Exhibition Guide

A quilt depicting two adults with dark skin who appear to be women swimming underwater with fish and other sea life. A sailboat with ten silhouetted figures and full white sails floats above them in the background.

Stephen Towns. I Will Follow You My Dear. 2024. Courtesy Art Bridges. © Stephen Towns

A quilt depicting two adults with dark skin who appear to be women swimming underwater with fish and other sea life. A sailboat with ten silhouetted figures and full white sails floats above them in the background.

I Will Follow You My Dear

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Art Object Info

Stephen Towns

Medium:
Natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, acrylic and crystal glass beads, shells
Date:
2024

These works by Stephen Towns depict Paradise Park in Ocala, Florida. Opened in 1949 on May 20—Emancipation Day in Florida—Paradise Park was one of the few vacation spots open to African Americans in the United States at the time and quickly became one of the most popular. Drawing from extensive archival research and photographs, Towns introduces the visitors of Paradise Park through richly textured and vibrant quilts and paintings. Despite segregation and discrimination outside Paradise Park, these works represent African Americans freely at play and in moments of leisure.

Towns was born in 1980 in Lincolnville, South Carolina, and lives and works in Baltimore. He is a trained painter with a B.F.A. in studio art from the University of South Carolina and has also developed a rigorous, self-taught quilting practice. Alternating between media practices, Towns mines archives and family stories to explore African American history.

Courtesy Art Bridges BMA

I Will Follow You My Dear

Stephen Towns
Date:
2024
Medium:
Natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, acrylic and crystal glass beads, shells

These works by Stephen Towns depict Paradise Park in Ocala, Florida. Opened in 1949 on May 20—Emancipation Day in Florida—Paradise Park was one of the few vacation spots open to African Americans in the United States at the time and quickly became one of the most popular. Drawing from extensive archival research and photographs, Towns introduces the visitors of Paradise Park through richly textured and vibrant quilts and paintings. Despite segregation and discrimination outside Paradise Park, these works represent African Americans freely at play and in moments of leisure.

Towns was born in 1980 in Lincolnville, South Carolina, and lives and works in Baltimore. He is a trained painter with a B.F.A. in studio art from the University of South Carolina and has also developed a rigorous, self-taught quilting practice. Alternating between media practices, Towns mines archives and family stories to explore African American history.

Courtesy Art Bridges BMA