A three-part conversation series hosted by Peter Bruun and featuring six artists exploring the influences on and evolution of their art-making.
Created over time and in sequence, with one thing following another, works of art are rarely one-offs. Reflection, correction and refinement are essential to an artist’s process: there is always precedent, always a reason for art being as it is. Art always comes from somewhere, and then goes somewhere next.
Through anecdote and example, Becoming offers a glimpse of artists’ evolutionary processes: the influence of everyday exigencies, the impact of accident and incident, the sway of artists’ unfolding expressive needs. Circumstance continually exerts influence, and so art’s story—like our own—is a story of becoming.
And there is no more human story than that.
Public Programs
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Schroeder Cherry & Richard Cleaver
Our bodies and their limitations play a role in the art we make. When ocular migraines affected Richard Cleaver’s perception of color, his palette changed; when Schroeder Cherry broke his hip, he found himself drawing a new way. Peter Bruun hosted a conversation with Richard and Schroeder as they explored these formative episodes from their lives, and the long-lasting impact from these experiences.
Ernest Shaw Mask On Book 7 by Schroeder Cherry; March Dream by Richard Cleaver
Untitled by Connie Imboden; Baja by Ken Royster
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Connie Imboden & Ken Royster
Decisions that seem light in the moment can have outsized consequences. When Ken Royster traveled to Namibia in the 1990s, he little suspected the trip would shape his future photography as it did; when Connie Imboden chose to include mirror fragments in a photo session, she could not have anticipated it forever altering her studio practice. Peter led a discussion about these unexpectedly seminal choices with Connie and Ken, and what happened next in each photographer’s progression.
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead & Colette Veasey-Cullors
As we age and change, so does our view of ourselves. Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead and Colette Veasey-Cullors both make self-referential art – recently, Vagner in a 5-channel video piece created over decades, and Colette with her ongoing 53 and Counting project. Peter lead a conversation with the two artists as they considered how aging affects the art they make, the universal implications of autobiographical art, and more.
still from Generations: 2009/Golden by Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead; still from 53 and Counting by Colette Veasey-Cullors
About the participants
Schroeder Cherry
Schroeder Cherry is a Maryland-based painter and puppeteer whose art for decades has captured everyday scenes of African diaspora life. He has performed puppetry in museums, cultural centers, libraries and schools across the United States, and his art is in numerous collections, including the Studio Museum of Harlem, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Baltimore Museum of Art. In 2021, he was appointed Curator of the James E Lewis Museum of Art at Baltimore’s Morgan State University.
Richard Cleaver
Richard Cleaver has been working in sculpture for 45 years, basing his art on narratives drawn from personal and historical events overlapped with subconscious images. He has exhibited his art nationally, including having solo exhibitions at The Baltimore Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, and the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery (New York and Miami). Cleaver has received numerous awards, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, and Baker Artist Award.
Connie Imboden
Connie Imboden has been photographing nudes reflected in water or mirrors for nearly 40 years. She has exhibited worldwide, and her photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France, and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany. Her most recent publication, Reflections, 25 Years of Photography, features photos from 1983 to 2009.
Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead
Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead is an intermedia artist who explores in his practice intersections of personal experiences, histories, and current events. His work has been presented in group and solo exhibitions in galleries and museums, as well as film and video festivals, nationally and internationally (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Cuba, Cyprus, England, Germany, India, Mexico, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates). He currently lives in Philadelphia.
Ken Royster
Ken Royster received his BFA in 1967 from Morgan State University and his MFA degree in 1973 from MICA – he has been photographing people living their everyday lives ever since. His photography from around the world has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States for decades, including at the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Community Museum, the James E. Lewis Museum, and The Baltimore Museum of Art, and his art is in multiple collections.
Colette Veasey-Cullors
Colette Veasey-Cullors is a photographer whose work engages with historically underinvested and underrepresented communities, touching on such topics as socio-economics, race, class, and identity. She has worked with community organizations including Project Row Houses, Baltimore Youth Film Arts and Art Source South Africa, and her art has been exhibited and collected by numerous major institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and The California African American Museum.
Peter Bruun
Peter Bruun is an artist, curator, and writer. He received a BA in Art History from Williams College in 1985 and went on to receive an MFA in 1989 from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Mount Royal School of Art. Peter pursued his art practice in Maryland until 2019 when he moved to Maine, where he now manages all Bruun Studios activities.