Artist Statement

 I create mixed media, figurative, often large scale sculptures as a way to explore the intricacies of race and class, gender and sexuality.  My work highlights how our engagement with these concepts is highly ritualized, and often unexamined. By juxtaposing objects for the home with archival historical research, I ask viewers to think about how narratives of the domestic, family, and womanhood are complicated by a history of slavery, stolen labor, and racism, particularly in the U.S. and the Caribbean. I work with all materials, but consider ceramics and fibers to be foundational to my process and thinking because of their long history and aesthetic traditions in places like West Africa, Spain, and the Americas. The work, then, is an invitation to remember, examine, and engage in meaningful dialogue. 

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Bio

Joann Quiñones is a mixed media artist, working primarily in fibers and ceramics. Their work focuses on African American and Caribbean history,  as well as the intricacies of Afro-Latinx identity. They were selected an Emerging Artist of 2020 by Ceramics Monthly, a Manifest Gallery Annual Prize Finalist, and received an Honorable Mention for the James Renwick Alliance Chrysalis Award. Their work has been shown nationally, including in the 2020 NCECA Annual Exhibition, “The Burdens of History”, the Belger Arts Center, and the Akron Arts Museum. They have an MFA in Studio Art from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. They have had residencies at Vermont Studio Center and were selected for participation this summer at the Arts/Industry Residency in Foundry at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. They currently teach Sculpture at Alfred University.