Hammerspace Artist Cohort

The Hammerspace Artist Cohort is a nine-month artist development and mentorship program for mother artists and artist-parents building serious, ambitious work alongside caregiving and the demands of contemporary life.

Caregiving, fragmented time, financial pressure, and domestic labor shape artistic practice in ways the broader art world has been slow to acknowledge. The cohort was built around that reality. Over nine months, a small group of six to eight emerging and mid-career artists receives structured critique, visiting artist conversations, professional development for artists, and peer accountability, culminating in a public group exhibition. Sessions meet monthly and combine virtual and in-person gatherings, making sustained participation possible for parent artists and artist caregivers wherever they live and work.

For artists weighing a low-residency MFA, an artist residency program, or other post-graduate alternatives, the Hammerspace cohort offers something those structures rarely provide: sustained, community-rooted support built specifically for the stage of life when fragmented time and competing responsibilities are the reality rather than the exception.

Artists in the cohort develop exhibition proposals, grant applications, artist statements, and professional materials alongside the primary work of making and showing. Guest critics, curators, and arts professionals join throughout the year.

Hammerspace runs two cohort tracks. The Michigan Cohort is based in West Michigan and includes quarterly in-person gatherings alongside monthly virtual sessions. The National Cohort is fully virtual, open to emerging and mid-career artists across the country. Both tracks follow the same nine-month arc and culminate in a public group exhibition.