bio/cv
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kolbe
Biography
Lavett Ballard is an Mixed Media Visual 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, and an MFA in Studio Art from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Ballard’s art has been commissioned as a cover twice for Time Magazine first in March 2020 for their special multi cover edition for the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage and in February 2023 for a cover and interior art for Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s essay about her book CASTE: Origins of our Discontent. Among her other accolades is a Yaddo Fellow Artist residency in 2021, in 2023 a NJ State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, and in 2018 Pew fellowship nomination. Ballard’s artwork has been used in film, television, and literary publications in addition to being acquired by many private and public institutional collections nationally and internationally.
Some of her private art collectors include the author Roxanne Gay, actor Hill Harper, Grant & Tamia Hill collection, the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection. Her work has been acquisitioned by the Francis M. Maguire Museum, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, the Colored Girls Museum, the U.S. Art in the Embassies, St Joseph’s University, Syracuse Universities- Community Folk Arts Center, and Jule Collins Smith Fine Art Museum at Auburn University Collections among many others.
Ballard views her art as a re-imagined visual narrative of people of African descent. Her use of imagery reflects social issues affecting primarily Black women’s stories within a historical context. Her current body of work uses collaged photos adorned with paint, oil pastels, and metallic foils. These photos are deconstructed and layered on reclaimed large and small aged wood fences. The use of fences is a symbolic reference to how fences keep people in and out, just as racial and gender identities can do the same socially. This fusion of wood and photography offers artwork that both explores her southern roots, yet visually speaks volumes to continuing themes within her community.
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Photo of the artist courtesy of Ted Waters
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Photo of the artist courtesy of KD Morris Photography
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Education:
2017 University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA- MFA Studio Art
2014 Rutgers Camden Double Major BFA-Studio Arts Painting & BA Art History
2021 Rowan College of Burlington County – AS. – Art
Select Solo Exhibitions:
2023 Philadelphia International Airport- ‘Say a Little Prayer -Philadelphia, PA Terminal C
2023 Delta Arts Center- ‘Re-Imaged Legacy’ - Winston Salem, NC
2022 Bridgewater State University- ‘The Ground we stand on’ -Bridgewater, MA
2022 Long Sharp Gallery-‘ My Soul has got to Move’-Indianapolis, IN
2021 Rush Arts Philadelphia-‘Rooted: From our head to our Souls’-Philadelphia, PA
2021 Syracuse University/ Community Folk Arts Center ‘ Stories My Grandmother Told Me’ -Syracuse, NY
2020 Long Sharp Gallery- ‘When She Roars’ - Indianapolis, IN
2020 Saint Joseph’s University- ‘Just Like a Woman’ -Philadelphia, PA
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
Select Group Exhibitions:
2023 Maguire Museum – The Black Communion- Philadelphia Artists- Merion, PA
2023 Mocada NYC- ‘M’Dear Project- Governor’s Island NY
2022 Art Melanated- ‘The Divine Feminine’ - Los Angeles, CA
2022 Newark Museum of Art- ‘Art of Healing’- Newark, NJ
2022 Galerie Myrtis-‘The Beautiful and the Damned’-Baltimore, MD
2021 Cornell Art Museum- ‘Heart of the Square’- Delray Beach, FL
2021 Newark Arts Festival- ‘Dionne Warwick: Queen of Twitter’-Newark, NJ
2021 UTA Artist Space- ‘Literary Muse’ – Beverly Hills, CA
2020 Galerie Myrtis- ‘Women Heal through Rite and Ritual’- Baltimore, MD
2020 Penn State- Women X Women-Petrucci Family Foundation Group Show, - Lehigh Valley, PA
2019 Noyes Museum of Art, Kramer Hall 'Driving While Black'- Atlantic City , NJ
2019 Houston Museum of African American Culture –‘Dorsey Family collection’-Houston, TX
2019 Noba Art space, 'PHOTO-Based' -Bala Cynwyd, PA
2018 Trestle Project Space Gallery- Contain her, NY, 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 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
Art Fairs:
2022- International Fine Print Dealers Association
2021-2022- Art Miami Art Fair
2019 & 2021- Prizm Art Fair
Select Bibliography & Publications:
Cover Art, 'Division & Destiny: How to build a truly equal American Democracy’ Isabel Wilkerson Edition - TIME Magazine, February 2023
Petrucci Family Foundation book; 'Shifting Time: African American Artists 2020-2021'- October 2022
Gallery Network. ‘This Black History Month, Get to Know 7 African American Artists Who Are Building a New Legacy’, ArtNet; Artnet News- February 16, 2022
Cover Art, ‘Her View’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society- University of Chicago Press- 2020
Heguiaphal, Maia, ‘Lavett Ballard’s African American & Female Narratives’ Daily Art Magazine, 12/14/2020
Baker, Chenoa, ‘“To Set at Liberty Them that are Bruised”: Hybrid Antidotes Artistic Apothecaries and Women of…’ Sugarcane Magazine,7/14/2020
Dobrin, Peter, ‘Philly actors, musicians, dancers can’t imagine when they’ll work again:…’, Philadelphia Inquirer,4/25/2020
Graves-El, Ahmad, ‘Timeless Perfection: Local Artist Creates Cover for TIME’s 100 Women of the Year Issue’, SNJToday, 4/7/2020
Cover Art, '1955 The Bus Boycotters' Special edition 100th Anniversary of Women’s Sufferage - TIME Magazine, March 10-17, 2020
Valentine, Victoria, ' Time Magazine Recognizes 100 years of Influential women with Covers by...', Culturetype Magazine- 3/8/2020
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:
CFAC/ Syracuse University- Black Art Speaks-Highlight
Studionoize Podcast- 'In My Life Time w/ Lavett Ballard'
Yale University Radio- Praxis – ‘Interview with Brainard Carey’
Good day Street Talk, Fox News NY, ‘African American Art and its impact today’
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Speaking Engagements/Visiting Artist Lectures:
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2023 Petrucci Family Foundation - Tribeca Arts Panel Discussion w/ Yvonne Mpwo & Florine Demosthene
2021 Commencement Keynote address speaker - Rowan College of Burlington County School of Liberal Arts & Arts- Mt Holly, NJ
2021 Howard University- Panelist – Art for Social Change- Washington DC
2021 Art Institute of Chicago- Visiting Artist lecture- Chicago , IL
2021 University of the Arts- Visiting Artist Lecture- Philadelphia, PA
2021 Rutgers University- Visiting Artist Lecture-Camden, NJ
2021 Columbia College- Visiting Artist Lecture- NY,NY
2020 John Hopkins University- Black Womanhood: Language Art & History
2019 Tulane University, Visiting Artist Speaker Series - New Orleans, LA
2018 International Curators International, Livestream Artist Talk on Social
Justice
2016 Kean University at Ocean Toms River NJ- Visiting Artist symposium- 2016
Awards and Honors
2021 Congressional Award in Artistic Recognition for NJ
2021 Yaddo Artist Residency Summer Fellow 2021
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
2016 Artist of the Year of Philadelphia- The Harvest Spoken Soul 215 1st Annual Awards
2014-2015 Bombay Sapphire Artisan Competition Semi-Finalist- NY & Philadelphia
2014 University of the Arts, Philadelphia PA- Graduate Fellowship
2014 Odyssey Arts Award Travel Scholarship
2014 Gullkistan Student Artist Residency- Gulfoss, Iceland
2014 First Place Center for the Arts of Southern NJ-Marlton NJ
2013 Roberta K. Tarbell Art History Scholarship
Select Collections/ Collectors:
U.S. Embassies program- Ambassador Natalie Brown- U.S. Embassy Kambala
The Petrucci Family Foundation Art Collection
The Grant and Tamia Hill Art Collection
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University
Stockton University Art Collection
Syracuse University collection/ Community Folk Arts Center
Saint Joseph’s University/Barnes Museum- shared Private Collection
ABC Studios
CBS Studios
NBC/Universal Studios
The Colored Girls Museum
Hill Harper House
Conrad Hotel Collection- Indianapolis, IN
African American Heritage Museum of South Jersey
Dr. Carol L. Adams Chair Emeritus for the DuSable Museum
Roxanne Gay- Author