The people who ran Rabbithole and helped it happen.
| Name | Title | Years | Role |
|---|
| Shawn Lyons | Founder and Director | 2004–2016 | Shawn founded Warren Space with Teodora Koleva in November 2004, when they moved into the basement of 33 Washington Street (the first exhibition opened in April 2005), and ran it as Rabbithole until 2016, curating and producing exhibitions, performances and events, and keeping the space going throughout. He organized the final Rabbithole pop-up, “Artists/Work”, in 2019. |
| Teodora Koleva (Choolfaian) | Co-founder and co-director, Warren Space | 2004–2006 | A dancer, Teodora had the idea to stage a dance performance in the bare basement room, and the dancers performed in its nineteen-foot-square gallery. She curated The Annunciation of Venuses, an evening of dance and music at Warren Space on 10 June 2005, and performed a piece of her own in it. She helped organize Warren Space’s early exhibitions, including “Seahorse / Exploring Memory’s House” (2005), in which she also exhibited a photographic installation. Under her married name, Teodora Koleva (Choolfaian), she returned in 2016 to show in “Plantopia” on 16 April. |
| Justin William Lin | Assistant Director and curator | 2006–2016 | Justin arrived in 2006, when the gallery expanded into a back room that became a photo studio alongside the gallery. A photographer and graphic designer, he helped build and run the studio, provided its photo equipment, and created Rabbithole’s branding, logo, website and most of its exhibition postcards. He curated exhibitions, including the Emerging Artists shows selected from open submissions, and from time to time music and performance events. His “Couples” (2006) launched Rabbithole. In 2011 he founded Brooklyn Central, a photography and creative school within Rabbithole. |
| Cassady Fernandez | Exhibition coordination | 2009–2013 | Helped organize exhibitions and handle their administration, and sometimes exhibited as an artist. |
| Christina Neston | Gallery Intern | Mar – Aug 2008 | |
| Rachael Tucker | Gallery Assistant | Oct 2009 – Jun 2010 | |
| Sara Blazej | Gallery Assistant | Mar 2010 – Jan 2011 | |
| Nyahzul | Associate Director | 2011–2016 | A painter and tattoo artist, Nyahzul handled much of the gallery’s administration and helped organize exhibitions. She became Associate Director in 2011, taking on the role when Justin William Lin became busy with Brooklyn Central, the photography school he founded within Rabbithole. She exhibited in the 2013 benefit auction. She also curated exhibitions, music and performance events from time to time, among them the Inner Distance Salon Show (June 2012), Paola Nuñez Solorio’s “Serenade for New York” (April 2013), Diego Mejia’s “Five Nights With Sandy” (May 2013), “Reflections and Recollections” (June 2013), “Future Former Self” (October 2013) and Dan Sabau’s “Din Afara” (October 2014). |
| Erica Harmon | Gallery administration and exhibition support | 2006–2009 | Erica helped with the gallery’s administration and exhibition organizing for years, and sometimes helped install and take down shows. A musician, she plays bass in The Party Faithful, who were part of “Patti Smith’s Fridge” (2009). She was there at the first Art Attack, in August 2009, watching Color War play in the back of a Rabbit Movers truck in the photograph that ran in The New York Times. She also curated exhibitions, music and performance events from time to time. After 2009 she continued to take part and help from time to time. |
| Caitlin McGarry | Installation and exhibition support | 2013–2015 | Helped hang shows, paint walls, set up and monitor exhibitions, and clean up afterward, while also working at Brooklyn Central. She also curated exhibitions, music and performance events, among them “Future Former Self”, with music by CHAPPO and Monogold (October 2013), Dan Sabau’s “Din Afara” (October 2014) and “Gabriel Mellan: A Retroreflective” (May 2015). |
| Caroline Pham | Curator, Movie Nights; designer and videographer | 2010–2013 | Curated the monthly Movie Nights of film screenings and live music, and designed all of their posters. Beyond Movie Nights, she did a great deal of graphic design and video work for Rabbithole, including a video for Rabbit Tales. She also helped organize and run events at the gallery. She also curated exhibitions. |
| Kate Hill Cantrill | Curator, Rabbit Tales; gallery administration | 2007–2013 | A writer, Kate curated Rabbit Tales, the reading and performance salon, and helped organize exhibitions and handle gallery administration. She also curated exhibitions. |
| Siobhan Towey | Performer; co-curator, The Hare Club | around 2013–2014 | Siobhan co-curated The Hare Club, a performance series, with Lisa Clair, performed at Rabbithole, and ran her massage practice, NYC Massage and Healing (now DUMBO Wellness), within Rabbithole. |
| Ana Maria Camejo | Marketing Director | 2013–2016 | Ana began helping to install exhibitions in 2013 and went on to lead the gallery’s marketing until 2016. She created lookback videos of many exhibitions and a virtual tour of the space, curated several shows, including Antonia Zennaro’s “Rostros Sonoros” (2015), and helped with administration and installing exhibitions. She is also an artist, and showed her own work at Rabbithole, including her exhibition “REBORN” (2016). |
| Name | Title | Years | Role |
|---|
| Juliette Morel | Dancer | | A Paris-based dancer, Juliette gave at least two dance performances at Rabbithole, including one of the earliest, and performed as the creature Gonai for two hours at the closing reception of Jason Gandy’s “ATIXIP: Te Foxl” (12 January 2008). |
| Sono Osato | Artist; organizer, 2013 benefit | | A painter and artist with a studio at Rabbithole, Sono led the organizing of the March 2013 benefit and silent auction for Hurricane Sandy recovery, designed its program guide, and served as auctioneer. |
| Carlos Vidal | Resident caterer | | Carlos catered many Rabbithole exhibitions and events over the years, including the opening of “Couples” (October 2006, with Jill Paradiso) and the 2013 benefit for Hurricane Sandy recovery. |
| Mary Molluso | Resident yoga teacher, Rabbit Vinyasa Yoga | | |
| Claire J Donoghue | Resident yoga teacher, Rabbit Vinyasa Yoga | | |
| Omaira (Mary) Purdy | Kept Rabbithole clean, late at night every week, for many years. | | |
| Bridget Priolo | Art Attack co-coordinator | 2010–2012 | Bridget worked on the Art Attacks from the summer of 2010, on their mailings and the artist registry, and co-coordinated them with Alison McCarthy from the autumn of 2011 to 2012. |
| Alison McCarthy | Art Attack coordinator | 2011–2012 | Ali was the Art Attack coordinator from November 2011 to September 2012, working with Bridget Priolo on the artist registry, the calendar and press. |
Maya, the gallery cat, 2004–2013. Rabbithole’s mascot. Maya roamed 33 Washington Street, visiting the artists in their studios and wandering through the gallery during shows, and at night she followed Mary around while she cleaned. Dean Russo, who had a studio in the building, painted her portrait, Vintage Maya. In 2012 she starred in a short video, Maya in “Run Rabbit Run”, wearing a pair of rabbit ears. She died in August 2013.
Vintage Maya by Dean Russo, used with permission
