SYMPOSIA! with Michael David and Astrid Dick is a 10-month virtual intensive for advanced artists developing work for exhibition. Meeting twice a month via Zoom, the program includes in-depth group critiques, one-on-one mentorship, and feedback from leading guest critics—offering professional guidance on both studio practice and career development. With structured activities, readings, and personalized support, SYMPOSIA! is designed to help artists refine their vision, strengthen their portfolios, and prepare a cohesive, exhibition-ready body of work.
Michael David and Astrid Dick Cohorts
Lynn Basa
Heedan Chung
Scott Sherman
Margarita Fainshtein
James Welsh
Louise Noel
Susan Poirier
Amelia Biewald
Catherine Callahan
Michael David: Guggenheim Fellow, recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Yaddo and Edward Albee Fellow, Michael David has been exhibiting internationally since 1981, first with the historical Sidney Janis and then with M. Knoedler & Co. Exhibiting widely throughout the United States for 40 years, he has been the subject of much historical and curatorial acclaim. His most recent solo shows “The Mirror Stage” and "Night Time with Dreams and Mirror" were held at Johnson Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, GA. His work is included in many prominent private collections and the permanent public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Brooklyn Museum, The Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Margulies Collection in Miami and the Edward Albee Foundation in Montauk NY, and was the subject of a one-person exhibition at Aspen Museum of Art. Considered an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism, David’s abstract work primarily centers on the use of a densely layered surface to facilitate a direct and immediate spiritual experience. He often incorporates religious iconography and symbolism, art historical themes such as the nude, and contemporary politics into his paintings, resulting in a critical dialogue between the layered abstraction of the surface and the integrated representational imagery. Over the last decade, David established the Fine Arts Workshop in Atlanta and the Yellow Chair Salon, working with artists on an immersive one-on-one basis, helping to develop their voice and professional practices, finding exhibition opportunities and taking their individual expressions to the next level. His mentorship practice expanded to include residencies and workshops in Atlanta, Dallas, TX, Truro, MA and Brooklyn, NY. He has taught painting at Princeton, was head of the Graduate Painting Department at SCAD in Atlanta, and lectured and served as a keynote speaker at many universities and art centers across the United States. Over the last 12 years, David has established, directed, and curated two of the most successful galleries in Brooklyn: Life On Mars and M. David & Co.
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Astrid Dick is a painter working and living in Paris. Dick has been a recipient of the Milton and Sally Michel Avery Visual Arts Fellowship at Yaddo and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, among others, and shown her work through solo and group shows in Europe, the US and Argentina, such as the Grand Palais in Paris and the Manoir de la Ville de Martigny, Switzerland. Most recently, she had shows at Moments Artistiques in Paris, MDavid & Co. Gallery, ArtCake and Below Grand Gallery in New York, Johnson Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, and her work was reviewed in CULTURED, Hyperallergic and The Brooklyn Rail, among others. Her art writing has appeared in ArtPress, the Brooklyn Rail and Two Coats of Paints, among others. She holds a PhD in Economics from MIT. She has taught undergraduate and graduate university courses at INSEAD in France, where she was tenure-track faculty, as well as New York University and Columbia University.