Held by a Blessing, Bound by a Curse

Curated by TK Smith
December 4, 2026 – January 16, 2027

This Place, This Body, These Words… have the power to bind us—to who we were, who we are, who we aspire or fear we will become. Where we come from is not always home. Our bodies can fail us. The words we say have lasting power, sometimes beyond our lifetimes.

A blessing is how we might characterize good fortune, while a curse characterizes misfortune—either toward others or ourselves. Though often seen as opposites, both blessings and curses are bindings that are nearly indistinguishable until hindsight or reflection offers us clarity. The 2026 Red Dot exhibition explores the ambiguity of the ties that bind us, inviting us to consider that even the most desired blessings… could be
a curse. 

The artists featured in Held by a Blessing, Bound by a Curse were selected from the 2026 Stove Works artists-in-residence. Across varied conceptual interests and material investigations, they experiment within that ambiguity. The tensions created by the ties that bind us make fertile ground for creativity, innovation, and action.

Is a fatally poisonous flower not beautiful? Is fruit not its sweetest just before it rots? When I say, “I love you,” is that love offered unconditionally or at too high a cost?

Participating Artists -
TBA

About the Curator -

TK Smith is an award-winning writer, curator, and cultural historian. His career consists of community advocacy, public-facing scholarship, and critical engagement with the creative and political discourses of memory work in the United States. With leadership experience across major museums, universities, and independent arts organizations, Smith brings a demonstrated commitment to scholarship, equity, cross-sector partnerships, and the transformative role of cultural institutions in civic life.

Smith’s writing has been published in several exhibition catalogues, academic journals, and periodicals. He has written for Art in America, the Brooklyn Rail, and ART PAPERS, where he was a contributing editor. In 2021, he was awarded an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for short-form writing and in 2024 he was awarded the Leo and Dorothea Rabkin prize for critical art writing.

Smith’s independent curatorial practice has spanned 10 years. Most recently, he curated the 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial: The Price of the Ticket. He previously served as Curator, Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University and Assistant Curator: Art of the African Diaspora at the Barnes Foundation.

As a public scholar, Smith has lectured for several institutions, including the University of Mississippi, University of California – Irvine, and the Wichita Art Museum. He has taught courses at the Barnes Foundation, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and Cornell University, where he lectured in the Architecture, Art, and Planning program.

Currently, Smith is a doctoral candidate in the History of American Civilization program at the University of Delaware, where he is completing his dissertation entitled, “Granite, Power, and Piss: The Transformation of a Confederate Symbol.” He earned his Master of Arts in American Studies and his Bachelor of Arts in English and African American Studies, with a certificate in Creative Writing from Saint Louis University.

About the Year-End resident review

The year-end review is an opportunity for us to celebrate the Artists who have moved through our residency program. Each year, our residency hosts roughly 60 artists on-site. They have hailed from as far as Vienna, Austria, and from as near as Duncan Ave in Highland Park. There are no imposed production benchmarks for the Artists; our only hope is that they use the time, space, and resources available to them in ways that best serve their practice. 

Each year-end review is curated by a local or regional Curator or Artist, who conducts monthly studio visits with each of our residents. Each work on view is available for purchase. All sales are split evenly between the artist and Stove Works. Your support not only feeds an artist, it feeds our staff. It also ensures that our programming will remain free and open to the public. And that our residency program remains available to artists at no charge.