COMP Studios Spring 2026

Opening Reception: First Friday, March 6

Hours

Open Studios: Saturday March 7, 12-5pm & Saturday March 14, 12-5pm
*contact artists directly to arrange studio visits at other times

Current Artists

Luna Holt
During the residency, Luna Holt will create a series of mixed-media works exploring the complex interplay between trauma and joy through a queer lens. Blending surreal and psychedelic elements, the pieces will use various materials and forms to evoke emotional depth and invite introspection.

Sabrina Nichols
During the residency, the artist will create an immersive installation combining looping animations, sound design, and projection-mapped sculpture. The work will use dark humor and surreal imagery, centered on the recurring image of a muzzled dog, to explore themes of silenced voices, abuse, and complicity in the face of injustice.

About the Artists

Luna Holt (they/them)
Since they were young, the artist always had the craving to create meaningful art that speaks to people. Luna finds a deep connection in creating artwork that pulls the onlooker inward – relating to pieces on a deeper level outside of finding work just visually appealing. As Luna got older, they began to use art as a means of expressing what they could not put into words, but rather on to canvas using brightly coloured shapes and patterns. The feelings, thoughts, and emotions that they found hard to speak aloud, they instead explored through their art through a darkened whimsical lens. Luna likes to think that their work lives at the intersection of whimsy and introspection, and they aim to create spaces that invite the viewer into a deeper, more intimate conversation with themselves. Whimsy, in their practice, is not an escape but a doorway. It softens the edges of reality just enough to let the subconscious speak more freely. The surreal elements in Luna’s work are crafted to stir curiosity and emotional resonance, unlocking memories, questions, or feelings that often go unnoticed in the noise of everyday life.

Sabrina Nichols (she/her)
Sabrina is a visual artist based in Rochester, NY. Her practice blends digital media, sculptural form, and offbeat humor to explore the absurd, the uncanny, and the strangely familiar. She earned her BFA in 3D Digital Design from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2018. After graduating, Sabrina interned with [adult swim] in fall 2018, where her interest in surreal and boundary-pushing animation deepened. In 2019, she was an artist-in-residence at UUU Gallery, where she developed immersive works that merged video, performance, and physical installation. Her role as an animator and video editor—aka “video kid”—at Beggars Group in 2020 brought her sensibility to indie music visuals, helping craft content for groundbreaking and already prominent artists. In 2024, she embraced the title of "freelance absurdist monster," a nod to her ever-evolving identity as a creator of strange, playful, and occasionally grotesque visual worlds. Sabrina’s work continues to challenge norms and delight viewers with its irreverent spirit and layered weirdness.

About COMP Studios

COMP Studios provides artists with inexpensive and free, temporary space to advance their practice and engage the public. This initiative expands RoCo's work to support artists, advances the ecosystem for contemporary art in Downtown Rochester; and builds upon grassroots efforts like First Friday, Rochester’s Citywide Gallery Night, and 2019's Current Seen. In addition to providing work space, this initiative will boost an artist's access to audiences and expose the public to an artist’s latest artwork. COMP Studios is Creative Opportunities Made Public. In 2024 COMP was located offsite at a nearby office building and supported by Chashama and The New York State Council for the Arts. In 2025 we moved this program back to the 2nd Floor of RoCo's main facility at 137 East Avenue.