Who We Are
NYC Crit Club is a radical alternative program offering community, connection, and critique to artists post BFA/MFA + self-taught. Our programming spans studio critique, art history, art theory, material based intensives, research & writing, professional practices, as well as independent studies for artists. The program supports and strengthens artists’ work while building connections between artists, visiting critics and curators.
The fundamental mission of the organization is to offer the highest level of critique, dialogue and community support without financial stress and to be as inclusive as possible in all ways. NYC Crit Club is uniquely low cost and requires flexibility in time commitment, as artists can take one course when available or as many as they can manage. Time is a valuable commodity that is not afforded to all - so these courses support those who are ready, serious and excited to improve while they maintain their studio and work requirements.
NYC Crit Club is not a replacement for an MFA and does not want to be. The opportunity to expand learning & community post school is at the core of this project - we support and advocate for several amazing MFA programs within our networks. We want to encourage learning and growth individually and not offer a prescription on how artists should operate - rather we want to listen and help in ways that are specific to each artist.
NYC Crit Club is a woman-run organization and co-founded in 2017 by artists Catherine Haggarty & Hilary Doyle. The program offers fair pay and employment opportunities to esteemed critics and faculty who are artists, curators or gallerists. NYC Crit Club currently led by Catherine Haggarty, NYC Crit Club Co-Founder and Founder of The Canopy Program. Artist, Amanda Hunter, is the Director of Operations who handles programming logistics + communications.
NYC Crit Club serves artists all around the world!
NYC Crit Club values equity and justice for artists of all backgrounds. It is our intent that artists from diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well-served and represented by NYC Crit Club. The diversity that artists bring to classes is viewed with respect as a strength, benefit and asset in our courses. It is our goal to present materials and activities that are inclusive and respectful of diversity: gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, culture, education, and other background characteristics. The program offers financial aid in the form of financial aid and BIPOC scholarships as part of our commitment to serving artists inclusively.
NYC Crit Club aims to include artists, critics and faculty with a variety of backgrounds, work and research. This range of diversity in educational background and life experience improves conversations and contributions both formally and conceptually within the program. This inclusivity also creates a safe space of learning where peer driven dialogue fuels the courses and promotes a positive and serious art experience.
NYC Crit Club prides itself on improving the pay rate and faculty / critic experience within the organization. We want to be transparent about compensation to faculty, as the cost of courses echo our value system which is rooted in inclusion and ethical practices in hiring, class experience and outreach to new communities.
By The Numbers
Catherine Haggarty is the Executive Director + Co-founder of NYC Crit Club and the Founder of The Canopy Program.
Haggarty co-founded NYC Crit Club with Hilary Doyle in the Fall of 2017 at Abrons Art Center and has been a co-director since. Catherine Haggarty, b. 1984, is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Haggarty earned her M.F.A from Mason Gross, Rutgers University in 2011. Currently, Haggarty is a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute.
Haggarty’s paintings and curatorial work have been reviewed by and featured in Hyperallergic, The Observer, Bomb Magazine, Two Coats of Paint, Brooklyn Magazine, The New York Times, Maake Magazine, Art Maaze Magazine, Art Spiel, Sound and Vision Podcast, The Black and White Project, Curating Contemporary’s book Eraser, and Young Space. From 2016 to 2019 she was a co-director of the artist-run space, Ortega y Gasset in Brooklyn NY and has curated several exhibitions for OYG and independently.
Select exhibitions include Massey Klein Gallery (solo), Geary Contemporary (solo), Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami, FLA), The Pit (LA) Morgan Lehman (NYC), Leftfield Gallery (CA), Andrew Rafacz (Chicago), Art on Paper Fair with Project Pangee in Montreal Canada, Lorin Gallery (LA), Able Baker Contemporary in Portland Maine and CGK Gallery in Copenhagen.
Visiting Critic and Lecturer appointments include but not limited to: Boston University MFA, University of Oregon, UCONN MFA, Suny Albany MFA, Denison MFA, Brooklyn College MFA, RISD BFA, and Cornell BFA. In 2018 Haggarty was the Anderson Endowed Lecturer at Penn State University and the Teiger Mentor in the Arts at Cornell in Spring 2024. Teaching experience also includes Rutgers University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, The School of Visual Arts, Pratt and Hofstra University.
Co-Founder and Faculty Member
Hilary Doyle began the first iteration of NYC Crit Club in Summer of 2017 before partnering with Haggarty in the Fall of 2017. Doyle is an artist, curator, gallery co-director and teacher. Doyle is represented by Taymour Grahne Projects in London. Recent group shows include: Beach and Contemporary Domesticity at Taymour Grahne in January 2021 and The Symbolists at Hesse Flatow in Chelsea NY in February 2021. She has an upcoming solo show at Taymour Grahne in Summer 2022.
A native of Worcester, MA, Hilary Doyle received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI) and a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston, MA). Doyle has had solo shows at the Active Space, Brown University and One River School. Her work has received press coverage in Hyperallergic, Bushwick Daily, and New American Paintings Blog. Doyle is a recent recipient of a residency at MassMoCA Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA as well as Vermont Studio Center.
Doyle is a curator and a co-director at Transmitter Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She has curated and helped organize over 15 exhibitions with co-curator Reid Hitt as HR Curating over the last decade.
Doyle is faculty at Rhode Island School of Design in both the Foundation Department (EFS) and Painting Department. Doyle also taught Materials and Techniques, Professional Practices and Drawing at Purchase College. She taught at Brown University for a three year appointment.
Her work includes painting, iphone drawing, monotype, ceramics and sculpture to explore psychology of everyday spaces. Doyle currently lives and works in Massachusetts.
Amanda Hunter
Director of Operations
Amanda (b. Seminole, Florida) is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Originally she began taking classes with NYC Crit Club in 2018. She has been a part of the NYC Crit Club team since the Fall of 2021.
Amanda earned her BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2014. She has attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Chautauqua School of Art.
Select Lectures
Cornell AAP Lecture
Spring 2024 Teiger Mentor in the Arts
Catherine Haggarty “Past and Present Self”
The lecture Past and Present Self will share works made over a ten-year period by Catherine Haggarty. The central idea of the lecture is the rejection of a linear perspective in visual art and the embracement of ideas past, present, and future tense working simultaneously for the artist. Haggarty's interest in showing a wide range of work is to champion the idea that working with an open and collaborative mind with works and ideas from the past strengthens threads of research and creates a fertile ground for thinking, making, and living — in and out of the studio.
Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
Catherine Haggarty “A Flexible Framework”
University of Oregon Lecture
Catherine Haggarty “You Know More Than You Can Say”
VVrkshop Panel Discussion
“Is It Time to Kill the MFA”
Articles
Art Power Series 2020
What’s the Value of an Online Art Crit?
A Conversation with Hilary Doyle
The Company Your Mind Keeps: Catherine Haggarty Interviewed by Sangram Majumdar
Podcasts
VVrkshop: ART PROBLEMS: Demolishing The Day Job Stigma for Artists w/ Catherine Haggarty + Macon Reed
Pep Talks for Artists: How to Host A Studio Visit w/ Catherine Haggarty
Sound & Vision: Episode 71 w/ Catherine Haggarty
The Amy Beecher Show: Sleepless Nights w/ Hilary Doyle
Pep Talks for Artists: Ep. 48 Interview w/ Catherine Haggarty
I Like Your Work: The Work Doesn’t Stop When You Leave w/ Catherine Haggarty
Dear Artists: Season 2 Episode 9 w/ Catherine Haggarty
The School of Unlearning: On Art & Community w/ Catherine Haggarty
I Like Your Work: Claiming the Time In Between-Making Every Day a Studio Day w/ Hilary Doyle
The Amy Beecher Show: In Line
w/ Catherine Haggarty