Stephen Towns's Private Paradise: A Figurative Exploration of Black Rest and Recreation opens at The Rockwell Museum

June 19, 2024

111 Cedar St, Corning, NY 14830

Stephen Towns Studio and The Rockwell Museum are pleased to jointly announce the exhibition Stephen Towns's Private Paradise: A Figurative Exploration of Black Rest and Recreation. The exhibition will open on September 20, 2024 at The Rockwell Museum in Corning, NY. The exhibition features portraits of African American life in segregated parks in Ocala, Florida.

The painted panels in the exhibition are interpolations of photographer Bruce Mozert’s images taken as advertisements for Paradise Park, the segregated Black park side of Silver Springs, a park that offered glass-bottom boat rides, on the crystal clear water. The quilted pieces in the exhibition are Towns’ imagined respite for Black beach goers. The quilts Looking for Lorraine and A Taste of Lemonade offer an imagined safe space for two lesbian lovers set in nostalgic settings while the quilts I Will Follow You My Dear and Motown in Motion offer a look into young lovers escaping Jim Crow’s watchful eye under a glittering sky.

Read the entire press release here

GBCA Announces the 2024 Baker Artist Awardees

May 30, 2024

Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance

The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA) and the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund are thrilled to announce the 2024 Baker Artist Awardees. Judah Adashi (Music), Kelley Bell (Interdisciplinary Arts), Albert Birney (Film/ Video), Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn (Literary Arts), Matt Reeves (Performance), and Stephen Towns (Visual Arts) were selected as this year’s awardees.

Each of these artists will receive a $10,000 Mary Sawyers Baker Prize. From these six artists, Stephen Towns was selected to receive the 2024 Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize, which includes an additional $30,000 for a total of $40,000. Established to be truly transformational to the life and career of one artist, this is the largest art prize in the region.

"Thrilled does not even come close to how I feel about this year’s winner of the Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize. Stephen Town’s paintings offer intimate and rich insights,” said Connie Imboden, President of the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund. Speaking about Town’s painting that was recently acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, she noted, “his portrait of Joyce captures her regal presence perfectly!"

Renowned Baltimore artist, Joyce J. Scott, who is the 2016 Mary Sawyers Imboden Awardee and the subject of this portrait, shared, “as a former Baker awardee myself, and true admirer of Stephen Town’s multimedia works of wonder, Town’s stellar acumen radiates the prowess of his textile/painted combos. Shine on.”

Download the official GBCA press release here

National Portrait Gallery acquires Stephen Towns portrait of Joyce J Scott.

March 28, 2024

Eighth and G streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Smithsonian

Stephen Towns Studio and Goya Contemporary Gallery are pleased to jointly announce the National Portrait Gallery’s recent acquisition of Stephen Towns’ portrait of Baltimore artist Joyce J. Scott (b.1948, Baltimore, MD) painted by Baltimore artist Stephen Towns (b. 1980 Lincolnville, SC). The acquisition was made official in February 2024. 

I’m so honored to be the subject of Stephen’s painting, It’s just fabulous. I don’t even know what to say because it’s that good.” said Joyce J. Scott.

Download the entire press release here

Chain Gang acquired and on view at The Wichita Art Museum

December 20, 2023 - December 20, 2025

1400 West Museum Boulevard Wichita, Kansas 67203

With the exhibition (im)permanent, The Wichita Art Museum (WAM) celebrates their prized permanent collection of more than 10,000 artworks. (im)permanent is an umbrella exhibition featuring a series of smaller, frequently changing exhibitions that focus on a specific theme, highlight a new acquisition, or take a deep dive into a period of American art. (im)permanent pairs WAM favorites with artworks that have been in storage for decades, these focused exhibitions explore the collection in fresh and dynamic ways.

The Chain Gang was purchased by the Wichita Art Museum, Museum Purchase, Burneta Adair Endowment Fund in 2023.

Hair Lessons acquired and on view at The Rockwell Museum

Winter 2023 - Summer 2024

The Rockwell Museum | 111 Cedar St, Corning, NY 14830

In his work, Towns often highlights common social activities in Black communities, such as women gathering to get ready for a special event. He portrays these everyday scenes on a grand scale, infusing them with importance and dignity. “Hair Lessons” depicts a scene of Black women doing hair in what Towns has identified as a church. This painting is based on a photograph by Charles “Tennie” Harris (1908-1998). For Towns, Harris’s photograph evokes sense memories from childhood when he went to the salon with his sisters. He remembers the smell of the salon, particularly of hair being pressed, and the conversations happening around him. The artist has imbued the feelings of that experience into his painting.

“Hair Lessons” joins Towns’s “I Am the Glory Print,” which was also acquired in 2022 and is currently on view in the “Heroes” Annual Theme exhibit.

Stephen Towns An Offering. Gold leaf on panel with attached fiber panel

Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures

March 24, 2023 – August 18, 2024

National Museum of African American History and Culture | 1400 Constitution Ave., NW. Washington, DC 4th Floor, Visual Art and the American Experience

Investigating Afrofuturist expression through art, music, activism and more, this exhibition explores and reveals Afrofuturism’s historic and poignant engagement with African American history and popular culture. From the enslaved looking to the cosmos for freedom to popular sci-fi stories inspiring Black astronauts, to the musical influence of Sun Ra, OutKast, Janelle Monae, P-Funk and more, this exhibition covers the broad and impactful spectrum of Afrofuturism. A highlight of the exhibition is the Black Panther hero costume worn by the late Chadwick Boseman. The Black Panther is the first superhero of African descent to appear in mainstream American comics, and the film itself is the first major cinematic production based on the character.

The exhibition also utilizes select objects to elevate stories that speak to Black liberation and social equality, such as Trayvon Martin’s flight suit from Experience Aviation, and his childhood dream of being an astronaut. Learn more here

An Offering

Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.

September 10, 2021 – Ongoing

National Museum of African American History and Culture | 1400 Constitution Ave., NW. Washington, DC 4th Floor, Visual Art and the American Experience

My series An Offering has been acquired by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and is being exhibited in Reckoning. Located in the museum’s Visual Art and the American Experience space, the exhibition explores the Black Lives Matter movement, violence against African Americans, and how art depicts Black resistance, resilience, and protest. The newly acquired portrait of Breonna Taylor painted by renowned artist Amy Sherald is on view in the exhibition until May and is buttressed by 27 newly exhibited images and artwork by Stephen Towns, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Shaun Leonardo, David Hammons, and many more. For more info, visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s website.