ART-jacent Conversations – Living and Sustaining a Creative Life
Sharon Louden and Dejha Carrington

The annual ARTISTS, SCHOLARS & CURATORS: A LECTURE SERIES at NWSA will focus on ART-jacent Conversations this academic year. NWSA Visual Arts will host a variety of local and national experts to talk about what happened once the research is completed, the experimentation in the studio is done, and the body of work is produced. The invited experts will cover topics like how to put together a successful portfolio, how to connect with local art institutions, how do artist build their networks, and what opportunities for graduate education exist in Miami.  This series of lecture-conversations are organized in the spirit of helping students to build their tribe and their art communities.

Sharon Louden wears many interchangeable hats including artist, educator, advocate for artists, consultant, community builder, and editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books. As an artist, her work has evolved from using writing as a medium, to figuration then abstraction through her paintings and drawings, to creating many physical environments that involve an inclusive advocacy using a varied range of media. In addition, Sharon is a visionary leader with decades of experience as an educator in academia, community connector & catalyst fighting for underrepresented artists within established institutions. She is a collaborator who convenes initiatives with siloed stakeholders across the non-profit and business sectors. All of her work is considered a creative practice under the umbrella of a working artist. Louden graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Weisman Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Dejha Carrington is an arts worker and co-founder of Commissioner. Her work focuses on supporting artists and building models for access in the arts. In 2017, Dejha co-founded Commissioner, an art membership program that helps people collect the work of contemporary artists in their cities. Inspired by African, Caribbean, and women-led savings strategies, Commissioner uses group economics to commission visual artists. In addition to running Commissioner, she consults on strategic planning, programming, and storytelling for organizations and social impact initiatives. From 2015 to 2022, Dejha served as Vice President of Strategic Communications for YoungArts, the national foundation for the advancement of artists. Previously, she led outreach and public relations for projects with Kimball Art Museum, the Medellin Biennial in Colombia, and National Film Board of Canada. Dejha is a board trustee of MAP Fund (known initially as the Multi-Arts Production Fund) and a professional advisory committee member of Miami-Dade Art In Public Places and New York University’s Center for Global Black Studies. She shares her time with The Black School and Artists in Residence in the Everglades (AIRIE). A Montreal native and McGill University graduate, Dejha calls Miami her home base.