bio/cv
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kolbe
Biography
Lavett Ballard is an Artist, Art historian, Curator, and Author. She holds a dual Bachelor’s in Studio Art and Art History with a minor in Museum Studies from Rutgers University. She also has a MFA in Studio Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Ballard’s art has been commissioned as a cover for Time Magazine special Woman of the Year double edition in 2020. Her work has been in film productions and exhibited at Rush Arts Philadelphia, and other prestigious galleries, museums, nationwide. Ballard has been named by Black Art in America as one of the Top 10 Female Emerging Artists to Collect. Her work has been acquired by prominent collections such as the African American Museum of Philadelphia, the Colored Girls Museum, the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection and the Grant and Tamia Hill private Collections.
Lavett’s interest in themes of History, Colorism, Afro-futurism & feminine beauty, her art translates to visual narratives of people of African descent. Ballard’s work is a diverse collection of people of African descent in a historical context. She uses formal elements of paint, charcoal, oil pastel, fibers, and collage, and combines them with reclaimed items.
Ballard creates in the Philadelphia, PA area.
Photo of the artist courtesy of Ted Waters
cv
Education:
2017 University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA- MFA Studio Art
2014 Rutgers Camden Double Major BA-Studio Arts Painting & Art History
Select Solo Exhibitions:
2020 Rutgers University-SWG- ‘Her-Stories: Visual Narratives of Women of the African Diaspora’- Camden, NJ
2019 Noyes Museum Stockton University ‘Souls of Black Folk’- Atlantic City NJ
2019 Art Sanctuary- 'Reclaiming Her Time'- Philadelphia, PA
2017 Cheney University 'Herstory'- Cheyney, PA
2016 African American Heritage Museum of South Jersey- ‘Musical Elements’ -Atlantic City, NJ
Select Group Exhibitions:
2020 Galerie Myrtis- ‘Women Heal through Rite and Ritual’- Baltimore, MD
2020 Penn State- Women X Women Group Show, PA
2019 Prizm Art Fair, Miami Art week’ Black Art in America’- Miami, FL
2019 Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia- ‘Ronald Walton & Friends’ - Richmond VA
2019 Houston Museum of African American Culture- Dorsey Collection- Houston, TX
2019 Noyes Museum of Art, Kramer Hall 'Driving While Black'- Atlantic City , NJ
2019 Noba Art space, 'PHOTO-Based' -Bala Cynwyd, PA
2018 Moore College of Art Galleries" Pew Leeway 25 Exhibit-Philadelphia, PA
2018 Trestle Project Space Gallery- Contain her, NY, NY
2018 March on Washington Film Festival -Spiral Artist Exhibition- Washington DC
2018 Weeksville Heritage Center-‘Forward Ever! Sacred Ground & Sovereign Space - Brooklyn NY
2018 African American Museum of Philadelphia-‘Art for Social Change’-
Philadelphia PA
2018 Timicua Arts House- ‘Housewives Collectives’- Orlando, FL
2018 Little Berlin Gallery-‘Mother’s Day’- Philadelphia, PA
2018 Stella Jones Gallery- Made in Louisiana’- New Orleans, LA
2018 Rush Arts Gallery Philadelphia - Giving up the Ghosts-Philadelphia, PA
2017 MFA Thesis Exhibition-Icebox Project Space- Philadelphia, PA
2017 The Colored Girls Museum-'Urgent Care'-Philadelphia, PA
2014 Rush Arts Gallery - Bombay Sapphire Artisan Show-Chelsea, NY
2012 James E. Lewis Museum of Art- ‘Speak my Name’- Baltimore, MD
Awards and Honors
2020 Yaddo Artist Residency Fellowship awardee, Saratoga Springs, NY
2018 Listed by Black Art in America as one of the ‘Top 10 Emerging Black Female Artists to collect.’
2018 The Colored Girls Museum Artist in Residence
2018 Alice C. Cole Fellowship Nominee, Wesley College
2018 The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship, Nominee through the AAMP
2014 Gullkistan Artist Residency- Laugarvartn, Iceland
2014 First Place Center for the Arts of Southern NJ-Marlton N
2014 Roberta K. Tarbell Art History Scholarship
Select Bibliography:
Cover Art, '1955 The Bus Boycotters' Special edition Women of the Year - TIME Magazine, March 10-17, 2020
Valentine, Victoria, ' Time Magazine Recognizes 100 years of Influential women with Covers by...' Culturetype Magazine- 3/8/2020
Starnes, Sam, ' Finding Art in Fences' , Rutgers Camden Magazine 3/6/2020
Pine, D.W., 'We designed 100 New covers for TIME's Women of the Year Project. Here are the stories behind them.' Time Magazine- 3/5/2020
Osterheldt, Jenee, ‘Art Basel bears far better fruit than that $120,000 banana’, The Boston Globe, 12/11/2019
Robinson, Shantay, 'Artist on the Move: Lavett Ballard', Black Art In America.com, 6/14/2018
Najuma, Ayana, ' New Generation of Artists weaves common threads for community empowerment', March on Washington Film Festival catalog 7/11/2018
Robinson, Shantay, '10 Emerging Black Female Artists to Collect' Black Art In America.com, 6/14/2018
Carroll, Angela N. ‘Giving Up the Ghost Artifacts/ A Study of Power & Solidarity
Against White Violence in Modernity’, Sugarcane Magazine/ Global Black Art &
Culture-February 2018
Media:
Sugarcane Magazine IG Live - Art studio interview
Studionoize Podcast- 'In My Life Time w/ Lavett Ballard'
Yale University Radio- Praxis – ‘Interview with Brainard Carey’
Art displayed Season One of CBS TV Drama –‘The Redline’
Art displayed in movie- ‘The Photograph’ with Issa Rae
Speaking Engagements/Visiting Artist Lectures:
2019 Tulane University, Visiting Artist Speaker Series - New Orleans, LA
2018 International Curators International, Livestream Artist Talk on Social Justice
Select Patrons/ Collectors:
The Grant and Tamia Hill Art Collection
The Petrucci Family Foundation Collection
Syracuse University Collection/Community Folk Arts Center
Stockton State University Collection/Noyes Art Museum
ABC Studios
NBC/Universal Studios
T. Thomas Fortune Cultural center
Weeksville Heritage Center
Najee & Santeria Dorsey Art Collection
The Colored Girls Museum
African American Heritage Museum of South Jersey
The Nixon Art Collection
Rowan College Burlington County
Dr. Carol L. Adams Former Director of the DuSable Museum