Open Air: An Artist Conversation with Stephanie J. Woods

In this episode of Open Air, curator Dexter Wimberly speaks with multimedia artist Stephanie J. Woods whose work is featured among 24 others in the Gantt Center's first biennial Visual Vanguard: An Exhibition of Black Carolina Artists. Originally from Charlotte, Woods' fusion of photography and fiber includes symbolic materials that examine performative behavior, domestic spaces, and alternative realities that reference her experiences growing up in the American South.

How To Participate

This free virtual program will be streamed on the Gantt Center's official YouTube channel.

About Open Air

Open Air is a monthly series of virtual studio visits and intimate conversations with Black artists across the United States. Historically, African-American artists have been compelled to make their own way within the art world, challenging traditional ideas of cultural representation and creating their own systems of merit, criticality and reward outside of the mainstream. Join us as we get a behind-the-scenes look at exciting new art as it's being created, while connecting the makers' works to some of the most pressing issues of our times.

Stephanie J. Woods is a multimedia artist currently based in Albuquerque, NM, where she is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Art at University of New Mexico. Her work fuses a relationship between photography and fiber. Additionally, her passion for interdisciplinary practices and material language is evident through her collaborations and implementation of symbolic materials that examine performative behavior, domestic spaces, and alternative realities that reference Black American culture and her experiences growing up in the American South.

Woods earned an MFA in New Media Sculpture and is the recipient of several residencies and fellowships, including Black Rock Senegal, the Fine Arts Work Center fellowship, ACRE Residency, the McColl Center, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists Residency, and Penland School of Craft. Her work is featured in the permanent collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art located in Richmond, VA and was included in Inter|Sectionality: Diaspora Art From the Creole City at the Gantt Center in 2020. She has also exhibited in Brooklyn, NY at Smack Mellon and Tiger Strikes Asteroid. Additionally, the artist has been featured in BOMB Magazine, Art Papers, Burnaway, and the Boston Art Review.

See more of her work at stephaniejwoods.com.

Dexter Wimberly is an independent curator and entrepreneur who has organized exhibitions and developed programs with galleries and institutions throughout the world including The Third Line in Dubai; Contemporary Art Museum CAM Raleigh in North Carolina; The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco; Koki Arts in Tokyo; and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. His exhibitions have been reviewed and featured in publications including The New York Times, Artforum, and Hyperallergic; and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Wimberly has also served as Director of Strategic Planning at Independent Curators International in New York City.

Prior to his curatorial career, Wimberly was the managing partner and CEO of the advertising agency, August Bishop, representing a diverse array of clients, including Adidas, The Coca-Cola Company and, HBO. Wimberly is a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art. He is also the founder of ART WORLD CONFERENCE, a business and financial literacy conference for visual artists. He and ART WORLD CONFERENCE co-organizer, Heather Bhandari were recently listed in the Observer's "Arts Power 50: Changemakers Shaping the Art World in 2019.”