bIO
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 will attend the Arctic Circle residency in 2025 and 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.
ArTIST STATEMENT
As an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersections of performance, sculpture, and site-specific practice, my work explores themes of place, identity, and environmental crisis. Drawing on my upbringing in rural Maine, fieldwork in the Arctic, and personal narratives rooted in a queer family dynamic, I seek to uncover the connections between people, places, and care. My sculptures, installations, and performances investigate the fragility and resilience of nature and relationships, embodying the interconnection of vulnerability and strength, memory and erasure, crisis and renewal.
The specificity of place is central to my practice. Whether performing on a glacier in Alaska or working with aquatic plants in Lake Arrowhead, Maine, I engage in deep research, site-responsive actions, and the transformation of materials. My approach is informed by my experience in conservation, interpersonal relationships, and my commitment to art as an activist tool. Through my work, I envision art as an act of care and resistance, holding space for the complexities of the present while imagining a just and sustainable future.