I am an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersections of performance, sculpture, and site-specific practice. My work explores themes of place, identity, and environmental crisis, informed by my upbringing in rural Maine, fieldwork in the Arctic, and personal narratives rooted in a queer family dynamic.
Through my practice, I seek to make visible the often-invisible connections between seemingly disparate locations, histories, and communities. My sculptures, installations, and performances investigate both the fragility and resilience of landscapes and identities, embodying the tensions between vulnerability and strength, memory and erasure, crisis and renewal.
The specificity of place is central to my work. Whether performing on a glacier in Alaska or responding to the cultural history of Lake Arrowhead, Maine, my process involves deep research, site-responsive actions, and the transformation of materials. I draw on my experience in conservation work, my fascination with environmental science, and my dedication to art as an activist tool to address pressing issues of climate change and social inequity.
My recent work reflects a growing urgency to document and engage with endangered environments, acknowledging the interconnected crises we face. I see art as a form of care and resistance—an act of imagining a more just and sustainable future while holding space for the complexities of the present.
b. 1983
Brace’s practice is located in rural Maine. Overall her work is concerned with the body as it relates to place and crisis and examines how we cohabitate with nature during a rapidly unfolding climate situation. Brace currently teaches at Maine College of Art and Design and formerly taught at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Brace attended the Studios at MASS MoCA, Alumni Residency at Maine College of Art and Design and Vermont Studio Center. Selected exhibitions include PS122 Gallery, Gary Snyder Project Space and SOHO 20 in Manhattan and Ortega Y Gasset Projects, Smack Mellon and Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Maine based exhibitions include 82 Parris Street, Center for Maine Contemporary Art and The Institute of Contemporary Art. Brace is the recipient of the Kindling Fund, Professional Development Grant at MECA&D and Women Invigorating the Curriculum and Cultivating Diversity Committee Grant at University of Maine, Augusta. Brace is the Co-founder of the Performance Art Initiative, Sine Gallery and GROUNDWORK retreat and has work in the permanent collection at the Portland Museum of Art and Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in NYC.