Back Door Residency

Back Door Artist Residency is organized by Paper Chair and is located at Greater Denton Arts Council. The residency provides emerging artists in North Texas with time and space to create their work.

Applications will open in late 2026, and four artists will each complete a three month residency in 2027. Paper Chair’s board will help establish the program as the first year’s residents in 2026.

Back Door Residency is made possible by generous support from Greater Denton Arts Council.

Open Studios

Current residents Atinuke Adeleke and Cher Musico invite you to visit them at their studio at Greater Denton Arts Council. This is a unique opportunity to talk with the artists about their current work and learn about their process.

January 30, 4 – 6 p.m. | Open Studio with Atinuke before Denton Black Film Fest

January 31, 4 – 6 p.m. | Open Studio with Atinuke + Cher before Denton Black Film Fest

February 26, 6 – 8 p.m. | Open Studio with Atinuke + Cher during Materials Hard and Soft reception

Getting there

Greater Denton Arts Council, 400 E. Hickory Street, Denton, TX 76201
The entrance is facing Hickory Street. If GDAC is open, walk through Festival Hall and exit the door in the back of the room. Turn left and walk up the stairs to enter Back Door Residency.

At this time, Back Door Residency is not wheelchair accessible due to the age of the building. We are working to make the space ADA accessible in the future.

Current Back Door Residents

January – March 2026

Atinuke Adeleke

Atinuke Osibogun-Adeleke is an interdisciplinary artist and the founder of Zuri Perle, a design brand known for its thoughtfully crafted home and body adornments informed by Nigerian heritage and global influences. Her practice bridges contemporary design, cultural storytelling, and material exploration.

Her work has been exhibited at notable institutions and galleries, including the African American Museum in Dallas and Daisha Board Gallery. Her designs have also been featured on the runways of New York Fashion Week and Kansas City Fashion Week and highlighted in international publications such as CNN Africa and Italiano L’Orafo.

Atinuke is an educator dedicated to fostering creative thinking and digital literacy. She currently teaches Digital Art Foundation at Texas Woman’s University and has previously taught a range of courses at the University of North Texas, where she actively mentors and inspires emerging artists.

Cher Musico

Cher Musico (she/they) is a queer, autistic Filipinx-American interdisciplinary artist exploring dimensions of home related to identity, domestic labor, and community. Through a thoughtful blend of materials and methods, they weave personal narrative with cultural memory, crafting works that honor heritage while inviting reflection on the complexities of belonging. Their practice often incorporates textile, mixed media, or photography—each piece functioning as both homage and inquiry, grounded in care and emotional depth.

Musico’s work is deeply rooted in lived experience and shaped by a commitment to creating spaces for connection and visibility. Drawing from her Filipinx-American upbringing and queer identity, her pieces serve as layered explorations of selfhood and collective history.

Musico holds an AAA in Visual Communication and a BFA in Advertising Design from the Art Institute of Dallas, and an MFA from Texas Woman’s University.