Jodi Connelly, M.F.A. 2018, has received a residency through the Ali Youssefi Project. The project includes a residency at the Verge Center for the Arts in Sacramento. 

Connelly’s work investigates the complexities of the human relationship to nature and the environment. Through site-specific environmental interventions that include photographic documentation, sculpture and drawing, she explores issues of climate change and the effects migration and development have had on native ecosystems over the past 400 years. Her work is hand wrought and physical, in an attempt to create intimacy between herself and the land upon which she works. At UC Davis, she received the Keister and Allen Prize for her project An Intervention in Space and Time, a year-long environmental intervention at the UC Davis McLaughlin Reserve. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in Davis, CA, the Greenville Museum of Art and the Durham Art Guild in North Carolina. Ms. Connelly currently resides in Sacramento, California. 

The purpose of the Ali Youssefi Artist in Residency is to give meaningful support to artists and creatives. This project aims to nurture artists from a diverse range of backgrounds and uplift the work of all artists, with a particular focus on underrepresented perspectives and voices. We welcome all visual artists working with a wide range of mediums. This residency is open to national applicants and  will take place in Sacramento, California, for a period of 3 to 6 months.

​Two residency types are available: the WAL (Warehouse Artist Lofts) Residency will provide live-in accommodations as well as a work studio, while the Verge Residency will provide a work studio at The Verge Center for the Arts. Both offer a $500 monthly stipend and culminate in an exhibition of work at the Verge gallery.