Artist in Residency Program
The Academy Center of the Arts is proud to present the newly appointed program and Artist in Residency for 2022, Bosco Bae!
The Artist in Residency program allows artists the opportunity to engage with our audiences, students, and the Greater Lynchburg community by providing enriching experiences and messaging across our program initiatives.
About Dr. Bosco Bae
Dr. Bosco Bae is a ceramic artist who began his journey with clay and the wheel in 1998. He joined the Academy Center of the Arts in 2021 after accumulating experience from pottery studios in Salt Lake City, Boston, Chicago, Icheon, Tokyo, Prague, and Johannesburg.
In his day job, Dr. Bae is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and the Director for Student Diversity and Belonging in the Office of Equity and Inclusion at the University of Lynchburg.
He also serves as a Research Associate with the Center for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and, more recently, he has launched a non-profit organization in Chicago that aims to explore and navigate the terrain of art advancing justice.
Artist Statement
“Much of my work and art is concerned with thinking through the question: what is a meaningful praxis? That is, how can I combine practice and theory in such a way that they mutually inform one another and move the pendulum towards substantive transformation?
In this endeavor, I am reminded of Nina Simone’s call for an artist’s duty to reflect on the times, which I often understand in terms of cycles of history and potential futures condensed into present moments. An obvious, yet narrow, the question for myself is how do I engage this praxis through pottery? Not only does this process involve making things on the wheel but also an active consideration for how to participate with the wheel.
As Toni Morrison put it, “Art invites us to know the beauty and to solicit it from even the most tragic of circumstances. Art reminds us that we belong here.” In this sense, I will be looking to work with the Monacan Indian Nation and African-American communities in the Lynchburg area and see what emerges.”
