BTFA Artists in Residence

Kiyan Williams (2020-2022)

Kiyan Williams is an artist and scholar from Newark, NJ who works fluidly across sculpture, video, performance, public art, and 2d realms.  They are attracted to quotidian, unconventional materials and methods that evoke the historical, political, and ecological forces that shape individual and collective bodies.  

Williams earned a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MFA in Visual Art from Columbia University. Their work has been exhibited at SculptureCenter, The Jewish Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, Recess Art, David Kordansky, Lyles and King, and The Shed. They have given artist talks and lectures at the Hirshhorn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Princeton University, Stanford University, Portland State University, The Guggenheim, and Pratt Institute. Williams’ work is in private and public collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. 

Williams is the recipient of the 2019/2020 Fountainhead Fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University, where they were on faculty in the Sculpture and Extended Media Department. Their work has been reviewed by Hyperallergic, BOMB Magazine, and Social Text amongst others. They have forthcoming exhibitions at Lyles and King (NY), Public Art Fund (NY), The Hammer Museum (LA), The Aldrich Museum (CT), MIT List Visual Arts Center (MA), and the Hirshhorn Museum (DC).

To learn more about their work, visit Kiyan’s website. See the work they created in BTFA Studio’s below:

Eve Harlowe (2022)

RETOUCHING

In 1998, a friend introduced her to Photoshop, and true to form she mastered this new digital medium very quickly. She began editing images for friends for fun, and eventually one of the friends Designer Jasmine Elder hired Eve to edit her very first fashion editorial, and product images for her Plus size line JIBRI. It wasn't long after that, that Eve was in demand as a retoucher in the Plus Fashion Industry. She went on to work for many years with the Plus fashion brand Monif C. Plus sizes and is still working with JIBRI today.

PHOTOGRAPHY 

In 2013 Eve relocated to South Florida for a new start. It was there that she decided to take her hobby of photography seriously. After a few years of practicing with friends and family. Eve begin to get steady photography work. She soon decided to focus more on shooting than editing alone. Yet, it’s her background in editing that gives her photography it’s signature look and feel.

ART 

In 1999, while living in New York, Eve befriended a young Art History student named Dana "Pookie" Hernandez , who introduced her to the formal world of Art and. She became a student of many modern and classical art movements, particularly les Nabis, Fauvism and other post-impressionistic styles. This fueled her own desire to create, and to form her own aesthetic.  She was also influenced by the work of Jean Paul Goude with Grace Jones. “The first time I saw the Nightclubbing  album cover, it stopped me in my tracks I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so arrestingly beautiful and BLACK!!! I always seeking to give people that experience when they view my work! It’s a goal I may not ever achieve but I’m always aiming high!”She explores and exposes the beauty and power that can be derived from contrasting perspectives and opposing points of view. She’s very comfortable in the Afro-Futurism realm as it contains two of her many passions, the cosmos, and African-ness!

To learn more about her work, visit Eve’s website. See the work she created in BTFA Studios during her residency below: