Ben Levy talks with artist Stephen Towns about his Exhibition Co|Patriot at Gallery CA in Baltimore on view August 21 – September 22, 2014. You can listen to their conversation in the gallery on BmoreArt’s Sound Cloud audio file.
Co-Patriot is a collection of new work inspired by Stephen Towns’ readings of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Solomon Northrup’s “Twelve Years a Slave,” and Harriet Ann Jacob’s “Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl.” The classic works helped to inform and broaden Towns’ view of the systemic oppression that has affected black people in America. Each work of art examines the relationship African-Americans have had with their country and history, both known and lost.
Join Stephen Towns, Kyle Hackett, Amy Sherald, and Espi Fraser on Friday, September 12 for a Summer Friday Artist Talk at Gallery CA at 6 and a reception from 6-9 pm.
After earning a B.F.A. from the University of South Carolina, Stephen Towns has worked as a fine artist, muralist, and at MICA as the Community-Based Learning Program Coordinator for the Office of Community Engagement. He is a resident artist at City Arts Baltimore.
Author/ Interviewer Benjamin Levy is a curator and printmaker living in Baltimore. He is the Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at The Baltimore Museum of Art and a 2009 graduate of MICA.
Photographs courtesy of the artist, Gallery CA, and Lauren Van Slyke.
