Resident Artists – FOOD
The Kent Cultural Alliance welcomed the first class of artists of the 2025 SFW Resident Artist Program. Working under the theme of FOOD, and in partnership with several local food providers, these artists explored relevant topics like food production, “farm to table”, food insecurity and more during their six-week stay with KCA.
Primary among the goals of the SFW Residency are community engagement and arts education. KCA worked with Kent County Public Schools Fine Arts Faculty to create opportunities for students to engage with these visiting artists as well as several opportunities for local artists and the general public to meet and interact with the artists culminating in an exhibition at the end of the session.
Sheba Legend
New York City, Sheba Legend has been creating media platforms since 2010. Her multi-award-winning work focuses on ongoing social challenges faced by underrepresented demographics. “The aim is for me to create media platforms for individuals rarely seen in mainstream media. Let them tell it like it is from their experience…not my own point of view” In 2012, Sheba initiated a non-profit media initiative MasculineUs Project. An ongoing media initiative. Through audio/visual/literary communications this media tool for the masses is available to counter ignorance, religious dogma, and hate crimes against these individuals by raising awareness, and educating societies about women who embrace their natural strength, (often referred to as masculinity) which is not exclusive to males.
Her work has been included in international public exhibitions that reflect her commitment to human rights and the representation of marginalized communities.
She dedicates her work to siblings Jacqueline and Myles,whose lives were cut short for their personal representation outside of so-called social norms.
Through her art and activism, Sheba continues the work of pushing for inclusion through a call to moral compassion, empathy, mindfulness, tolerance and acceptance of the possibility of safety, for these women living in fear within a societal blind spot that does not lend itself to the telling of their stories.
Our greatest strength as a society is when our diversity is unified.
Radu Leon
In his process-based investigations of the art historical past, Radu Leon happened upon evidence leading him to ask: what in our nature moves us from the prosaic to the poetic?
He has since shared his passion for art and knowledge with students in schools, universities, museums, and cultural institutions in Italy, Kenya, and the UK, offering free-admission workshops and lectures, and curating student exhibitions. He supports the Art programme at Kiwimbi Library.
Radu completed a doctorate in History of Art and Architecture in Venice, and specialized at Goldsmiths and EPF Lausanne. He led the creative course on Canaletto’s drawing techniques during the exhibition ‘Canaletto & Art of Venice’ at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Tutoring research students at The King’s Foundation, he lectured in sustainable art practices and made visible the creative processes of masterful works in the collections at the British Museum, National Gallery London, and Windsor Castle.
Prior to the SFW Residency at Kent Cultural Alliance, Radu was artist in residence at The Royal Drawing School (2021) and Dunhuang Research Academy (2018).
Tory Tepp
Tory Tepp is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of land art, agriculture and community engagement. In 2009 Tory attained his MFA as part of the inaugural class of Suzanne Lacy’s Public Practice Program. Shortly after, he served as the driver and public representative for Mel Chin’s Fundred Dollar Bill Project, driving a vintage armored car 19,000 miles around the country to engage with over 100 schools, museums and community centers. This developed into an itinerant art practice for Tory, doing projects and residencies around the country, in predominantly rural or wilderness areas such as Death Valley, the High Sierra mountains, Florida and the high plains of Colorado. The Road came to an end in Sauk County, Wisconsin where Tory regrouped with Wormfarm Institute, resulting in the establishment of creative roots there and several rural, land art projects. Currently Tory splits his time between Wisconsin, working with farmers and Kernza, and Florida where he has created two food forest installations at Hillsborough Community College campuses.
Ashley Minner Jones (Baltimore, MD)
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.
ashleyminnerart.com / @ashleyminnerart
SCHEDULE:
Important Dates:
The Kent Cultural Alliance offers several free opportunities for the community to engage with our resident artists. Some of those opportunities include the following dates: All events at KCA’s Raimond Cultural Center, 101 Spring Avenue, Chestertown, Maryland.
- Meet the Artists: Come and meet our resident artists. This presentation will allow you to hear about each of our four artists and their own work.
Monday, March 31 at 5:00 pm - Open Studio: Saturday April 19 from 11 am to 2 pm
- Exhibit Opening: Friday May 2 from 5 – 8 pm
- Artists’ Talk: Saturday May 3 at 1 pm
- Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 7:00 pm
“Meet the Residents – Artist Talk”- Free. Come meet our resident artists, and learn about their practice and past projects. Lite reception to follow. - Saturday, April 27, 2024 from Noon to 3 pm
“OPEN STUDIO” – An opportunity to see our artists at work on their “LAND” project. - Friday, May 3, 2024 from 5 – 8 pm
EXHIBIT OPENING – Come see the work created by our resident artists and learn from our partner organizations about this social practice residency experience. - Saturday, May 4 at 1 pm
ARTIST TALK – Join our artists one last time and hear about their work related to this residency. - Friday, May 3 – Saturday, June 1
The LAND residency exhibition will be open to the public for four weeks. Gallery Hours will be Wednesday – Friday from 10 am to 4 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm.