BRANDON — Jennifer Herrera Condry and Will Kasso Condry of Brandon will participate in an online conversation called, “The Artist as Witness” with other New England artists devoted to celebrating Black expression and redefining representation.
The event will be held on Sunday, March 14, and will be hosted by Follow Your Art Community Studios (FYACS). The group will also include Jess Brown, Sharif Muhammad and Ashley Page. The group will discuss celebrating Black joy, exposing police violence, and reclaiming lost art forms, as well as the approach and process behind their work.
“The terrains these artists explore are brutal and beautiful, joyful and unjust,” says Jennifer Mancuso, author and moderator of the webinar. “By weaving old traditions with new technology, they are adding their fingerprint to those who have come before them.”
The artists’ work represents a variety of media, including digital portraiture, basketry and sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, and multimedia and will be shown online during the event.
Jennifer Herrera Condry and Will Kasso Condry have been busy painting murals commissioned by public and private entities alike. They have finished several murals in Burlington and one in Middlebury at American Flatbread, as well as worked with students on murals at Middlebury Union middle and high schools, and at Middlebury College.
The webinar is free with a $10 suggested donation, thanks to a gift from The Foundation Trust. Additional donations ($50-$100) will be used to fund scholarships for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals to access FYACS programs and services.
The event will be broadcast as a Zoom webinar from 3-4:30 p.m. To attend, register online at fyamelrose.org/artist-as-witness.
“The pandemic has dealt a particularly difficult blow to creatives, whose traditional ways of showing their art to the public are no longer available,” said Kris Rodolico, executive director of FYACS. “We’re thrilled to be able to partner with The Foundation Trust to amplify artistic voices during these unprecedented times.”