JJC Talks: Ainsley Burrows & Vonne Napper

JJC Talks presents a conversation with artists Ainsley Burrows and Vonne Napper, the 2024 JJC Summer Artists-in-Residence at MICA. Both Burrows and Napper will share work from the residency and discuss its impact on their larger practice.

This virtual conversation will be livestreamed on the BMA’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

About the Artists

Ainsley Burrows

Ainsley Burrows (b. 1974 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a full-time multidisciplinary artist who explores untold stories and unspoken emotions. He is a poet, musician, and performer, as well as a painter, and his different creative pursuits influence each other. As a self-taught artist, Burrows began his visual art practice in 2009. He created hundreds of works between 2009 and 2020 as he sought to transform his talent and success in writing into a visual language using predominantly acrylic paint on canvas. During the pandemic in 2020, Burrows was forced to take a break from his livelihood, and fortunately was ready to hit the ground running in the art world. He had spent the previous four years (2016-2019) creating a series of 125 paintings, called The Maroons: Rebellion. Select paintings from that series were the subject of Burrows’ first solo exhibition at State University of New York (SUNY) Oneonta in 2022. Since then, Burrows has been emerging as a prolific abstract artist with solo exhibitions at Rush Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD; The DC Arts Center, Washington, DC; and an upcoming solo exhibition at Gallery In The Sky (World Trade Center), Baltimore, MD. Burrows has participated in group exhibitions at Artscape, Baltimore, MD; 11:Eleven Gallery, Washington, DC; Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA; and Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. His work is included in several private collections including those of Hill Harper, Jeffrey Wright, Wayee Chu, Lisane Basquiat, Jeanine and Herve Heriveaux, Raymond McGuire, and the Capitol One Collection.

Vonne Napper

Vonne Napper is a community-based interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Washington, DC. As a child, they displayed great interest in learning new things, with one door of inspiration opening to the next. Consequently, their art practice spans various mediums including music production, printmaking, graphic design, videography, painting, writing, sewing, movement performance, installation, and assemblage. Vonne’s practice centers on social justice, new-age healing, and preserving Black queer and trans narratives. Identifying as nonbinary and trans-masculine, Vonne pulls from their lived experience to highlight the challenges of existing at a particularly targeted intersection in today’s society and employs their spirituality to establish connections between the communities to which they belong.

About the Joshua Johnson Council (JJC):

Joshua Johnson Council (JJC) Members share a passion for African American and African art. Named after an 18th-century African American portrait painter who lived and worked in Maryland, the JJC is one of the oldest African American museum support groups in the U.S. Its mission is to forge meaningful connections between Baltimore’s African American communities and the Baltimore Museum of Art by promoting and highlighting the achievements of African American artists.

JJC Membership offers a wide range of opportunities for active participation within a network of friends and colleagues dedicated to art, education, community, and family. JJC programs and meetings take place on the second Thursday of each month. Find JJC on Facebook.