Visiting Voices series

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is pleased to announce its spring 2022 Visiting Voices series event, “Black Women Artist-Educators on Anti-racist Art Education,” hosted by the Hurwitz Center. This panel—which consists of five Black women artist-educator-scholars and is facilitated by Florence Gaskins Harper Endowed Chair in Art Education, Dr. Pamela Harris Lawton—explores the challenges and opportunities for Black women art educators teaching about race and arts education with learners/audiences across the lifespan. Issues, strategies, and resources are discussed in an interactive conversation. 

Dr. Amelia (Amy) Kraehe is an associate professor in the School of Art at the University of Arizona. She is also the Associate Vice President for Equity in the Arts and Co-founder and Co-director of Racial Justice Studio, a transdisciplinary incubator for the study and practice of intersectional anti-racism in and through the arts. Amy’s research focuses on how the arts and arts education can challenge, as well as reinforce, systems of inequality. 

Chanel Compton is executive director of the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture and the Banneker Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. Chanel is an artist and cultural administrator with a strong belief that the process of creating art is both healing and can create deep connections with others.

Mama Rashida Forman-Bey is a director, actress, teaching artist, community activist, song writer, storybook author, and Master Virtues Project facilitator. She is one of the founding artistic Directors of WombWork Productions, Inc., a Baltimore based, 501c3 social change theater company. For over 25 years, WombWork’s community programs and performances have served to enrich local neighborhoods, confronting relevant social issues endemic throughout the world such as gun violence, domestic abuse, grief, drug/alcohol abuse, gang violence, HIV prevention, sexual assault, health disparities, and racial inequities. Utilizing the performing arts as a tool for transformation, Mama Rashida has been committed to helping youth and their families reach their full potential. 

Libya Doman is a K-12 art educator in Northern, Virginia. She designs and delivers curriculums, workshops, and keynotes to help educators grapple with topics that are often deemed “taboo.”  Libya has worked with schools, universities, museums, boards, and teams to help them notice inequities and disrupt the status quo. Her work focuses include—but are not limited to—race, gender, orientation, (dis)abilities, language, SES, and ‘othered’ populations.

Dr. gloria j. wilson is Founding co-director of Racial Justice Studio, co-editor of forthcoming anthology A Love Letter to This Bridge Called My Back and Assistant Professor of Art + Visual Culture Education at the University of Arizona. She is a practicing artist and  facilitator for anti-racism workshops in museums and community spaces utilizing arts-based methodologies. Her research broadly examines notions of power, access, representation, and refusal across arts modalities and specifically examines the intersections of identity and arts participation.

Dr. Pamela Harris Lawton is the Florence Gaskins Harper Endowed Chair in Art Education and thought leader for the Hurwitz Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Lawton’s scholarly research and teaching revolves around visual narrative and intergenerational arts learning in BIPOC community settings. Her artwork is grounded in social practice seeking to illuminate contemporary issues, cultural traditions, and the stories of people impacted by them.

Register here for this webinar on Tuesday, March 29 from 6–7:30pm. For more information about the Hurwitz Center at MICA, visit here. This event is free and open to the public. For more information about MICA’s programming, visit mica.edu/events. 

About MICA
Acknowledged nationally as a premier leader in art and design education, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is deliberately cultivating a new generation of artist—one that is capable of seamlessly integrating innovation, entrepreneurship and creative citizenship with contemporary approaches to art, design and media.

MICA is redefining the role of the artists and designers as creative, solutions-oriented makers and thinkers who will drive social, cultural, and economic advancement for our future.

As the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design in the nation, MICA is located in Baltimore, deeply connected to the community. It is a leading contributor to the creative economy regionally and a top producer of nationally and internationally recognized professional artists and designers.