The Benedetti Teaching Artist Residency is an annual, semester-long Artist-in-Residence Fellowship offered through MOSAIC and MCLA's Department of Fine and Performing Arts. Selected artists may work in visual art, music, and/or theatre. During the residency, the Fellow will have the opportunity to teach current MCLA students, either in formal classroom settings or in a mentorship capacity, while alos working toward the public presnentation of a major work at the end of the residency. Additionally, these exemplary artists provide our students and the community with workshops and public programs. The residency aims to bring new artistic perspectives to MCLA and contribute to the diversity, equity, access and inclusion on campus and in the community.
The Benedetti Fellow for each year is identified though a national search that typically commences in the spring. Once posted, applications can be made through the MCLA employment portal.
This residency is funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Alma Benedetti ’37. A beloved North Adams art teacher and life-long advocate and friend of the College, Alma Benedetti inspired generations of children with her keen sense of color, composition, and design.
Wendel Patrick is a composer, producer, beatmaker, pianist, sonic architect, photographer,
and videographer. He is also an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University's
Peabody Institute, where he has recently made national headlines by founding the country's
first baccalaureate program in Hip Hop. He has been referred to as “David Foster
Wallace reincarnated as a sound engineer” by Urbanite Magazine and as “wildly talented”
by the Baltimore Sun. He has been referred to by XLR8R magazine as “a hip-hop producer
that could easily make any fan of Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, or Madlib flip out.”
The alter-ego of classical and jazz pianist Kevin Gift, Wendel Patrick has made a
name for himself internationally as a music producer of remarkable vision, skill and
talent. His five albums: Sound, Forthcoming, JDWP, Passage, and Travel were all produced
without the use of sampling, with Patrick playing every note of every instrument.
What is perhaps most astounding and perplexing to listeners is that there are actually
no instruments...he crafts all of the instruments, and plays every note, electronically.
Equally at home performing on stage with his band, behind two turntables, beatboxing, improvising, or playing a Mozart Concerto on stage with orchestra, Wendel Patrick has toured Europe on several occasions and performed throughout the world with renowned spoken word artist and poet Ursula Rucker (The Roots, 4 Hero). In 2014, Wendel Patrick traveled to Australia as a guest lecturer, speaking about music production and entrepreneurship in the arts at The Australian Institute of Music in both Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, Wendel Patrick co- founded the Baltimore Boom Bap Society, with Erik Spangler (DJ Dubble8) that performs monthly improvised hip hop shows with hand picked musicians and emcees. The group’s collaborative performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale was recently named “Best Mesmerizing Performance of 2016” by Baltimore Magazine. Wendel Patrick’s music has also been heard across the country on NPR stations, most notably on Out of the Blocks, an award winning radio documentary program he co-produces with radio producer Aaron Henkin for NPR affiliate WYPR that has been featured by the Third Coast International Audio Festival and Hearing Voices as well as on the BBC.
Recent performances included a new collaboration between the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Boom Bap Society, on which Patrick’s orchestral compositions were performed. An avid photographer and videographer, his photography has been exhibited in several art galleries including the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Ralph Arnold Gallery in Chicago. Patrick shoots all of the accompanying documentary photography and videography for Out of the Blocks.
