards.
Statement: My work explores perception as a shifting and constructed reality. Beginning with fluid, intuitive drawings, I transform these forms into speculative, multidimensional environments. Through dislocation, I seek to unsettle fixed viewpoints and open space for new ways of sensing. Rooted in transformation and healing, my practice invites a deeper connection—both personal and collective—toward expanded, and at times sacred, dimensions of experience.
Short Bio: I am an ART(IV)IST. I adopted this term to describe myself years ago, when I realized that we artists should never lose the poetics in our artistic voice, although advocating and being engaged with what we believe is part of our responsibility! Born and raised in São Paulo to French/Mexican parents (1958), I moved to US (2018) and settled in North Salem, NY (2020). I have a bachelor’s degree in biology and visual arts, and a master’s degree in visual arts. From 2013 to 2018, I founded and coordinated the "Núcleo de Arte” of ABER, the Brazilian Association of Bookbinding and Restoration, developing study programs and producing artist's books. In 2023, Estela Vilela, Chica Boyriven, Liliana Pardini and I conceived the M.A.L.A project, an artist book residency, where I am now one of the advisors.
Statement: Through multidisciplinary and multimedia practices, I investigate the processes of identity construction. In doing so, I explore the relationship between these processes and space, time, and alterity. My practice is guided by a commitment to life, peace, and sustainability. Through video, photo, print, mixed media and painting, I produce actions, installations and interventions in which immersive experiences, meeting situations, and connections with the environment can be experienced. My practice is guided by a commitment to life, peace, and environmental sustainability.
Paige de Leo
Short Bio: Paige studied communication design and illustration at Syracuse University and painting at NYU. She has worked for major companies, including AOL/Time Warner and McGraw Hill, as a graphic designer and art director frequently incorporating her own illustrations.
Statement: Paige De Leo current paintings focus on animals, mainly chickens, as she is drawn to their rich textures and sculptural presence. Treating them as portrait subjects, she shifts their context, giving them personality and presence, and prompting viewers to see something ordinary in a new and more personal way.
Short Bio: A Poughkeespie resident, Penny Dell regularly shows her work in the Hudson Valley including member exhibits at the Woodstock Art Association & Museum, Woodstock-Byrdcliffe Guild. She has had two solo exhibitions at Montgomery Row in Rhinebeck,
as well as The Cunneen Hackett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, and other galleries. With the National Association of Women Artists, her work is frequently exhibited in NYC as well as traveling regional exhibitions. Recent awards: 2024 Chautauqua Institution Art Residency / 2023 Randy Globus Award / 2023 Residency at Chateaux Orquevaux, France / 2020 Anna Walinska Memorial Gold Medal in mixed media for National Association Of Women Artists / 2019 Dutchess County Executive Award for Individual Artist / Best in Show “Rise Up“ at the Strathmore Mansion Bethesda, MD / 2015 Robert Angeloch Award for Excellence in Print Making.
as well as The Cunneen Hackett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, and other galleries. With the National Association of Women Artists, her work is frequently exhibited in NYC as well as traveling regional exhibitions. Recent awards: 2024 Chautauqua Institution Art Residency / 2023 Randy Globus Award / 2023 Residency at Chateaux Orquevaux, France / 2020 Anna Walinska Memorial Gold Medal in mixed media for National Association Of Women Artists / 2019 Dutchess County Executive Award for Individual Artist / Best in Show “Rise Up“ at the Strathmore Mansion Bethesda, MD / 2015 Robert Angeloch Award for Excellence in Print Making.
Statement: Penny Dell is a printmaker who enjoys making woodcuts, etchings, and monotypes and many combinations of these. The interior patterns from security envelopes have provided a treasure trove —these are cut up in hexagonal forms and combined in artworks with diverse print making, collage and encaustic techniques.
Short Bio: Sally Frank has been making original etchings, lithographs, woodcuts and monotypes for more 50 years ago. She earned a master’s degree in printmaking from C.W. Post College. Her work has been selected for exhibition by a variety of museum jurors, including David Kiehl, Whitney Museum curator of prints, David Max Horowitz, assistant curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Jennifer Farrell, associate curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other jurors for gallery exhibitions in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico. Frank’s studio is in Waccabuc, NY. She also makes her prints at Zea Mays Printmaking in Northampton, MA and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT. She is a member of The Boston Printmakers and the Monotype Guild of New England.
Statement: My work reflects my ongoing search for a deeper connection with nature. I strive to capture the essence of nature’s energy that flows through the natural landscape. My imagery emerges through the layering of environmental patterns. I’m inspired by the structured chaos of leaves, branches and roots. Spontaneity and intention converge—branches intertwine and unexpected connections emerge. Each layer reveals new depth, echoing the organic beauty and mystery of the natural world.
RECORDS FROM THE EVENT
Photos by Helen Houghton
(Will be posted after the event)
