About CIAR
Contact Us
Feel free to email us with any questions at info@cuttyhunkartists.org.
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Mission
The Cuttyhunk Island Artists' Residency is dedicated to providing artists the time and setting to refocus their energy on their creative process within a supportive community, while enriching the cultural vitality of Cuttyhunk Island.​
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What We Do
Founded in 2017, the Cuttyhunk Island Artists' Residency convenes annual weeklong artists residencies and workshops in the unique historical and ecological setting of Cuttyhunk Island. Centered on supporting creativity and community, CIAR is hosted at the historic Avalon, a ten-bedroom home built in 1909 by industrialist William Madison Wood for his family, now functioning as a non-profit and inn. Artists share meals in the communal dining room, give presentations on their work in the living room, and create work in outdoor studios under the wraparound porch. The Avalon serves as a jumping off point for exploring Cuttyhunk Island, a site with significant early New England history and nearly 300 acres of protected land and five miles of coastline.
During the residencies, CIAR curates several events that are free and open to the general public. Previous presenters include Visiting Artists, Scientists, Critics, and Musicians, all of whom join the residents at the Avalon for meals and conversation. In bringing together artists working across disciplines and in different phases of their careers, CIAR seeks to create new connections and professional development opportunities. Residencies conclude with an opening, inviting members of the public to see the residents’ work from the week on the porch of the Avalon.
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CIAR is committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for artists from varied backgrounds, geographies, and stages of practice. We believe a strong residency community is built by bringing together artists with distinct perspectives, lived experiences, and approaches to making work. This diversity enriches both individual artistic inquiry and the collective experience, creating a space rooted in mutual respect, openness, and care. The residency provides an inspiring setting for participants to develop their work, advance their artistic careers, and share in the common experience of pursuing a life as a visual artist.
​The Cuttyhunk Island Artists' Residency is a program of the non-profit the Marilyn Snow House Foundation, which stewards the Avalon Inn for the purpose of benefiting Cuttyhunk.
About the CIAR Flag
Cuttyhunk’s flags - flying in front of homes and on masts around the island - caught the attention of artist Dominic Quagliozzi, CIAR Resident Fall 2022. Fascinated with flags’ symbolism, Dominic delved into Cuttyhunk’s history and discovered a design once used by the Cuttyhunk Fishing Club, the Avalon’s neighbor: three stars framing a rocking chair against a midnight blue backdrop.
Inspired to create a corresponding flag for CIAR, Dominic adapted this design to include a traveling plein-air painting easel, symbolizing the residency’s inclusive and adventurous spirit of the residency, which invites artists to journey to and explore Cuttyhunk. He handcut the easel and stars and assembled them against a painted canvas backdrop. Several months later, he mailed CIAR a weatherproof flag as a surprise. Now the flag hangs at the Avalon to welcome artists during residency weeks.
Dominic Quagliozzi (kwal-YAHT-zee) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in drawing, painting, textile-based sculpture, and performance. Rooted in his lived experience with chronic illness, his practice transforms medical materials like hospital gowns and exam-table paper to explore vulnerability, resilience, and the interdependence required for healing. Previous work includes Flag (Medicare for all) (pictured below), a reinterpretation of the American flag created from worn hospital gowns and thread. Alongside his studio work, he teaches art to medical students and health professionals. Quagliozzi holds an MFA from Cal State LA and a BA in Sociology from Providence College. His work is held in the RISD Museum and has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
