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ASC (they/them) is a queer artist, educator, and herbalist working across object-making traditions to propose hybrid alternatives to commonly perceived binaries, including sick vs. well, body vs. object, and synthetic vs. organic. Recent projects in various tactile media involve sensory ecologies and containment while reflecting their roots in southern DIY craft. Intersections of botany, geology, empathy, strategies of emergence, and materialities of disability are intrinsic to their work. Recently awarded a Creative Residency Fellowship at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences, ASC was previously an artist-in-residence with Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, VisArts Richmond, Chicago Artists Coalition, Vermont Studio Center, and Annmarie Arts. With roots in Appalachia’s Central Plateau and Blue Ridge, they earned an MFA from the University of Chicago, and a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. They are a member of Southerners On New Ground.

A previous recipient of the VCUarts Gerald Donato Award and the VCUarts Faculty Creative Research Grant, ASC represented Chicago at the South Bend Museum of Art’s Biennial 31, and has exhibited solo projects with Monaco Gallery (St. Louis, MO), Hume Gallery (Chicago, IL), and Alma’s Gallery (Richmond, VA). Their installation Aerial Parts was commissioned by Buddy Chicago for the Chicago Cultural Center.

Group exhibition sites include Snehta Gallery (Greece); Leiminspace (CA); The McColl Center (NC), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Visual Arts Center of Richmond (VA); Cinemarosa GALERIA (New York); Aurora Public Art Commission, Siblings Gallery, Chicago Artists Coalition, The Overlook Place, Condo Association, The Submission, Public Access, Arts + Public Life Arts Incubator, Hyde Park Art Center, LVL3 Gallery, the Logan Center for the Arts (IL); Kinsey Institute, South Bend Museum of Art (IN); John Fonda Gallery, Ralph Arnold Gallery, Loyola University, Gallery CA, and Maryland Federation of Art (MD).

ASC has worked with cultural institutions including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Hyde Park Arts Center, The Arts of Life, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Land Acknowledgment: Studio ASC (along with institutions mentioned above) operates on lands whose stewardship was stolen from Indigenous nations and peoples. A relevant resource is native-land.ca.