From Boston, MA:

Alice Vogler

From Oslo, Norway:

Anja Carr

Ida Grimsgaard

Franzisca Siegrist

Susanne Irene Fjørtoft

From Kingston, NY:

Clara Diamond

Matthew Gioia

From Houston, TX:

Jim Pirtle

From Brooklyn:

Coralee Lynn Rose

Tsedaye Makonnen

Hector Canonge

Raquel Du Toit

Dulcie Canton

Valerie Sharp

& Valerie Kuehne's band!

FRIDAY, JUNE 19

Hector Canonge

Ida Grimsgaard

Clara Diamond

Coralee Lynn Rose

SATURDAY JUNE 20

Alice Vogler

Anja Carr

Franzisca Siegrist

Susanne Irene Fjørtoft

Matthew Gioia

Raquel Du Toit

Dulcie Canton

Valerie Sharp

Jim Pirtle

GRAY ZONE
1. An area intermediate between two mutually exclusive states or categories, where the border between the two is fuzzy.
2. It exists in a grey area between legal and illegal.
3. topic that is not clearly one thing or the other, that is open to interpretation.
4. Synonyms[ (an area intermediate between two mutually exclusive states or categories): penumbra
-wiktionary

[ Gray Zone logo by Vincent Tiley ]

The Gray Zone, Kingston and The Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn are run the by husband and wife team of Jill McDermid and Erik Hokanson

Presenting a Performance Art Gallery:
PERFORMANCE ART is not theater, dance, spoken-word, painting, poetry or sculpture yet it is all of these.

GRAY ZONE, KINGSTON continues the founding mission of the Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn: the Glorification of Performance Art, yet in a location more loudly resonant in Nature. Gray Zone on the Rondout is only yards away from the Hudson River estuary that provides life-sustaining water for agriculture and wildlife. Gray Zone is on Broadway, a life-sustaining thoroughfare through all of the variances of the City of Kingston, itself in a gray area surrounded by river, mountains, farms and towns.

GRAY ZONE celebrates the diversity of our world by centering itself in this city and in this valley that are abundant with all kinds of diversity - providing a conduit of experience for the peoples of Kingston, the Hudson Valley and beyond.

McDermid was first based in Marbletown, NY then Brooklyn where in 2006, with Melissa Lockwood, they opened the Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn, offering live works by the current generation of performance artists from around New York, the USA and the world. These live performances have always been presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer.

Grace Exhibition Space has had the opportunity to present local artists Thomas Albrecht [Kingston], Meghan Van Alstyne [Albany/Kinderhook]area artists Peter Dobill, Marni Kotak, Rob Andrews [NYC] Nyugen Smith, Rafael Sanchez [New Jersey] Marilyn Arsem , Mari Novotny-Jones, Jeff Huckleberry, Sandy Huckleberry, Alice Vogler, Vela Phelan, Sandrine Scheaffer, [Boston] and internationally renowned artists Roi Vaara, Essi Kasalinnen [Finland] Gim Gwang Cheol [South Korea] Boris Nieslony [Germany] W. Christiawan [Indonesia] Chen Jin [China] Fernando Ribiero [Brazil], Martin Renteria and Pancho Lopez [Mexico], Non Grata [Estonia + Beyond]

We plan to continue our focus on diverse community-building through our unique programming which will continue in Kingston, throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond.

Jill McDermid earned an MFA in Intermedia: Video + Performance after three intense years of study and creating at the University of Iowa, 2000. Since then, she has presented hundreds of performance art fdisolyas through the Grace Exhibition Space for Performance Art since 2006, the Fountain Art Fair, the Egeszegedre series and 21st Suffragettes: Art + Performance by Women.

Erik Hokanson studied at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA. He worked as a painter, sculptor, jeweler and object-maker until 2007 when he began making conceptual performance art. Since then, he has been performing in NYC and international performance art festivals. He currently runs the Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn with Jill McDermid. Erik Hokanson is also a highly skilled luthier, making guitars from idea to design through building and playing.

GRACE:
Grace, n. - simple elegance or refinement of movement
Grace Period - an extended period granted as a special favor
The Three Graces (Greek Mythology) - charm, grace, and beauty

Opened in 2006, Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid career or established. Being a Brooklyn loft, our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art.

Grace Exhibition Space presents over 30 curated live performance art exhibitions each year, showcasing new work by more than 400 performance artists from across the United States and the world since 2006. Grace Space received fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas in 2007.

Since opening, Grace Space has had the opportunity to present three pivotal members of the internationally famous group Black Market International: Boris Nieslony, Roi Vaara and Lee Wen; Mexican artist and curator Martin Renteria and the 3rd World Pirate Marcel Da Champ. We have hosted the local, internationally renowned artists Peter Dobill, Marni Kotak, Nugent Smith, Rafael Sanchez and Rob Andrews- as well as the internationally renowned Boston artists Mari Novotny-Jones, Jeff Huckleberry, Sandy Huckleberry, Alice Vogler, Vela Phelan, Sandrine Scheaffer and Marilyn Arsem (Ms. Arsem was presented through esteemed curator Jonas Stampe's Live Art Festival).

* NEW *

Living anywhere on this planet, we can feel the effects of the climates' drastic changes.

In November 2013 we opened the Gray Zone for Performance Art in Kingston, NY, a smaller city two hours north of Brooklyn, giving us the opportunity to reach a new audience, in a supportive environment, that is a gray zone between the major metropolis of New York City and the farmlands of the Hudson Valley.

The Gray Zone for Performance Art was previously located on Broadway in Kingston, NY. We are re-locating into The Shirt Factory in the new Arts District of Kingston, in an arts center that has been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine.�

We already have an established Gallery for Performance Art Ephemera at The Alice Chilton Gallery Outpost in the Shirt Factory.

Just when that seems enough, we are creating a Permaculture + Performance Art Residency on a 100 acre farm in Rosendale, NY just oputside Kingston and still only 2 hours north of Brooklyn.

The residency puts us firmly in Nature - with all of her bugs, flowers, birds and fish - natural resources that are rapidly disappearing.

Please join us in all of our locations, for the same challenges of thought-provoking works in different atmospheres.

Grace Exhibition Space is Directed by Jill McDermid-Hokanson and Erik Hokanson

Jill McDermid-Hokanson has participated as a performance artist since 2000 in Living Walls Festival, Albany NY (2011); MEME Gallery, Boston MA (2011); Transmuted International Festival, Mexico (2011); KoPAS International Festival, Korea (2010); InFraction Festival International dArt Performance, France (2010); Transmuted International Festival, Mexico (2010); Performagia o Muerte Festival with Raramuri. Chihuahua, Mexico (2010); Maximum Perception, NYC (2009); The Diverse Universe Festival: European Tour (2010); The Diverse Universe Festival, Estonia (2009); Perfo Puerto International Festival and Conference, Chile (2005); BA+PAF International Festival, Indonesia (2004); Open Art International Festival (2004) and as Guest Curator to The 10th Open Art International Festival (2009)
Mrs. McDermid-Hokanson has been curating and presenting Performance Art in New York City since 2001, including the 21st Suffragettes: Art + Performance by Women (2001), Egeszegedre! Monthly Installation, Video and Performance Art series (2002-2004), Time Shadows Performance Art Series (2005) and opened The Grace Exhibition Space in September, 2006 since then presenting over 300 International Performance Artists.
She has a Master of Fine Art and a Master of Art in Intermedia and Video from the University of Iowa, under the Direction of Mr. Hans Breder.

Erik Hokanson was introduced to Performance Art after meeting Jill McDermid at Fountain Art Fair in Miami. Mr. Hokanson was one of the fair organizers and Grace Exhibition Space was a participating gallery space.

Erik Hokanson has participated in many festivals in Europe, Asia and the Americas as a performance artist since 2008 in Fresh Ground Pepper, NYC (2011); The Stage, 2011 (Newark, NJ); Living Walls Festival, Albany NY (2011); MEME Gallery, Boston MA (2011); Performagia o Muerte Festival with Raramuri. Chihuahua, Mexico (2010); Grace Exhibition Space, NYC (2009, 2010, 2011); InFraction Festival International dArt Performance, France (2010); FranceMaximum Perception, NYC (2009); Transmuted International Festival, Mexico (2011); KoPAS International Festival, Korea (2010); Diverse Universe Festival: European Tour (2010); Diverse Universe Festival, Estonia (2009)

Melissa Lockwood�was a founder of Grace Exhibition Space in 2006. She has participated a performance artist since 1989. She is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, video, drawing, painting, photography and fashion design. She has worked within the groups The Yes Men and Non Grata (Estonia). In Dance Hackit, Brooklyn, NY (2011); In collaboration with Yinka Oyewole at Chelsea Art Museum, NYC (2011); Brooklyn Fashion as Film, 2011 (Brooklyn, NY); Brooklyn Fashion Weekend, Brooklyn NY (2011); In collaboration with Keiko Uneshi; Roulette Musicircus, Brooklyn, NY (2011) Balls across America; Yes Men (2009) The New York Post tells the truth: The Yes Men (2009); Home, Noemie Lafrance (2009) Maximum Perception, NYC (2008) Melissa Has traveled nationally and internationally showing her Performance, Video and Fashion Works. She has a Master of Fine Art and a Master of Art in Performance and Video from the University of Iowa, under the Direction of Mr. Hans Breder. Cofounder of Grace Exhibition Space and Co-director 2006 -2009.

[ Brain GES logo by Erik Hokanson / GES text logo by Michael Bebout ]