Six Los Angeles County-based artists have been chosen as the 2026-2027 cohort for the city of Santa Monica Artist Residency Program, formerly the Camera Obscura Artist in Residency Program.
They are Sasha Mazhara, Chinaedu Nwadibia, Bella Ortiz, Seda Saar, Avila Santo and Nicolette Spear, selected by a panel of arts professionals.
The artists will develop their work during 14-week residencies in a studio at the City Gallery in the Bergamot Station Arts Center. As part of the program, they will lead free public workshops. Each receives a $2,500 honorarium and a $500 materials budget for the workshops.
The 2026-2027 cycle marks the program's official move to Bergamot Station. In previous years, it was held at the Camera Obscura Art Lab in Palisades Park.
Avila Santo will lead an embodied rhythm workshop during COAST 2026, an open streets festival celebrating the World Cup final, on Sunday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. His workshop runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Camera Obscura Art Lab in Palisades Park. Previous resident Anahid Boghosian, of the 2025-2026 program, will also take part in COAST with a live painting demonstration and new work from her residency.
Bella Ortiz will lead a blind contour drawing workshop during the annual State of the City event on Thursday, July 23, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Main Street.
Seda Saar is part of the "Water is a Currency" exhibition at the Annenberg Community Beach House gallery, featuring seven artists exploring cultural, spiritual and historical relationships between water, movement and collective memory. It is on view through Sept. 27.
Mazhara is a documentary photographer originally from Ukraine whose work centers on displacement and reconnection. Nwadibia is a multidisciplinary artist drawing on her Nigerian and African American heritage. Ortiz, known as EDTHEGOATKILLER, is a self-taught Chilean American artist working across canvas, apparel and murals. Saar is an interdisciplinary artist exploring light, color and space. Santo is a drummer and Capoeira professor whose work centers on rhythm. Spear is a painter whose large-scale oils examine technology's power to connect and isolate.
Future workshops will be posted at santamonica.gov/events.
Edited by SMDP Staff