ARTIST TALK WITH M. FLORINE DÉMOSTHÈNE IN CONVERSATION WITH CAITLIN BERRY

Join The Nicholson Project at Eaton House for an artist talk with our Artist-in-Residence M. Florine Démosthène in conversation with Caitlin Berry, Inaugural Director of the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery at the John Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. Hear from Florine about her work which explores spirituality, identity, and the Black female form through vibrant mixed media abstractions and celestial imagery, and learn more about her residency at The Nicholson Project and upcoming projects.

About M. Florine Démosthène

M. Florine Démosthène was born in the United States and raised between Port-au-Prince, Haïti and New York. Démosthène earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School for Design in New York and her Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College-City University of New York. She has exhibited extensively through group and solo exhibitions in the United States, Caribbean, UK, Europe, and Africa, with recent solo shows including, Mastering the Dream at SCAD Museum of Art, In the Realm of Love at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery Paris, a solo booth exhibition with Mariane Ibrahim Gallery at the the New York Armory Fair and The Stories I Tell Myself with Gallery 1957 Accra, Ghana.

She is a recipient of a NYFA Artist Fellowship, Wachtmeister Award, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Arts Moves Africa Grant, Black Star Award and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. She has participated in artist residencies in the United States, Caribbean, UK, Slovakia, Ghana and Tanzania. Her work can be seen at National Museum For African American History and Culture, Africa First Collection, University of South Africa (UNISA), Lowe Museum of Art, Hessler Museum of Art, PFF Collection of African American Art and in various private collections worldwide. Learn more about Florine’s work at www.florinedemosthene.com

About Caitlin Berry

Caitlin Berry is the inaugural Director of the Irene & Richard Frary Gallery at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. Berry brings a depth of experience working with artistic communities across the museum, commercial, and academic sectors in Washington, D.C., and New York City. Before joining Hopkins, she was the inaugural director of the Rubell Museum DC, where she oversaw the launch of the new museum and established it as a hub for community and conversation.

Before the Rubell Museum DC, Caitlin was director of the Cody Gallery at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, and ran an independent art advisory with international clients. Her experience in commercial art includes Hemphill Artworks, a leading art gallery in D.C. with a focus on local emerging, mid-career, and established artists and the secondary market. Specializing in the Washington Color School, Mid-Century African American Art, and Contemporary Art, Berry has also held positions at Eykyn Maclean and Cristin Tierney Gallery in New York.

She holds a post baccalaureate degree in Gallery Management and a B.A. in Communication and Art History from Wake Forest University.

About The Nicholson Project

The Nicholson Project is a paid artist residency program and neighborhood garden in Ward 7’s Fairlawn neighborhood. Our mission is to support, provide opportunities, engage, and amplify artists and creatives from our community and the local artist community—particularly artists of color and those from Ward 7 and 8—while engaging our neighbors through community-based programming. Our vision is to serve as a cultural hub and community anchor celebrating Ward 7’s authentic identity, while infusing new vibrancy into Southeast DC. We hope to inspire others to use similar non-traditional arts and community-centered projects as a pathway toward stronger, more vibrant communities. Learn more at www.thenicholsonproject.org.