Less than 24 hours after opening, Craft Alliance shut down its artist-in-residence exhibition for policy violations.
“The artwork and titles contained antisemitic imagery and slogans calling for violence and the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel,” Craft Alliance wrote on its Instagram account after the shutdown.
The show, “Planting Seeds, Sprouting Hope,” exhibited the work of Craft Alliance’s two artists-in-residence, Allora McCullough and Dani Collette, both 35. McCullough is a ceramic artist and multimedia sculptor. Collette is a glass artist. The two began their 11-month residency in September 2023. It was supposed to end next month on July 20, when their show was scheduled to close, but they were dismissed by Craft Alliance this week.
The two artists said that about six weeks before the exhibition they decided to pivot from their initial exhibition plans to instead create art focusing on Palestinian liberation and an anti-genocide stance against all people. They said they informed members of Craft Alliance’s leadership team of their decision and what they were envisioning, though Bryan Knicely, executive director of Craft Alliance, said he and other senior staff did not know specific details.
The exhibition featured about 50 pieces, including a series of ceramic and glass installations with imagery of watermelons, olive branches, keys and seeds, which the artists said are symbols of solidarity with Palestinians.
The artists planned to donate all of the profit from their exhibition to the GoFundMe account of a family in Gaza that they sponsored through Operation Olive Branch. According to its website, Operation Olive Branch is a volunteer-powered grassroots collective committed to the collective liberation of all peoples. It is currently facilitating aid requests of Palestinian families living in Gaza.
Knicely said that despite repeated requests, the artists did not share the artwork and titles with Craft Alliance leadership in a timely manner prior to the exhibit. Some of the titles, such as “from the river to the sea” and “land back” were overtly antisemitic and offensive, he said.
“A volunteer previewing the artists-in-residence exhibit found antisemitic slogans and artwork among the exhibit just 45 minutes before the exhibit opened to the public,” Knicely said. “The slogan she found is recognized around the world as a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their supporters. After bringing this to the attention of leadership at the Craft Alliance, leadership learned the slogan is a call for violence and the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.”
Knicely said he had been told by senior staff that the exhibition would have something to do with the Middle East and health care, but no specific details were given.
“I know they said the artists were talking about a charity that helps families in the Middle East,” he added. “But their work was clearly pro-Gaza, pro-Palestinian.”
He said he told his leadership team to make sure the artists knew the exhibit could not take a political stance or be a fundraiser.
“They can’t take a political position that puts us in any kind of jeopardy or risk given our nonprofit status,” said Knicely. “And they can’t do a fundraiser here because we are fundraising for our own purposes.”
The artists said at no time did they try to hide what they were doing or be secretive.
“Six weeks prior, we met with Grant (Benoit, education and program director) and shared not only the designs we were thinking but gave him an overview of other work we were planning on making that we didn’t necessarily have designs for,” Collette said. “We were completely transparent.”
The artists pointed out that each of their social media accounts are filled with images of the work they were making for the exhibition as well as videos urging people to donate to the family in Gaza.
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Knicely said while that might be the case, he makes it a point not to befriend employees on social media out of respect for their privacy.
In a letter to the Craft Alliance board explaining what happened, Knicely wrote that most arts organizations will “conduct significant pre-work to educate staff, patrons, and children — especially children and their parents” when working with artists to display political work.
“Throwing up a political exhibition hours before it opens is careless and these artists left the burden of public interpretation up to our staff and volunteers to decide in 45 minutes. This was grossly irresponsible and created an unsafe space for children, volunteers, and our staff who found the antisemitic slogans and artwork on the walls of our gallery,” he wrote. “These artists caused harm to the staff, volunteers, and other artists in our programs. Fortunately, we were able to remove some of the art and the slogans before the exhibit opened to the public which would have resulted in additional harm.”
Both artists said that in no way was their intention ever to be antisemitic, anti-Jewish or anti-Israel but rather “a labor of love for refugees and oppressed people of Palestine.” McCullough said her grandfather is Jewish and she is engaged to a Jewish man. Collette said that as a “queer woman and being of indigenous descent oppression runs through (her) veins.”
“I’m always going to stand up for any group of oppressed people. That includes Palestinians, Jews, Blacks, queer people, trans people,” she said. “My goal is to emit an aura of safe space to people who feel like they don’t have one.”
Added McCullough: “The only thing that was behind the intent of this exhibition was to provide an opportunity to have discourse for freedom and equality and for safety for civilians in a war zone where they are being subjected to genocide. The idea that this was hateful in any way makes me sick to my stomach and breaks my heart.”
The two said that in the last couple of days, seven area galleries offered them space to present their exhibition. They plan to show it on July 13 at Fifteen Windows Gallery on Cherokee Street.
In his letter to the Craft Alliance board, Knicely wrote: “We are not alone in the art world as museums have cancelled exhibits and terminated artists in several countries over the past several months in response to antisemitism. We recognize that exploring controversial topics can be challenging and the art world is no stranger to controversy.
“To my knowledge, Craft Alliance has never encountered a situation where an artist-in-residence refused to communicate or share their intentions prior to an exhibit. We are working with our team to provide safeguards so this type of harm cannot occur in the future.”
