Desmond Beach is an artist, educator, and interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. He is a project artist, meaning that his work takes its point of departure from specific problems or tragedies.
Beach finds inspiration for his work from growing up in Baltimore during the 1980s and 90s and his lived experience as a Black man. He creates sacred spaces for the spirits of his immediate ancestors and those of the African Diaspora to rest. He is also interested in sharing the reflective moments of everyday life.
Beach connects with the viewer through various mediums, including sculpture, costume, fiber arts, installations, performances, and mixed media. He believes that his work as an artist is a calling. He will teach painting and drawing at COA.
Beach earned his Master of Fine Arts from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art and is currently a PhD candidate at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
Saffronia Downing works with wild clay to create site-specific sculptures and installations to explore entanglements between the built and natural worlds. Foraging materials from local landscapes, Downing considers correspondences between makers and matter.
Downing’s work has been featured in exhibitions at Bad Water, Knoxville, Tenn., Resort, Baltimore, Md., and The Franklin, Chicago. She is the recipient of awards and residencies such as the Lunder Institute of American Art, Oxbow School of Art Fellowship, and ACRE Residency, and is the cocreator of the digital publication Viral Ecologies.
In her free time, Downing enjoys collecting rocks while wandering on foot. She received a Bachelor of Arts in studio art from Hampshire College and a Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She will be teaching craft and ceramics courses at COA.
“We look forward to the infusion of creativity and fresh points of view these two artists will bring,” said COA Thomas A. Cox Chair in Studio Arts Nancy Andrews.
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