CHESTERTOWN — Evan Kassof of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Marty Two Bulls Jr. of Rapid City, South Dakota are joining Kent Cultural Alliance for the summer session of its SFW Resident Artist Program.
This themed, community-based residency titled “CLIMATE” is in partnership with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and Washington College’s Center for the Environment & Society.
Additional support and guidance is from Mike Twining, vice president of sales and marketing for Willard Agri-Service, who is working on climate mitigation for large-scale farming in Maryland and Delaware.
During the six-week residency session, Kassof and Two Bulls will be studying and creating works that shed light on impacts of the climate crisis here in Kent County and surrounding areas.
Kassof is a composer, conductor, sound artist and labor organizer. He makes operas as the music director of ENAensemble, and has had operas premiered and performed in Philadelphia, Budapest and London.
According to a news release, Kassof’s “music sits at the intersection of science, labor organizing, and dramatic expressionism — meaning his music is often microtonal, written in Excel, and made in genuine collaborative partnership with others.”
He jointly made “ecologically informed augmented reality works” installed in Wyoming and Philadelphia, residencies at Pine Meadow Ranch (Oregon, 2023) and at Tongue River Artist Residency with flutist Chelsea Meynig (Wyoming, 2024).
When not making music, he’s an organizer with the Philadelphia Council, AFL-CIO.
For more information, see evankassof.com.
Two Bulls Jr., an artist and educator, is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who was raised in the high plains of South Dakota.
He comes from a family of diverse artists. His father, Marty Two Bulls Sr., is an accomplished artist and was Two Bulls’ first art instructor.
Two Bulls grew up in his father’s studio where he learned the fundamentals of sculpture, illustration, graphic design and, most importantly, how to make a living as a creative person.
He subsequently went on to study printmaking and ceramics at The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011.
After graduation, Two Bulls spent several years in Santa Fe developing his art practice and working in contemporary art galleries where he worked with many contemporary artists from around the world.
In 2017 he was offered a full-time faculty position with Oglala Lakota College (OLC) to teach art.
Since returning to his homelands to work with his tribal community, Two Bulls has created a graphic arts program at OLC and continues to work as a positive force for the arts in his communities “both near and far.”
He is the artist laureate for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and a 2022 United States Artist Fellow.
For more information, see www.martytwobullsjr.com.
While school may be out, summer camps are in, and Kent Cultural Alliance is partnering for the second time with Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne’s. KCA’s summer artists will each lead two workshops with campers on the impacts of Artificial Intelligence on the art world.
Public events for “CLIMATE” are listed here. All these events will be held at KCA’s Vincent and Leslie Prince Raimond Cultural Center, 101 Spring Ave. in downtown Chestertown. There is no cost.
Monday, June 30: meet the artists at 5 p.m. This will be a formal presentation by each of the artists about their work and lives as artists. There will be a question and answer opportunity followed by a light reception.
Saturday, July 26: open studio from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., providing the public an opportunity to engage with the artists while they are at work in their studio preparing for the CLIMATE exhibition.
Friday, Aug. 1: opening night from 5 to 8 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 2: artists’ talks at 1 p.m., a more formal presentation of residency work by KCA’s artists. This will be followed by a light reception.
Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesdays-Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through Sept. 6.
For more information, contact Kent Cultural Alliance at 410-778-3700 or visit www.kentculture.org.
