December FAWC Friday with Kerry Downey and Paul Tran

Kerry Downey (b.1979, Ft. Lauderdale) is a genderqueer artist and educator based in Kingston, New York. Downey’s interdisciplinary practice explores embodied forms of resistance and transformation. They use experimental strategies to draw connections between interior worlds and sociopolitical landscapes. Downey’s lifelong experiences in queer and artist collectives, their work with people with dementia and other disabilities, and the close overlaps between their art practice and teaching, have all utilized art as a strategy for engagement and care. They have recently exhibited at Soloway Gallery, Bureau of General Services-Queer Division; Queens Museum, Hessel Museum at Bard CCS;  Knockdown Center, and Kate Werble. Their first major publication, We collect together in a net, was published by Wendy’s Subway in 2019.  Artist-in-residencies include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Triangle Arts Association, the Drawing Center’s Open Sessions, and the Vermont Studio Center. Downey is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant and participated in the Queer|Art|Mentorship program in 2013 (paired with Angela Dufresne). Their work has been in Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, and The Washington Post. Downey holds a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Hunter College. Downey spent over a decade running community-based arts programs at The Museum of Modern Art; they have recently taught at Rhode Island School of Design, and at Hunter College. They are currently a visiting Critic in the Art Department at Williams College.