Exhibition Opening | Gathered Perspectives: Resident Artist Exhibition

On View: JAN 31 – MAR 8, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 2025, 6-9 PM

See what the resident artists have been working on over the last year in a celebration of artistic practice. The exhibition “Gathered Perspectives” is a salon-style presentation of work from Ajee Hassan, Anna Divinagracia, Bria Sterling-Wilson, Candice Tavares, kolpeace, Hope and Faith McCorkle, and Huynh Trang.

Artist Bios

Anna Divinagracia

Anna Divinagracia is a Philippines-born Baltimore-based photographer and creative director. Divinagracia transforms her shared experiences from both Baltimore and Filipino culture into intimate presentations of reality through her lens. She creates a personal nostalgic narrative that explores themes of love, tenderness, family, and home that challenges issues of acculturation and identity as an immigrant.

Divinagracia holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the illustrious Morgan State University.

Trang Huynh

Trang Huynh is an emerging mixed-media artist from Vietnam, currently based in Baltimore, MD. She earned her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she received several awards, including the Creative Vision Award, Starr Foundation Scholarship, and Distinguished International Award. Her work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions, including Artscape B24 in Baltimore, MD, and Asia in Maryland in Towson, MD. She is currently a resident artist at Creative Alliance in Baltimore.

Inspired by historical narratives and her personal experiences as part of the Vietnamese post-war generation, Trang’s work delves into themes of inherited trauma, colonial oppression, and the enduring capacity for healing and love. Through a combination of oil painting, linoleum printing, collage, and laser-cut elements, she creates densely layered compositions that merge figurative imagery with settings drawn from memories, inviting viewers into deeply emotive and thought-provoking spaces.

kolpeace

Columbia, South Carolina artist Christopher “kolpeace” Johnson, born in ’94, passionately explores his Black Southern culture and ancestral characters through liberating portraits, rapidly creating art in both studio and performance settings, all infused with a contemporary graffiti voice. Now residing in the South, after earning his MFA, his work embodies the impactful & harsh realities he experienced growing up black in the woods of South Carolina.

“kolpeace” stands for “Kids Only Love Peace,” reflecting a Black folktale inspired by his influential past, present, and future, with the mission of fostering moments of betterment and liberation for humanity. Drawing on the vibrant genres of his Black cultural folk life, including trill, trap, and soul music, he encourages and liberates against cultural prejudice. With an array of engaging and unique artistic tools, he produces prolific artwork that captivates audiences and liberates faces within community spaces.

FAITH McCorkle

FAITH McCorkle is an award-winning visionary transdisciplinary artist and cultural producer, channeling resilience and reconstruction through storytelling and collage. FAITH’s work spans papermaking, printmaking, immersive soundscapes, and curatorial projects, serving as vessels for the deep interconnectedness of divine guidance, transformative healing, and powerfull resilience. Through offerings of immersive programming, activations, and culinary experiences, FAITH also fosters Black restoration and community that guide personal and collective growth. FAITH is half of the artist collective Hope and Faith ♡, formed with twin sister HOPE. Their collective work uses collage elements and Black ritual as tools to reconstruct the Black narrative, creating stories that honor the Black mother, spirit, soul food, and childlike wonder. FAITH holds a BFA in Studio Art from New York University and has received numerous accolades, including a prestigious Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship and a 2024 Andy Warhol Foundation’s GritFund Grant, and is currently an artist-in-residence at Creative Alliance.

HOPE McCorkle

HOPE (Tonisha Hope McCorkle) is an interdisciplinary artist and performer whose canvas is not just a surface but a portal for healing. She creates transformative and emotionally resonant works of art through painting, collage, movement, and sculpture. Weaving together threads of memories, color, and symbolism, HOPE constructs evocative representations that go beyond visual perception. Her creations provide a space for introspection, inviting viewers to explore the profound processes of transformation, divinity, intimacy, and self-discovery. Through her unique blend of storytelling and visual expression, HOPE’s work not only invites observation but encourages a deep, empathetic connection that transcends the canvas.

HOPE holds a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Psychology from New York University. HOPE has received various awards and recognitions, including a BmoreArt feature, MSAC Creativity Grants, a DC CAH Art Bank Grant, a 2024 Andy Warhol Foundation’s GritFund Grant, and has work permanently installed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. Living and working in Baltimore, Maryland, HOPE currently serves as an Educator at the American Visionary Art Museum and is an Artist-in-Residence with Creative Alliance. HOPE’s vision extends beyond herself, embracing a higher purpose that dives deep into the soul, inviting others to join her on a journey of hope, healing, and exploration.

Candice Tavares

Candice Tavares is a self-taught wood artist from the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia and her Doctorate of Pharmacy from Howard University. None of her formal education has any connection to woodworking or fine art, but her experiences as a Black woman working in healthcare and existing in spaces that are not predominantly Black have absolutely shaped the way she sees the world and the art that she chooses put into it.

Candice primarily focuses on using wood as a natural medium to reflect on and celebrate the natural beauty of Black women. She places heavy emphasis on including a wide range of complexions and hair textures by incorporating multiple species, stains, and techniques to create images that feel representative to women across the diaspora. She hopes that Black women and children will walk away from her work feeling seen, valued, celebrated, and fortified. Reminded of their inherent beauty and value, and encouraged to love every part of themselves just as they are, just how God made them.

Bria Sterling-Wilson

Bria Sterling-Wilson is a photographer and collage artist from Baltimore, Maryland. She received her B.F.A in Photography and Digital Arts from Towson University, Towson, MD in 2021. Sterling-Wilson uses found imagery, magazines, newspaper, and fabrics to construct alluring scenes, portraits, and interiors to express the black experience.

Sterling-Wilson has exhibited works in Sanquhar, Scotland, Brooklyn, New York, Los Angles, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Washington, D.C, and Baltimore, Maryland.

Bria has been featured in BmoreArt Magazine, Contemporary Collage Magazine, EBONY Magazine, and Black Collagists: The Book.

Sterling-Wilson is currently completing an artist residency at Creative Alliance in Baltimore, Maryland.

Description of Resident Artist Program
Creative Alliance’s Artist Residency Program provides a highly visible, intense, and creative environment for the production of artwork in all media. Attracting artists from around Baltimore and the nation, the program is located in The Patterson, a historic former movie theater converted into a vibrant, community-based art center.