Alison Bachorik
When creating I let my mood, environment and experiences subconsciously influence the colors and layouts of my artwork. Part of my process is embracing spontaneous outcomes and experimenting in all artistic situations. Instead of creating a solid plan or a desired outcome I allow my mind to be free from constraints and let it flow from mind directly to medium. The process in how I build and experiment a piece of artwork is essential to embracing my deep inner creativity and essential to how I represent reconstructing an alternative reality. I want my viewers to be able to engage with my work in any way they see possible. 

Lindsy Bystroff
Lindsy Bystroff is a painter and photographer based in Troy, NY. Her work often stems from question and answer games she plays in her head. For the purposes of this residency her questions will revolve primarily around color, texture, light, drapery and dentistry. She received her BA and MA from SUNY Albany where she received a Distinguished MA Thesis Award in 2019.

John Desousa
A thread of playfulness and precarity weaves throughout my interdisciplinary practice. Working with paper, prints, fabric, wood, drywall, and performance I wrestle and waltz with collapse through processes such as printing, jamming, gluing, wrapping, pulling, rearranging, and deconstructing. My goal is a balance, one that reveals an undercurrent of unease or uncertainty.

Emily Prosper
Images of objects, places, and color act as references that are transformed and flattened on the surface of the canvas. Color and shape are used to push the composition into an abstract expanse. Space is then pushed and pulled amid differing edges between colors. Saturation, value, and line are emphasized to create a spatial environment. The flatness of paint creates tension between deep space and flat planes. Lines weave in and out, and the weight of each one varies to achieve a shift in space. No sense of representation, or connection to recognizable objects, completely separates the paintings from the resource photographs used.

Trent Stokes
My name is Trent Stokes but you may call me, Sukoya(suh-Kwoy-ya). Inspired by my childhood alias (tree) and a secret love for phonetics- Sukoya is more than a name; it’s declaration of independence. The most important point of reference is in the misspelling of the word sequoia. The well-known ancient trees whose size is as impressive as their age. They are the titans of the forest! The sequoia tree embodies resilience, adaptability, and wisdom. I aspire to be like the sequoia in every aspect of my life.

Whilst reflecting on the Cocoon Art Residency I was forced to accept certain aspects of myself. I have worn many hats over the years and known varying levels of success. In 2009 I began working as a free-lance artist and continued even while playing basketball in college. After leaving the Academy of Art in 2016, I continued struggling to carve out space for my own art but I only managed to make time for commissions or Doodle with us Events*. My works have never focused around a theme or ideal. They have rarely focused on me at all for that matter! They simply came and went with the clients who requested them. For years I have neglected the germ of my own creative genius!
The Cocoon is more than a workspace to me. It’s a reservation, a nursery, a lab, and an incubator. It provides the surface area I need to take root and the conditions to unfurl my crown.

My name is Sukoya. Growth begins, Now!