Kent Cultural Alliance Announces the Inaugural SFW Residency Artists for Spring 2024

The Kent Cultural Alliance announces its first class of visiting artists for the SFW Residency for spring 2024. This inaugural residency session features three talented artists/educators from Friendswood, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; and Luray, Virginia. These artists will work under a collective theme of “LAND” as they explore agriculture, soil, family farms, and more with our local partners for the session; Kent County 4H, Kent County High School Future Farmers of America, and Harborview Farms. This social practice residency has its foundation in community engagement and seeks to create broader participation around issues important to the people who call this county home.

“All of us at KCA are excited to launch this residency at long last,” said John Schratwieser, Director of the Kent Cultural Alliance. “With the arrival of Alyssa, Austen, and Dennis, we are ready to put the arts to work amplifying and sharing the stories of our partner organizations for a broad audience. In our inaugural six-week session, our artist will partner with the staff and young people of Kent County 4H, teachers and students of Kent County High School Future Farmers of America (FFA), and Trey Hill of Harborview Farms.”

Schratwieser shared that the theme of the inaugural residency session is Land, and all three partners are connected to our land in many ways. “Our artists are excited to get to know them and to help tell their stories in new ways,” he said.

Meet the Artists:

Austen Camille (Friendswood, TX)

Canadian-American Austen Camille is an artist, writer, builder and naturalist whose studio practice is built on her early years moving schools and cities and working to note the particularities of a place. Austen seeks reciprocal relationships between the built and natural environment in her work. Austen’s interdisciplinary practice incorporates painting, sculpture, installation, writing, research, performance, new technologies and localized materials. She seeks to forge connections between the arts and other disciplines through it. She received her BA in Studio Art at Reed College and her MFA in Painting at Temple University. www.austencamille.com

Alyssa Dennis (Baltimore, MD)

Alyssa Dennis is an interdisciplinary artist, earth activist, educator & clinical herbalist.
Her art practice centers on conventional forms of building and the convenience that
keeps us compartmentalized within a dangerously abstract relationship with nature and
our own bodies. The imagery she creates explores the impact of manufactured
landscapes on our internal and external ecosystems, shaping our existence with non-
human life and, ultimately, ourselves. Dennis’s work combines drawing, sculptural installation and the social/environmental practice of herbalism. In her multidisciplinary practice, she questions who the players are and what are the means for reclaiming non-human kinships as a necessary form of embodiment for the reversal of cultural and climate upheaval? www.alyssadennis.com

Dennis McNett ( Luray, VA)

With a focus on printmaking, sculpture, storytelling, and community, Dennis McNett is a multifaceted maker. He is known for his larger-than-life woodcut print-covered puppets and masks that are used to lead narrative ceremonies and public processions. Dennis has had more than 30 visiting artist and lecturer appointments across the US and abroad. He holds a BFA from Old Dominion University and an MFA from Pratt Institute, where he taught from 2004-2013. His works have been featured internationally at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the MOHS Exhibit, the Museum of Print History and more. www.wolfbat.com

Important Dates:

The Kent Cultural Alliance offers several 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.

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. Reception to follow.

Saturday, April 20, 2024 from 10 am to 3 pm

“OPEN STUDIO 1” – Come visit our resident artists in the Studio as part of the spring ART WALK with Chestertown Arts & Entertainment District.

Saturday, April 27, 2024 from Noon to 3 pm

“OPEN STUDIO 2” – Another 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.

Thank you to the SFW Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Maryland State Arts Council, The Maryland Heritage Area Authority/Stories of the Chesapeake, The Hedgelawn Foundation, and the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Special thanks to our community partners for this residency, and specifically Beth Hill at Kent County 4h, Jennifer Kuhl-Depp at KCHS, and Trey Hill at Harborview Farms.