Buckham Gallery is pleased to announce three BIPOC Is The Theme! artists selected for feature exhibitions and honorariums.
For immediate release: May 11, 2022
Buckham Gallery’s BIPOC Is The Theme! Selected Artists
Buckham Gallery’s exhibition, BIPOC Is The Theme!, was created in collaboration with Tyanna J. Buie to highlight the art work created by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists. Buckham’s leadership is intentionally looking to build relationships with those artists who traditionally are underrepresented in U.S. galleries and museums.
“True inclusion starts with acknowledgement. BIPOC Is the Theme! addresses inclusivity through the many artists and art works selected for this exhibition,” said juror Tyanna J. Buie.
Buie reviewed 316 images by 85 artists for this open call. Ultimately, this exhibition features 39 works by 38 artists. Announced April 7th, Buie selected three prize winners and one honorable mention. In addition to the traditional cash prizes, Buckham’s Exhibition Committee selected three artists to be featured in the 2023 - 2024 season, thus building new relationships and opportunities with artists. These future feature exhibitions include honorariums ($500 each) to aid with the financial challenges of transporting artwork.
BIPOC Is The Theme! Selected Artists:
Buckham Gallery’s BIPOC Is The Theme! Selected Artists
Buckham Gallery’s exhibition, BIPOC Is The Theme!, was created in collaboration with Tyanna J. Buie to highlight the art work created by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists. Buckham’s leadership is intentionally looking to build relationships with those artists who traditionally are underrepresented in U.S. galleries and museums.
“True inclusion starts with acknowledgement. BIPOC Is the Theme! addresses inclusivity through the many artists and art works selected for this exhibition,” said juror Tyanna J. Buie.
Buie reviewed 316 images by 85 artists for this open call. Ultimately, this exhibition features 39 works by 38 artists. Announced April 7th, Buie selected three prize winners and one honorable mention. In addition to the traditional cash prizes, Buckham’s Exhibition Committee selected three artists to be featured in the 2023 - 2024 season, thus building new relationships and opportunities with artists. These future feature exhibitions include honorariums ($500 each) to aid with the financial challenges of transporting artwork.
BIPOC Is The Theme! Selected Artists:
Gerardo Castro
Gerardo Castro (b. Ponce, Puerto Rico, lives and works in Newburgh, NY) received an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY (1997). Castro has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Budapest, and major US Cities. Solo and group exhibitions have been organized at following selected art shows, galleries and museums: Toxic Landscapes, Biblioteca Nacional, Havana Cuba; We Are You -Wilmer Jennings Gallery, New York, NY; Body, Bodies, Bodies SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA; In Search of Queer Gods, Root Division, San Francisco, CA; Past, Present, Pa’ Lante, Museum of the History of Ponce, Puerto Rico; Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All, St. Mary's College Museum of Art, Morago, CA; Contemporary Directions: Niger to Afrofuturism, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA. Water, Air, Earth, Fire - Dual Art Gallery, Budapest, Hungary; PROUD+ The Studio Door, San Diego, CA; Fire & Indigo, Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY; Time Lapse, Fridman Gallery, Beacon, NY.
Exploring the politics of identity, colonization, ritual performance cultures, including magico-religious, Afro-Latinx queer religiosity, Gerardo Castro creates figurative paintings that are mystical, erotic, decorative, and elaborate that recalls Magic Realism, Caribbean travel posters, religious icons, and Latin album cover art. Merging oil painting with mixed media applications, Gerardo Castro creates constellations of marvelous glittery, unmistakably black, and emphatically brown figures in environments that are spiritually charged. His work celebrates the visual texture of his Afro-Descendant culture, affirming that Latino identity is a means of empowerment (be it social, spiritual, political, or personal).
Gerardo Castro (b. Ponce, Puerto Rico, lives and works in Newburgh, NY) received an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY (1997). Castro has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Budapest, and major US Cities. Solo and group exhibitions have been organized at following selected art shows, galleries and museums: Toxic Landscapes, Biblioteca Nacional, Havana Cuba; We Are You -Wilmer Jennings Gallery, New York, NY; Body, Bodies, Bodies SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA; In Search of Queer Gods, Root Division, San Francisco, CA; Past, Present, Pa’ Lante, Museum of the History of Ponce, Puerto Rico; Social Justice: It Happens to One, It Happens to All, St. Mary's College Museum of Art, Morago, CA; Contemporary Directions: Niger to Afrofuturism, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA. Water, Air, Earth, Fire - Dual Art Gallery, Budapest, Hungary; PROUD+ The Studio Door, San Diego, CA; Fire & Indigo, Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY; Time Lapse, Fridman Gallery, Beacon, NY.
Exploring the politics of identity, colonization, ritual performance cultures, including magico-religious, Afro-Latinx queer religiosity, Gerardo Castro creates figurative paintings that are mystical, erotic, decorative, and elaborate that recalls Magic Realism, Caribbean travel posters, religious icons, and Latin album cover art. Merging oil painting with mixed media applications, Gerardo Castro creates constellations of marvelous glittery, unmistakably black, and emphatically brown figures in environments that are spiritually charged. His work celebrates the visual texture of his Afro-Descendant culture, affirming that Latino identity is a means of empowerment (be it social, spiritual, political, or personal).
Kiara Aileen Machado
Kiara Aileen Machado (b. Lynwood, CA) received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from California State University Long Beach (2018). Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, including the South Gate Museum (California), Dupont Underground (Washington DC), John & Geraldine Lilley Museum (Nevada), Stamp Gallery (Maryland), Frederic Jameson Gallery (North Carolina), and recently at Band of Vices (California) as part of the 'In the Paint' art initiative spearheaded by the Los Angeles Lakers to identify and support contemporary LA-based artists.
Machado is a contemporary artist who celebrates and explores the structures and liberation of identity, femininity, and culture in her work. It brings into question the absence and exclusion of Central American folx from mainstream U.S. and Latinx narratives.
Kiara Aileen Machado (b. Lynwood, CA) received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from California State University Long Beach (2018). Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, including the South Gate Museum (California), Dupont Underground (Washington DC), John & Geraldine Lilley Museum (Nevada), Stamp Gallery (Maryland), Frederic Jameson Gallery (North Carolina), and recently at Band of Vices (California) as part of the 'In the Paint' art initiative spearheaded by the Los Angeles Lakers to identify and support contemporary LA-based artists.
Machado is a contemporary artist who celebrates and explores the structures and liberation of identity, femininity, and culture in her work. It brings into question the absence and exclusion of Central American folx from mainstream U.S. and Latinx narratives.
Ariana Vaeth
Ariana Vaeth (b. Baltimore, Maryland; lives and works Milwaukee, WI) is an artist focused on contemporary narrative through the self-portrait. Her work lives within an entanglement of tender interactions within the home. Vaeth received her undergraduate degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Her museum history includes solo exhibitions in Door County, Wisconsin at the Miller Art Museum and in Milwaukee at the Lynden and the Haggerty Museum of Art. Vaeth is a 2017 Mary Nohl Fellow in the Emerging Artist category. She is a recipient of the Gener8tor.Art creative entrepreneurial grant. Vaeth received a 2020 Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award. She spent this past fall in Door County at the Al & Mickey Quinlan studio and housing residency. Vaeth is currently the Artist-in-Residence at Ayzha Fine Arts Gallery, a program developed by gallerist Cynthia Henry.
Ariana Vaeth (b. Baltimore, Maryland; lives and works Milwaukee, WI) is an artist focused on contemporary narrative through the self-portrait. Her work lives within an entanglement of tender interactions within the home. Vaeth received her undergraduate degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Her museum history includes solo exhibitions in Door County, Wisconsin at the Miller Art Museum and in Milwaukee at the Lynden and the Haggerty Museum of Art. Vaeth is a 2017 Mary Nohl Fellow in the Emerging Artist category. She is a recipient of the Gener8tor.Art creative entrepreneurial grant. Vaeth received a 2020 Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award. She spent this past fall in Door County at the Al & Mickey Quinlan studio and housing residency. Vaeth is currently the Artist-in-Residence at Ayzha Fine Arts Gallery, a program developed by gallerist Cynthia Henry.
The Buckham Fine Arts Project was established in 1984 by a core group of highly motivated working artists, artists/teachers, and arts advocates from the Flint area. The founders of this then new nonprofit organization built their passion directly into its mission: to enrich the cultural life of its surrounding communities by presenting a broad range of innovative contemporary art, both visual and performance, of the highest quality and standard.
“Thirty-eight years later, though now better known as Buckham Gallery, our artist-led collective still holds true to its vision of supporting and nurturing artists, building community and inclusivity, while challenging our audience to engage with and look at art in new ways,” said Michele Leclaire, Executive Director of Buckham Gallery.
“Thirty-eight years later, though now better known as Buckham Gallery, our artist-led collective still holds true to its vision of supporting and nurturing artists, building community and inclusivity, while challenging our audience to engage with and look at art in new ways,” said Michele Leclaire, Executive Director of Buckham Gallery.
