Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Two Curators Invite Visitors to Explore What ‘Sanctuary’ Means in Their Lives

[photo credit: Armory Center for the Arts]

This Friday, co-curators Danielle A. Hill and Lauren Miller will guide visitors through their vision of sanctuary—not as a simple concept, but as a lived experience of protection, transformation, and collective care.

The two curators are opening the “Sanctuaries” exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts to public conversation, hosting a curatorial walkthrough where they will share insights into how they selected 18 contemporary teaching artists and the collaborative process that shaped the show. The exhibition explores sanctuary through painting, textile, ceramic, photography, risography, and mixed media.

Hill, a Cleveland-born artist and curator now based in Pasadena, centers her work on “interdependency, love, connection, and familial practices.” She “collaborates with collectives and organizations that prioritize and invest in the thriving of artists of color while abstaining from colonial practices.” As Exhibition Manager at the Armory, Hill also serves as the City of Pasadena’s District 3 Arts & Culture Commissioner.

Miller, a multidisciplinary artist, focuses her practice on “documentary and archiving practices, video, photography, and print.” Miller holds degrees from UCLA. Hill holds a Master of Arts in Arts Management from Sotheby’s Institute of Art at Claremont Graduate University and a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from Baldwin Wallace University.

The exhibition text articulates an expansive philosophy: “With hands intertwined, people have pressed their feet in soil and moved in faith to find refuge among others or in sacred places.” Sanctuaries are “built through reciprocity, care, and protest.”

The 18 artists include Ronna Ballister, JT Bruns, Rachel Curry, Austyn de Lugo-Liston, Sandra Gallegos, Frankie Gutierrez, Ruzanna Hanesyan, Sergio Hernandez, Heather Hilliard Bonds, Gail Howland, Ed Leonardi, Matt MacFarland, Brandi Mack-Khalfani, Simone Montemurno, Elonda Norris, Julieta Reynoso, Joe Sanchez, Allison Segura, and Dajin Yoon.

Curatorial Walkthrough: Sanctuaries will run on Friday, December 12 at 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Armory Center for the Arts, 145 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 792-5101 or visit https://www.armoryarts.org/calendar/2025/curatorial-walkthrough-sanctuaries.