KAMARIA SHEPHERD
Born August 5, 1991 in Houston, Texas.
Lives and works in Los Angeles.
My work subtly revolves around issues of identity, memory, race, culture, womanhood, and femininity as an African American woman in the United States and beyond while the pieces themselves wave between minimal and excess, bold and subtle, loud and intimate, to speak or not to speak. I simultaneously write about my work and the thoughts surrounding the processes of my work in a hybrid of poems, personal narratives, and short stories. I use found materials such as clothing, bath rugs, and pearl earrings, giving citation to the presence of a body , a female, domesticity. I make paintings as objects, sculptures, or painted sculptural paintings. My sculptural paintings are called play-doh's and are installed in ways where they make connections or conversations with each other while representing their own distinct personalities, like the parts of a person. Thus, each piece can be shown in a group installation or individually like a second grader ready to present for show-and-tell. They perform.
CV
EDUCATION
University of California, Los Angeles, 2018
MFA Painting/Drawing
Rhode Island School of Design, 2015
BFA Painting
Literary Arts Concentration
European Honors Program, Rome, Italy
WORK
Printmaking Instructor, Exceptional Children’s Foundation (ECF) San Pedro Art Center, 2019
UCLA Teaching Assistantships
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Advanced Printmaking, 2017-18
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Beginning Drawing, 2017
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Beginning Painting, 2016
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Etchings, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, San Pedro, CA, 2019
El Centro de Corazon Clinic, Houston, TX, 2011-13
Martel Scholar Solo Exhibition, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX, 2008
Houston Independent School District, Administrative Headquarters Lobby, Houston, TX, 2008
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Soft Shadows, Chen’s, Brooklyn, NY, 2018
Vermont Studio Center, Open Studios, Johnson, VT, 2018
ARC I, Navel, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
Every Unlikely Story, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
New Work, New Release Gallery, New York, NY
SoCal MFA Juried Exhibition, Millard Sheets Art Center, Pomona, CA, 2018
UCLA MFA #1, New Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
Black Light, Otis Graduate Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
MFA 2018 Preview Exhibition, New Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
Academic Conference for English Students (ACES), Poetry Reading & Panel, 2017
Self-Curated, UCLA Graduate Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
Graduate Open Studios, UCLA Graduate Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 2015-18
Senior Degree Project Exhibition, Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI, 2015
Hot Box, Ice Box, Philadelphia, PA, 2014
Palazzetto Cenci, Rhode Island School of Design, Rome, Italy, 2014
Circolo Degli Artisti, Rome, Italy, 2014
Tiny Biennale, Temple University, Rome Campus, Rome, Italy, 2014
Group Gallery Exhibition, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, 2012
Fellowship Student Exhibition, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, 2012
Painting Departmental Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 2010
Martel Scholar Solo Exhibition, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX, 2010
AWARDS
UCLA Toby Fund Prize, 2018
Swan Fellowship, 2018
John Baldessari Family Foundation Scholarship, 2017
Westfield Scholarship for Emerging Artists, 2017
Resnick Scholarship, 2015-17
D’Arcy Hayman Scholarship, 2015-17
Webster Art Scholarship, 2015-17
UCLA Graduate Department of Art Scholarship, 2015-17
Art TA Fellowship, 2015-17
Tyler School of Art Summer Painting Intensive Scholarship, 2014
2014 - European Honors Program Scholarship, 2014
2012 - Ox-Bow School of Art Fellowship Student, 2012
2010 - University of Rhode Island Summer Writing Conference Scholarship, 2010
Dean’s List, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 2008-2014
Rhode Island School of Design Merit Scholarship, 2008-2014