Wave Pool exhibited at The Armory Show for the 2021 edition at the Javits Center in New York City.

The Armory Show is a galvanizing force in the art world, presenting works from around the world with the top galleries and museums presenting. The new fall dates and location at the Javits Center will kick-off New York’s fall art season where for the first time, all exhibitors will be integrated under one roof.

In 2021, 194 leading international galleries from 38 countries presented. Wave Pool was the only one from Ohio and the only one in the not-for-profit section from the MidWest. Wave Pool was one of only 9 not-for-profit galleries exhibiting that year.  

Wave Pool finds ways to make contemporary art accessible, interactive, engaging, and necessary for all communities. To this end, our Armory Show exhibit is a space that invites people in to have conversations and tea while learning more about the refugees and immigrants who have assisted in the creation of the objects on view, and to consider the multitude of social justice topics presented to us via these important works. The objects on view consist primarily of our Welcome Editions. Welcome Editions are limited edition art objects designed by nationally recognized artists and fabricated at least in part by refugee and immigrant women living in Cincinnati, Ohio.  

Welcome Editions are limited edition art objects designed by nationally recognized artists and fabricated at least in part by refugee and immigrant women living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Often functional, affordable and always collectible, the editions appeal both to collectors of contemporary art and those seeking to support refugees and social justice. Editions have been created with artists Chris Johanson and Johanna Jackson, Caroline Woolard, Pedro Reyes, Terence Hammonds, Jeffrey Gibson, Vanessa German, and most recently with Baseera Khan. The works have resulted in the providing work and training for 20 local immigrant artisans. 

The editions have each garnered attention and acclaim in their own right: the gun flutes produced with Pedro Reyes performed at the March for Our Lives in Cincinnati in 2017 and have since performed with Yo-Yo Ma in Chicago; Caroline Woolard’s tea cups were on display at the Contemporary Arts Center; the capes and blankets produced with Chris Johanson and Johanna Jackson were featured at a special event in New York with Mitchel Innes & Nash; and the Cincinnati Art Museum has collected and displayed one of the platters produced with Terence Hammonds.  

Profits from Welcome Editions feed back into sustaining community programs at the Welcome Project and funding future editions.