KCA announces summer resident artists

CHESTERTOWN — On June 22, the Kent Cultural Alliance will welcome its second class of resident artists for the SFW Residency Program at the Raimond Cultural Center. These four artists will work with KCA’s partner, ShoreRivers. The SFW Residency uses the arts to provide a new lens through which Kent County residents can see and understand issues that impact our daily lives. In the spring, KCA partnered with Kent County 4H, FFA at Kent County High School, and Harborview Farms on the theme of LAND. This summer our artists will work with ShoreRivers’ river keepers and educational staff to shine a creative light on the importance of the health of our waterways.

Artists joining from near and far for the summer residency session are:

Langston Allston is a painter and muralist working between Chicago and New Orleans. He is committed to creating work that tells stories from his community honestly and compassionately. He finds inspiration for his work in the everyday moments of beauty. His work has been featured at the Contemporary Art Center, in New Orleans, the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art, in Brooklyn, and is in the permanent collection of the City of New Orleans. Langston has also created public art throughout Chicago for community organizations like the Blocc, and the Mural Movement, as well as artwork for the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox.

William Blake lives and works outside Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he also holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. He is an Adjunct Faculty member at Harper College where he has taught Figure Drawing since 2020. His work has been published in Fine Art Connoisseur, New American Paintings, The Chicago Tribune, and American Art Collector. He has been a resident artist at the Berkshire Painting Residency, the Vermont Studio Center, the Cuttyhunk Island Residency, the Lincoln Legacy Residency, and now the KCA Residency.

Hilary Lorenz, a multidisciplinary artist currently based in rural New Mexico, is deeply immersed in her physical exploration and relationship with the natural world. Her large-scale printed and cut paper installations and weavings attest to her profound connection with nature. Lorenz’s extensive travels to create ambitious projects are driven by her unwavering passion and curiosity about the greater world. Lorenz has an extensive international exhibition record and numerous residencies, including LMCC Governors Island, NY; Yukon Arts Centre Chilkoot Trail Residency, Canada; and National ARTS Tasmania, Australia. She is a Fulbright Scholar and NEA Mid-Atlantic Fellow with an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa in Printmaking and Intermedia.

Ashley Minner Jones is a community-based visual artist and folklorist from Baltimore, Maryland where she has lived on the same block her entire life. Her interdisciplinary practice is deeply rooted in place—usually within the context of the U.S. South—and is focused on honoring and celebrating everyday people by lifting up their stories. Ashley is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She earned an MFA in Community Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art and a PhD in American Studies from University of Maryland College Park. As an artist, she has exhibited widely and her work is represented in several prominent collections. Her research is being archived as “the Ashley Minner Collection” in the Albin O. Kuhn Library of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Her most recent project is a reconstruction of East Baltimore’s historic American Indian “reservation.” A monograph on the same is forthcoming.

KCA says they are grateful to ShoreRivers river keepers and all of their staff as they work to provide information, education, and access to the artists during their visit.

Important Dates

All events at KCA’s Raimond Cultural Center, 101 Spring Avenue, Chestertown.

Meet the Artists, Tuesday, July 2 at 5:30 p.m. — 6:30 p.m., followed by reception.

Open Studios, visit resident artists in their studios as they work to complete their exhibit work. Saturday, July 27, noon — 3 p.m.

Exhibit Opening, the culmination of our summer residency and partnership with ShoreRivers, Friday, Aug. 2, “First Friday”, 5 — 8 p.m.

Artists’ Talk, hear from each of the four resident artists about their experience and culminating work from RIVERS, Summer 2024, Saturday, Aug. 3 at 1 p.m.