About

Beginning in January 2024, ICA San Diego will launch a pilot residency program to support local artists. Through a collaboration with the Sherman Heights-based maker space Good Faith, ICA San Diego will sponsor two six-month residencies in a Good Faith studio space. In addition to six months of studio space,  both artists-in-residence will receive a stipend, monthly materials budget, professional development opportunities, and the chance to  present their work  in a joint exhibition at ICA San Diego North  for ICA San Diego’s 2025-2026 season focusing on healing.

Ethan Chan (b.1997)  works in sculpture, performance and installation. “Examining my love for kitsch, cookie-cutter aesthetic, and plastic objects, I aim to place my work at the intersection between globalism and Americana,” says Chan. “Growing up traveling back and forth between the Midwest and different parts of East Asia, the work references my identity as an Asian American mutt and my relationship to objects of Americana, highlighting how our culture as Americans affect and reflect on people who don’t necessarily fit the conventional American stereotype.” During the course of the residency, Chan will produce work that highlights the isolation and segregation often experienced by people of color in the United States–an American experience made even more apparent during the pandemic. Chan states that his “goal is for the body of work to conceptually highlight American loneliness and to better understand the kind of social responsibility that all artist’s carry.”

David Peña’s work engages questions of generational healing and care through his Mexican-American identity. “I reflect on my various cultural orientations, investigating my family history, what is lost over time, where I come from, and what I want to intentionally carry into the future. My current work explores the life of my Abuelo Encarnación, a welder for NASSCO (National Steel and Shipbuilding Company) in Barrio Logan, San Diego, who welded the front yard fence to our family home.” Peña’s work will consider resilience in the face of loss and grief, and will explore how we carry on links to ancestral cultures even after our elders, our links to those cultures, have passed on. He  will build on themes of collaboration and community support, bringing a mixed-media approach to his artistic interventions.

We would like to express our gratitude to our selection committee: Francisco Eme, Lynda Forsha, Sean Leffers, and Alessandra Moctezuma.  Artwork storage and transportation provided by the generous support of Artworks San Diego.

The 2024 Artist in Residence Program is made possible through the generous support of an anonymous donor.