Now Presenting
Saint Kate’s Artist in Residence


Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel in downtown Milwaukee is among the first hotels to broadly celebrate the arts in its many forms – from painting and sculpture to music, poetry, and performing arts. To further our connection and support of the arts, Saint Kate is proud to announce its Artist in Residence program.

The residency is an opportunity available once per year for artists working in any genre or medium in the Midwest. The program supports artists by providing studio space, a stipend, consistent access to the Saint Kate Curator, and networking opportunities. The structure of The Artist in Residence program and the artist’s duties reflect the core values of Saint Kate: Creativity, Curiosity, Community, Collaboration, and Common Ground.

The Current Artist in Residence

JULIA BRADFISH

Julia Bradfish is a Milwaukee-based painter originally from central Wisconsin. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2023, where she was awarded multiple competitive scholarships, including the Laurence Rathsack Art Scholarship.

Bradfish’s work has been exhibited in venues across the country, including the Trout Museum of Art (Appleton, WI), Greenpoint Open Studios (Brooklyn, NY), and the Door County Contemporary Art Fair (Fish Creek, WI). She was also an artist in residence for the Bridge Work 09 cohort through Plum Blossom Initiative, an opportunity reserved for promising emerging artists.

In addition to her studio practice, Bradfish is also involved in arts education and community engagement. She recently completed her second year with Creative Allies, a collaborative initiative between Milwaukee Recreation, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, which aims to enhance arts programming in Milwaukee Public Schools and provides professional teaching opportunities for local artists. She is currently a Fundraising and Creative Programs Associate at a non-profit that strives to uplift the community through charitable social gatherings.

As she continues to deepen her studio practice, Bradfish is very excited to be the next artist in residence at Saint Kate. During her residency, she hopes to build a new body of work and create a space for connection.

Saintkate Arts

"At its core, my work is about finding a balance between control and accident, and letting that tension shape the final piece. I look forward to all of the connections that will be made during my time at Saint Kate and how each conversation and each fragment of information will build into my art practice just as each element in a collage culminates into a dynamic environment".

Julia Bradfish

Join Us

AIR Time: Art & Studio Tour

Join Artist in Residence Julia Bradfish for a cocktail and tour of the Saint Kate permanent collection, feature exhibitions, and her residency space.

Julia will guide you through the public spaces of Saint Kate to view and discuss diverse works of art as part of our Seed Collection and rotating feature exhibitions. The tour will then culminate in the Artist in Residence Studio, where you will be invited to experience her practice.

Saturdays
5:30 PM

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Saintkate Arts
RECALLING
Past Artists in Residence

THE THIRD ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

MEGAN WOODARD JOHNSON

2024-2025

Megan Woodard Johnson is a mixed-media abstract artist, inspired by how accumulated everyday experiences create our personal histories. Her abstract work explores memory and nostalgia and is imbued with the joy found in discovering that we often share common memories with apparent strangers.

By combining vintage paper ephemera, paint, various drawing media, and found objects, Johnson creates heavily layered mixed media paintings with bold color, strong composition, and rich detail.

WEBSITE

Saintkate Arts

THE SECOND ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

ANWAR FLOYD-PRUITT

2023-2024

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt is an artist, curator, and puppeteer from Milwaukee, WI. He holds a BA in Psychology from Harvard University (2000), a BFA from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (2017), and an MFA (2020) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The Chazen Museum of Art, Edgewood College, Mount Mary University, and the Museum of Wisconsin Art recently hosted solo exhibitions of his collages, paintings, and abstract mixed-media self-portraits.

In addition to leading puppet-making workshops, Floyd-Pruitt writes and performs a family-friendly singalong called Hip Hop Puppet Party and was awarded a grant from the Jane Henson Foundation to engage youth in puppetry. Anwar is Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, and he maintains a studio at the House of RAD (Resident Artist Doers) in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

WEBSITE

VIDEO

Saintkate Arts

THE FIRST ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

JEFF ZIMPEL

2022-2023

Get to know Saint Kate's inaugural Artist in Residence.

Jeff Zimpel is an interdisciplinary artist whose art practice promotes the importance of life-long learning through an exploration of mark-making and an interrogation of the space where painting and photography meet. He develops site-specific installations and invites creative participation based on these art experiences.

WEBSITE

VIDEO

Saintkate Arts