January 18 - March 2, 2023
The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art proudly presents "Cycles of Bloom" by Caroline Garrett Hardy and "Flowered-Two Circles" by In Kyoung Choi Chun, January 18 - March 2, 2023. These works allow gallery viewers to reflect upon beauty and humanity's integration with the natural world.
The exhibition of these two artists' reveals a diverse celebration of all that blooms. While Chun's installation combines Neon with fresh flowers, Hardy bases her paper kimono on the perfect garden as a theme. Gardening, as Hardy discovered, "inevitably reflects cultural concerns and offers an opportunity to understand how different needs dictate decisions, shape perspectives, and precipitate action."
A full-time artist Caroline Garrett Hardy lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with her photographer husband, Trotter Hardy, a retired Professor of Law from the College of William and Mary. Many public collections hold her work, including the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina; The Vatican Museum, Vatican City, Rome, Italy; The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; and the Rare Book Collection of the Tompkins-McCaw Library at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.
Hardy holds a B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.F.A. in Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Arts, and studied Book Arts at Ohio State University, earning a Master of Arts while working at The Logan Elm Press. Throughout her career, she has held several teaching positions in institutions, including Camberwell College of Art and Craft, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of San Francisco, Less-McRae College, and Christopher Newport University.
A native of Seoul, South Korea, In Kyoung Chun, engages in an active visual art practice in Atlanta, Georgia. After studying Psychology, a subject she did not enjoy, she found painting, an activity she always enjoyed, an efficient way of communicating after marrying and moving to the U.S.
Chun holds multiple awards for her work and participates in exhibitions in renowned institutions, such as the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Athens Institute of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia, Poem 88 Gallery, Hathaway Contemporary, Mint Gallery, Gallery 72 of Atlanta Mayors Office of Cultural Affairs, Aqua Miami Art Fair, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Albany Museum of Fine Art of Georgia, 1780 Gallery, and Virginia Museum of Fine Art of Richmond.
In Spring 2020, Chun joined the Atlanta Contemporary Studio program and had her two-person show at Project: ARTspace in New York City. In 2021, Chun premiered her solo show 'Table and Cloud' at Blue Heron Nature Preserve of Atlanta and participated in the ArtFields in Lake City, South Carolina. Her work was also included in She Is Here at Atlanta Contemporary, In Search For Home at Dalton Gallery of Agnes Scott College, and Light Up Midtown in Columbus, Georgia.
The permanent collections of the High Museum of Art, the City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Fulton County Public Library of Atlanta hold works by Chun. Her "Blue Gate" sculpture is currently installed at Industrial City in Brooklyn, New York. She is a finalist of the Edge Award 2023 at Swan Coach House, Atlanta, and a studio artist at the Atlanta Contemporary. YI Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, represents her work.
Annual Student Juried Exhibition
November 9- December 8, 2022
Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art is pleased to present the 2022 Annual Student Juried Show.
Featured for the exhibition are Nika Aarts, Adila Albino, Maddie Apple, Tyce Dukes,
Madison Forkey, Mitchell Haeberle, Lillie Jester, Gerry O'Meara, Mike Spencer, and
Dylan Stout.
The exhibition was juried by contemporary artist Marianna Dixon Williams. Their excellent teaching practice has placed them at top universities such as the University of Pennsylvania, Augusta University, and Mount Holyoke College. They currently serve as an Assistant Professor of Digital Art and Design.
In collaboration with this exhibition, Augusta University Cinema Series will present Jan Svankmajer's ALICE on September 15 at 2:30 p.m. at Maxwell Theatre on Summerville Campus. Dr. Bramlette Reeves will introduce the film.
She didn't really follow a rabbit down the hole, but she thought it was a good story.
September 14 – October 20, 2022
"She didn't really follow a rabbit down the hole, but she thought it was a good story."
by Teresa Bramlette Reeves. The Byrd show follows an exhibition featuring many of
the same works recently presented by Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta. It is inspired
by Lewis Carroll's Alice, who follows a rabbit down a hole and into an inverted world
inhabited by characters who challenge her sense of who she is and what she knows.
Rather than a coming-of-age story, her project envisions Alice’s journey as a way
to explore a different kind of transition—the move into one’s final decades. The work
relates a loose narrative of a woman who enters into this new world, but after some
exploration, starts to plot an escape that will never succeed.
In collaboration with this exhibition, Augusta University Cinema Series will present
Jan Svankmajer's ALICE on September 15 at 2:30 p.m. at Maxwell Theatre on Summerville
Campus. Dr. Bramlette Reeves will introduce the film.
Variance
April 13 - May 2, 2022
Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art and Augusta University’s Department of Art and Design featured the Spring 2022 Senior Exhibition for candidates with a Fine Art concentration.
Students featured in this exhibition are Brian Berry, Aaron Cummings, Kate Davis, Evan Gilmore, Michael Kane, Edna Martinez, Ashton Maya, Andrea Welch, and Jacob Zimmerman.
CTRL Z
March 17-30, 2022
Together with the Department of Art and Design’s Graphic Design students, the Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art presents Control Z, an exhibition of work designed by Graphic Design Seniors. This show features seniors Ashley Sanchez, Beth Johnson, Chris Rosado-Ayala, Emily Amerson, Harmony Osgood, Julia Mercer, Justin Weegar, Kyndall Douglas, Lily Heath, Marquette Persaud, Mitch Haeberle, and Nicole Trueblood.
2021 Juried Student Art Exhibition
October 21 - December 1, 2021
The annual Juried Student Art Exhibition allows students to experience the jurying process and gain first-hand exposure to the art world. Selected works of art offer two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and video animations in multiple media.
Image Credit: Collage image designed by Tabitha Durbin using works by James Carrick, Sarah Conner, Beth Droppleman, James Harlan Guthrie, Mitchell Haeberle, Lillian Heath, Onyx Jankiewicz, Lillie Jester, Alena Pfeifer, Erin Thérèse Schmidt, and Aislin Sparrow.
Cumberland Island: Land, Water, Wind, and Light
Featuring photography by Christa Bowden and Emily Gomez with drawings and sound compositions
by Ernesto Gomez
August 11 - October 1, 2021
In 2016, during the national park system centennial, artists Christa Bowden, Emily Gómez, and Ernesto Gómez began a multi-year collaborative project to document the unique biome and history of Cumberland Island. With this project, they hope to expand the existing documentation of Cumberland Island to increase awareness of its significance and fragility and provide a record for future generations, should the island be lost or irrevocably altered due to climate change or other threats. The artists' photographs, wind drawings, and sound collages record the diversity of the island's ecosystem.
Image Credit: Emily Gomez, Dungeness Ruins, 2019.
2021 Senior Exhibition
April 15 - May 4, 2021
The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art is pleased to announce the 2021 Senior Exhibition.
Exhibiting artists featured in the Mary S. Byrd Gallery are KaRon Atkinson, Mary Basel, Jessica Bryant, Luke Calabria-Russel, Cassidy Farrer, Zoey Green, Serenity Griffin, Aryanna Harmon, Abigalis Mejia-Saladin, Angel Moreno, Shawn Moss, Hope Price, Savannah Tardy, Shamekia Williams, and Taylor Williams.
In the Doom Room, our first cohort of animation concentration majors are featured including Caleb Arbor, Evan Brown, Tabitha Durbin, Britton Hill, Nicolas (Nik) Mitchell, and Kelseigh Robinson.
2021 Student Juried Exhibition
March 4 - April 1, 2021
The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art is pleased to announce the 2021 Juried Student Art Exhibition, on view at the Gallery March 4 through April 1, 2021.
The annual Juried Student Art Exhibition allows students to experience the jurying process and gain first-hand exposure to the workings of the art world. The 2021 exhibition showcases the works of student artists: Mary Besel, Luke Calabria-Russell, Aaron Cummings, Hailey Dowdy, Zoey Green, Mitchell Haeberle, Caleb Hale, Onyx Jankiewicz, Abigalis Mejia-Saladin, Angel Moreno, Marc Quoc Nguyen, Harmony Osgood, Ashley Sanchez, Shamekia Williams, Taylor Williams, Jacob Zimmerman.
Forever Yesterday
September 17 - October 16, 2020
Johannes Barfield's "Forever Yesterday" features paintings, video, sound, and sculpture that revolve around the cyclical nature of being caught in what may seem like an endless loop.
"Forever Yesterday," includes works inspired by The Negro Motorist Green Book (1936-1966)- a travel guide book designed to assist African-American travelers during the Jim Crow era, and Objective Reasonableness, a term coined in 1989 during a Supreme court case that investigated the use of excessive force by police officers on citizens.
Johannes received an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Photography + Film and a BFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in New Media +Design. His accolades include several fellowships and residencies, including the Mint Museum Atrium Health best in show award, Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship in Provincetown, MA.
Senior's Exhibition on Instagram
April 16 - 30, 2020
AU Department of Art and Design Seniors
The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art is pleased to announces the 2020 Senior Exhibition will be hosted via Instagram beginning Thursday, April 16. Moving our presentation of student work to this platform allows us to continue serving as a laboratory for student learning and engage the lives of our community members.
We hope you will drop-by daily as feature one fantastic artists a day April 16 – 30 @marybyrdgallery on Instagram.
Phygital Muse
September 19 – December 13, 2019
SOLO EXHIBITION BY Bojana Ginn
Please join us for a reception celebrating the artist and her work Thursday, September 19, 2019, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
This exhibition is made possible by the 2018 Ellsworth Kelly Award funded by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and The Ellsworth Kelly Foundation Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and The Georgia Cancer Center.
Bojana Ginn's installation proposes the role of the 21st Century artist is to reimagine the future and to open possibilities for keeping humanity soft, open, and connected in an ever-changing world powered by technology.
Bojana Ginn was born in 1974 in the former Yugoslavia and currently lives in Atlanta, GA. Before pursuing an artistic career, Ginn received her M.D. from the University of Belgrade in 2001. After moving to the United States in 2002 to take a position in Emory University's Biology Department, Ginn began to create art in her free time. Ginn eventually left the world of scientific academia, completing her M.F.A. in sculpture at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta in 2013. Ginn's work, comprised of natural fibers and new media, seeks to connect the technological and natural worlds. Clouds of wool imbued with LED lights redefine how the viewer experiences the space around them. Tied to her study of transhumanism, Ginn's installations create a "soft space" for discovering the intimacies between humans and technology.
Vast Scale-Intimate Space
May 11 – November 24, 2019, Venice, Italy
BY Cheryl Goldsleger
Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art will present an installation by the Department of Art and Design's Morris Eminent Scholar, Cheryl Goldsleger entitled "Vast Scale-Intimate Spaces" in the GAA Foundation's "Personal Structures" exhibition organized by the European Cultural Centre-Venice. The presentation of Goldsleger's work is curated by Shannon Morris, Gallery Director and will be featured during the 2019 Venice Art Biennale from May 11 through November 24, Venice, Italy.
Unexpected Places
July 11 - August 22, 2019
BY Matt Porter
Unexpected Places features the work of Y. Malik Jalal, Ryan Parks, Anna Spence, and Emily Wang. Disarming and familiar, the collected works of these three artists bring the messiness of life, which exist outside of the gallery into it. Although the artists have distinctly different personal practices, it is their collective ability to bring light to the diverse aspects of their communities, that gives the show its cohesiveness.
2019 Student Juried Art Exhibition
March 14 – May 10, 2019
BY Julio Gonzalez, aj tz'ib
2019 Juried Postcard
Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art presents the 2019 Student Juried Art Exhibition. This
exhibition was juried by Charlotte-based artist Julio Gonzalez.
Congratulations to the students Kia Barr, Mary Besel, Kiara Bouyea, Talecia Cistrunk,
Kenya Gibbons, Ellen Griffin, Nastassja Heim, Ashley Ngaoka, Edna Martinez Sanchez,
Susan McKew, Edgar F. Miles, Angel Moreno, and Megan Parkman selected by our juror
Julio Gonzalez!
Tales of a Modern Scribe
January 17 – February 22, 2019
Julio Gonzalez is a multidisciplinary artist whose mixed Honduran and Mexican ancestry influences his aesthetic and his desire to explore the present and the future through the experiences of his heritage.
Tales of a Modern Scribe is a study of the lost Maya culture found by Gonzalez through the research of his ancestry. This discovery led him to note a critical difference between Euro-American and Mayan culture, the perceptions of time. Contrary to the Euro-American concept of linear time, the Maya believed that time is nonlinear cycle of death and rebirth, where what has been shall be again. Inspired by this idea of continuous renewal, Garcia represents this idea alongside the legacy of sacred Mayan texts called codices.
Co-Workers Featuring Cece Cole, Derek Larson, and Marc Mitchell
November 8 – December 7, 2018
Derek Larson will present a Gallery Talk at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 14th at Mary S. Byrd Gallery, Washington Hall. A reception celebrating the exhibition and the artists will take place immediately following the Gallery Talk.
Co-Workers is a three-person show of screen prints and works on paper by Cece Cole, Derek G. Larson, and Marc Mitchell. Larson’s animated series Très Mall will also be screened within the gallery during the exhibition.
A Radiant Revolution by Stephanie Jolisa Woods
September 6 – October 19, 2018
The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art is pleased to present A Radiant Revolution by Stephanie Jolisa Woods, September 6 – October 19, 2018, in collaboration with the Pamplin College|Westobou Festival Inc. and the 2018 Westobou Festival.
This exhibition features select sculptures and a meditative installation entitled
Relax, Relate, Release by Charlotte, North Carolina native and contemporary artist,
Stephanie Jolisa Woods. Inspired by T-shirts found in predominantly black neighborhoods
that read phrases on them such as “Black Girl Magic,” “My Black is Beautiful,” and
“Strong Black Girl.”
An Artists’ Q & A with Lauren Haynes, Curator, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art featuring Stephanie Jolisa Woods and Michi Meko on October 3rd at 4 p.m., University Hall 170.
A gallery reception honoring Stephanie Jolisa Woods will follow the artists' Q & A.
More information about "A Radiant Revolution" and the lecture:
Ms. Woods is currently a Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, Massachusetts where
she will spend the 2018-2019 academic year. Before her arrival in Provincetown, she
was named 2018 Resident at ACRE Diversity and Scholarship, Steuben, WI and the McColl
Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, NC.
Her work was notably recognized for the 2017 South Arts Fellowship, 2016-2017 N.C.
Arts Council Fellowship, and the 2016 ArtsGreensboro Regional Artist Project Grant.
She has also served as an adjunct faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University and
Forsyth Technical Community College.
She is an emerging artist with an active exhibition schedule. This calendar year her
works have exhibited in several Charlotte, NC venues including McColl Center for Art
+ Innovation, Charlotte, NC; and the New Gallery of Modern Art. Additionally, she
was featured in a solo show at Waterworks Visual Art Center, Salisbury, NC; and in
the 2017 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Exhibition at the Cameron Art
Museum, Wilmington, NC.
The exhibitions will be supported by a collaborative publication also featuring newly
created works by Meko, on show at Westobou Gallery, and Woods with essays by Lauren
Haynes, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Katie Geha,
Ph.D., Director of Galleries, the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia;
and Shannon Morris, Director of the Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art, Augusta University.
Lauren Haynes is Curator, Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. In her role, Haynes contributes to all activities related to the contemporary art program including exhibitions, collection development and presentation, and publication as well as community partnerships, public programs, and donor stewardship.
Before joining Crystal Bridges in 2016, she spent nearly a decade at the Studio Museum
in Harlem. As a specialist in African American Contemporary Art, Haynes organized
or co-organized dozens of exhibitions at the Studio Museum and authored several catalogs.
Haynes is a 2018 Fellow, Center for Curatorial Leadership and a 2016 recipient of
the Gold Rush Award from the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.
Michi Meko is one an of Georgia’s foremost emerging artists. An Alabama native, he currently lives and works in Atlanta. After nearly drowning in the summer of 2015, Meko selects to invite the events of this life-altering experience into his studio stating, “My recent paintings and sculptures focus on the African American experience of navigating public spaces while remaining buoyant within them.”
Michi is also the 2017/2018 recipient of Museum of Contemporary Art, Georgia’s Working Artist Project Award. Critical writings concerning his works are featured in journals such as Art Papers, ArtsATL, Burnaway and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Material + Method: Exploring Gender Roles through Tradition
June 28 – August 24, 2018
August 23, 2018:
Curator's Talk: 5:00 p.m.
University Hall 170
The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art announces the second annual Summer Arts Invitational. This year, the Byrd Gallery extends an invitation to artist, arts administrator, and emerging curator, Megan Schaeffer.
As a result of the invitation, the Byrd Gallery is pleased to present “Material + Method: Exploring Gender Roles through Tradition,” curated by Megan Schaeffer. This exhibition explores gender roles, female identity, and seeks to expand the definition of fine art through the works of four female artists: Abby Bullard, Adejoke Tugbiyele, Sonya Young James, and Leisa Rich. Their works re-contextualize traditional materials and processes associated with practices such as weaving, felting, sewing, and printing.
More about our guest curator and presenter:
Megan Schaeffer currently serves as Art Farm Director at Serenbe, a progressive community connected to nature on the edge of Atlanta. As an experienced arts management professional, her role at Serenbe provides her with unique opportunities to pursue her passion for building creative communities and creating meaningful opportunities for artists.
As a founding team member of the Charleston, SC chapter of Creative Mornings, a monthly breakfast lecture series focusing on leaders in the creative community, she also managed a gallery space in Charleston and served as an Outreach Coordinator for Artist & Craftsman Supply. Moving to Atlanta in 2015, Schaeffer spent two years as the Artist Liaison & Art Resource Coordinator for a prominent Atlanta art consulting firm. She has worked with ArtsATL, an arts publication, on its programming and sponsorship, and serves on the advisory board of ArtsNOW.
After receiving her BA in Arts Management from the College of Charleston, Schaffer completed the Sotheby's Institute of Fine Art intensive program for Gallery Management and Curatorial Studies.
More about the featured artists:
Abby Bullard is an Atlanta-based artist. She has exhibited in group shows in Georgia, Nebraska, California, and Lacoste, France. In 2014, she received "Best in Printmaking" for her work in the Nebraska National Undergraduate Juried Art Exhibition at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Her work is also featured in the SGC International permanent collection at the Zuckerman Museum of Art in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Bullard received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the Savannah College of Art & Design. She is a Printmaker and Arts Administrator. Currently, she works as the Development and Grants Coordinator for Atlanta Contemporary.
Adejoke Tugbiyele is an award-winning, queer, black artist and advocate. She was a featured participant in CultureSummit 2017-Abu Dhabi, is a recipient of the 2016 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant, one of 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2015, and a U.S. Fulbright Student Alumni. While a graduate student at Maryland Institute College of Art, Tugbiyele was awarded the Amalie Rothschild ’34 Rinehart Award in 2012 and the William M. Phillips ’54 Scholarship for Best Figurative Sculpture in 2013.
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Sonja Young James is a sculptor and multi-media artist who lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was raised. For the past several years, James’s work has focused on the exploration of the idea of real devotion and ritual experienced through the process of repetitive, labor-intensive making. The sculptures utilize animal hair, including sheep wool and horse hair. Currently, she focuses on the duality of form representing opposing sensations and ongoing emotional tensions. James reveals this through her selection of contrasting visual textures such as gentleness and violence, animal and human, and beauty and the object. The landscapes of the South, personal narrative, and the history of mourning in America influence her work.
James received a BFA in Printmaking from Georgia State University in 2000 where she focused on etching and sculpture.
Atlanta-based artist Leisa Rich creates traditional sculptures and installations. She is also published in numerous books and magazines, online, and in televised interviews such as PBS's In Context. She has written reviews and articles for national and international magazines, and has created videos for arts organizations, magazines, and zines. She has artworks in the permanent collections of Delta Airlines, Emory Healthcare, The Kamm Foundation, The Dallas Museum of Art, The University of Texas, and The University of North Texas, and in many private collections across the U.S., Canada, and the European Union.
Rich holds a Master of Fine Arts, The University of North Texas, Denton; a Bachelor of Education in Art, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; and a Bachelor of Fine Art in Fibers, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Currently,
Junk Whale: A Research Exhibition Breaking the Surface of Plastic Pollution
April 12 – April 20, 2018
Opening Reception:
Thursday, April 12, 2018, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Washington Hall, Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art
Avalyn Zilke is a senior in Augusta University’s Department of Art and Design. Zilke's work examines the impact humans have on the environment as it pertains to the ocean. Specifically focusing on whales and the growing issue of plastic pollution and micro plastic pollution, she draws inspiration from Marcus Erickson’s book Junk Raft, and attempts to blend research and environmental activism with a theatrical yet scientific approach.
Junk Whale features a large-scale wall installation of a whale covered in an average year’s supply of discarded plastics. Documentary photographs will also be displayed alongside paintings featuring plastic originally encompassing the canvas embedded directly into the paint.
Ms. Zilke states, “The average American contributes 4.3 pounds of trash to the world a day, and 1569.5 pounds of trash a year. The interaction breaks the surface of just how much plastic waste is created and how much of it ends up in the ocean to last for decades to come. It is estimated that 15% to 40% of litter and thrown away plastic enters into the ocean and effects wildlife.
“As this exhibition has grown over the past two years so has the concept," Zilke continues. "Last year around March I began collecting plastic trash from anyone willing to give me their plastic. Throughout the year each of them has mentioned how much this has impacted them; they never realized just how much plastic they used in an average week. The research for this exhibition and its preparation have affected me and it is my hope the exhibition will have the same on effect on others.”
Marginalized and Mythological: Shanequa Gay's Disruption of the Pastoral Landscape
January 11 - February 16, 2018
Intended to showcase one year of the artist’s research, creative process and production, this exhibition features selections of Shanequa Gay's source materials, her sketches and three distinct installations to include a video, a domestic setting and a wall mural inside the gallery.
Influenced by her research of printed fabric and its history, the designs created by Gay reflect her interests in the Civil Rights era, Southern vernacular, and current issues faced by African Americans. Her thematic approach to contemporary issues rendered through genre scenes and mythological figures echoes her research of the practices of illustrators who created the imagery for the fabrics produced by the Oberkampf Factory in Jouey-en-Josas, which operated in France during the 17th and 18th century, producing the pastoral genre commonly known as Toile de Jouey, or simply,"toile," and traditional African patterns such as Adinkra. The wall mural in this exhibition features Gay's deertaur — a mythological creature featuring the head of a deer and the body of a man that she often uses in her work to reference the "hunted" status of the African American male.
Following the Department of Art and Design’s tradition, as the first exhibiting artist of the calendar year, Ms. Gay will serve as the juror for the Byrd Gallery's annual student exhibition open to all Augusta University students. She will also be in residence with the Department beginning January 8th and will work with current students and recent alumni to produce the exhibition's featured wall mural.
About Shanequa Gay
Contemporary artist Shanequa Gay (b. 1977) is a native of Atlanta, Georgia where she continues to live and work. Widely acclaimed for her paintings and illustrations, Shanequa has also received accolades for her advocacy of projects that challenge the violence and injustices committed against the black body in America and across the globe. Her current body of work integrates imagery of the black body into paintings, toile schema, found objects, and video media, addressing its use and control for decorative purposes.
Shanequa’s art is regularly featured in exhibitions by museums and galleries throughout the U.S. including the Chattanooga African American Museum, the Hammonds House Museum, Emory University, Wofford College and the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. Her works are collected by individuals with notable collections such as Samuel L. Jackson and held by public and private institutions.
Among her honors, Shanequa boasts of selection by The Congressional Club to serve as the illustrator of the hostess gift presented at the First Lady’s Luncheon by Michelle Obama, 2013. She is also the recipient of an Independent Study Fellowship, Iwakuni, Japan and the Gene Arthur Allcott Scholarship, the Glenda Knight Keyes Prize for Outstanding Talent and the Artistic Honors Scholarship presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design. Additionally, her work is featured by the film and television industry including the Lion’s Gate film production Addicted, the BET television series Being Mary Jane, Zoe Ever After and the OWN series Greenleaf.
Shanequa holds a B.F.A. in Painting from the Savannah College of Art Design (2015) and is currently a candidate for an M.F.A. at Georgia State University.
