Praise Shadows Art Gallery is pleased to present the first exhibition of 2025: Pulp Memories by artists Melissa Joseph and Julia Norton. This is the first-ever presentation of the two New York City-based artists together. The pair will describe their materials, techniques, and modes of storytelling in this conversation moderated by Praise Shadows Owner & Founder, Yng-Ru Chen. The exhibition as a whole is inspired by their idiosyncratic takes on papermaking, pulp, and painting. Admission for this event is $5; registration is required. This artist talk will be immediately followed by the opening reception of Pulp Memories (5 to 7pm, free + open to the public).
About the artists
Melissa Joseph is a New York based artist. Her work considers themes of memory, family history, and the politics of how we occupy spaces. By using needle felting and found objects, she intentionally alludes to the labors of women as well as experiences as a second generation American and the unique juxtapositions of diasporic life. Her work has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, Delaware Contemporary, Woodmere Art Museum, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Jeffrey Deitch Projects, ICA San Francisco, and List Gallery at Swarthmore College. She has been featured in Hyperallergic, Art Forum, Artnet, Artnews, New American Paintings, Le Monde, CNN, and Architectural Digest, Whitewall, Family Style, and participated in residencies including Artpace, Dieu Donné Workspace Residency, The Textile Arts Center, BRIC, Fountainhead, the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, the Museum of Arts and Design and upcoming at Greenwich House Pottery. She is a regular contributor to BOMB Magazine.
Julia Norton is a multimedia artist, educator, and researcher, with a primary focus on natural materials. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, an MFA from SUNY Purchase, and an Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work has been exhibited at Lyles & King, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, and The Wassaic Project, and she has participated in residencies at The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), Cooper Union (New York, NY), Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (BC, Canada), and Pocoapoco (Oaxaca, Mexico). In 2023 she was the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Artist Community Engagement Grant. She has previously worked as an educator at institutions such as New Museum, Pioneer Works, and Harvard Art Museums, and currently at Swiss Institute, Dia Art Foundation, and The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.
