Sharif Bey
Sharif Bey [b. 1974, Pittsburgh, PA] lives and works in Syracuse, NY, where in addition to this studio practice he is an associate professor in arts education and teaching and leadership in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and Syracuse University’s School of Education. Bey earned his B.F.A. in ceramics from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, an M.F.A. in studio art from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. in art education from Penn State University. He has participated in many artist-in-residencies and fellowships to hone his craft, and is included in numerous public collections including: The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery, Washington DC; the Columbus Museum of Art, OH; and the United States Embassies of Khartoum, Sudan; Kampala, Uganda; and Jakarta, Indonesia. His forthcoming exhibitions include a solo exhibition at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, NY in 2021.
Bey’s sculptures reference the visual heritage of Africa and Oceania, as well as present-day African American culture, exploring the significance of traditional beads and figurines through contemporary reinterpretations of these forms. He works primarily with ceramics, a medium historically used by communities to create both functional objects and objects of worship.
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Endless Summer
February 19 - March 26, 2022 Los AngelesRead more -
Fragmented Bodies III: Figuring Renewal
September 9 - October 1, 2021 New YorkRead more -
THIS IS AMERICA
Kunstraum Potsdam August 7 - September 9, 2021 New YorkRead more -
Sharif Bey: Revelations in Power
February 18 - March 27, 2021 New YorkRead more -
Fragmented Bodies
February 27 - April 18, 2020 New YorkRead more
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Sharif Bey in Peace, Power, & Prestige: Metal Arts in Africa
Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY September 1, 2023In September 2023, the Bard Graduate Center Gallery will host “Peace, Power, & Prestige: Metal Arts in Africa.” The exhibition will be the first of...Read more -
Sharif Bey Works Acquired by Carnegie Museum
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania March 18, 2023We are pleased to announce that two works by Sharif Bey have been aquired by the Carnegie Musuem of Art!Read more -
Sharif Bey: Ancestral Vestiges
Belger Arts, Kanas City, Missouri February 3, 2023Februray 3 through August 5, 2023 Belger Arts presents Sharif Bey: Ancestral Vestiges from Februray 3 through Auguset 5, 2023. This follows institutional presentations at...Read more -
Sharif Bey Speaks at American Ceramic Circle 2022 Symposium
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY October 26, 2022October 26 - 28, 2022 Please join the American Ceramic Circle for our 2022 Symposium to be held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in...Read more -
Sharif Bey: Facets
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York August 14, 2022On view through August 14, 2022 Over the past three decades, artist and educator Sharif Bey (b. 1974) has created a body of work in...Read more -
Sharif Bey Named 2022 United States Artists Craft Fellow
United Sates Artists, Chicago, Illinois June 21, 2022Please join us in congratulating Sharif Bey on being selected as a 2022 USA Fellow. United States Artists Fellowships recognize artists working across the United...Read more -
Sharif Bey: Colonial Ruptures
Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada May 14, 2022May 14 - August 28 , 2022 “I am inspired by folklore, functional pottery, modernism, natural history, and a lifelong affinity for West African...Read more -
Sharif Bey in New Arrivals
Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, Missouri April 1, 2022April 1 - August 6, 2023 New Arrivals includes recent additions to the Belger Collection by local, national, and international artists and builds on the...Read more -
Sharif Bey: Excavations
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania October 2, 2021October 2, 2021 - March 6, 2022 “Sometimes young people have encounters that they cannot fully articulate. I must have been nine or ten...Read more -
Sharif Bey in Afrocosmologies: American Reflections
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut October 19, 2019October 19, 2019 – January 20, 2020 Black artists explore spirituality and culture in Afrocosmologies: American Reflections. Alongside artists of the late-nineteenth century, contemporary artists...Read more -
Sharif Bey in A Pittsburgh Anthology
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania August 15, 2019August 15, 2019 - Ongoing A Pittsburgh Anthology celebrates stories of creative life in Pittsburgh as prompted by Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection...Read more -
Sharif Bey in Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC November 9, 2018November 9 , 2018 — May 5 , 2019 Disrupting Craft presents the work of Tanya Aguiñiga, Sharif Bey, Dustin Farnsworth, and Stephanie Syjuco, four...Read more -
Sharif Bey commission for Art in the Embassies, Jakarta, Indonesia
United States Embassy, Indonesia August 1, 2018August 2018 - Present Ceramic artist Sharif Bey’s commissioned work Flora resembles a large-scale necklace with bright red dots punctuating the otherwise pastel palette...Read more -
Sharif Bey receives 2018/2019 Pollock-Krasner Award
Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY April 17, 2018April 2018 Pollock-Krasner grants have enabled artists to create new work, purchase needed materials and pay for studio rent, as well as their personal expenses....Read more -
Sharif Bey: Dialogues in Glass and Clay
Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania March 2, 2018March 2 - May 6, 2018 Clay and glass have different rhythms. Sharif Bey learned to move to the beat of both. His solo exhibition...Read more
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In ‘Colonial Ruptures,’ Artist Sharif Bey Defies the Constraints of Time through Fragmented Figures
Grace Ebert, Colossal, August 3, 2022 -
Sharif Bey’s Fractured and Beautiful Ceramic Figures
Sarah Rose Sharp, Hyperallergic, August 2, 2022 -
Frieze Los Angeles / Snapshot
Natalie Kovacs, The Design Edit, February 21, 2022 -
Opening This Week in LA
Artsy, February 17, 2022 -
Pittsburgh-born Artist Gets a Show at the Museum Where He Took Art Classes as a Kid
Bill O'Driscoll, WESA, October 8, 2021 -
In 'Excavations,' Sharif Bey Unearths his roots and shows what a Beltzhoover 'art kid' can do
Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 1, 2021 -
Sharif Bey Explores Manifestations of Power at Albertz Benda
Pearl Fontaine, Whitewall, March 2, 2021 -
Artist Spotlight: Sharif Bey
Justice S., Visit Pittsburgh, January 2, 2020 -
Four Craft Artists Use Their Medium to Tell the Story of Our Time
Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, February 5, 2019 -
Ceramic artist speaks through necklaces, mural
M. Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 28, 2018 -
Open Studio: Sharif Bey applies a model of open engagement to his work as an artist and an educator
Joyce Lovelace, American Craft Council, September 2, 2016 -
Open Studio: Sharif Bey (Print Edition)
Joyce Lovelace, American Craft Council, August 31, 2016
SHARIF BEY, PhD.
B. 1974, Pittsburgh, PA
Lives and works in Syracuse, New York
EDUCATION
2007 Ph.D. in Art Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University
Park, PA
2000 Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Art. University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
1998 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics, Slippery Rock University of
Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, PA
1994-95 Exchange Student in the Studio of Jozef Jankovic (Sculpture),
Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovak Republic
1988-92 Ceramics, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Apprenticeship
Program, Pittsburgh, PA
UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2022 Associate Professor of Studio Art Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
2015-21 Associate Professor of Art Education Syracuse University,
Syracuse, NY
2009-15 Assistant Professor of Art Education Syracuse University,
Syracuse, NY
2014 Visiting Professor Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2005-09 Assistant Professor of Art Education Winston Salem State
University, Winston Salem, NC
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Westmoreland Musuem of American Art, Greensburg, PA
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Columbus Museum of Art (Pizzuti Collection), Columbus, OH
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum, Providence, RI
The Belger Foundation, Kansas City, MO
The Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
The Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
The United States Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia
The United States Embassy, Khartoum, Sudan
The United States Embassy, Kampala, Uganda
The John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
The Paul Robeson Culture Center, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh, PA
The J. William Fulbright Commission, Bratislava, SK
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Sharif Bey: Ancestral Vestiges, Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO
2022 Sharif Bey: Facets, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Colonial Ruptures, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada
2021 Sharif Bey: Excavations, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Sharif Bey: Revelations in Power, albertz benda, New York, NY
2019 Sharif Bey: Intuitions, Fault Lines, and Musings, Concept Art Gallery,
Pittsburgh, PA
2018 Renwick Invitational: Disrupting Craft (24 works displayed), Renwick
Gallery Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Sharif Bey: Dialogues in Clay and Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Center,
Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Sharif Bey: Lived History and Cultural Memory, Baltimore Clayworks,
Baltimore, MD
2015 Sharif Bey: Recent Works, Allegany Arts Council, Cumberland, MD
2014 Food for Thought, Touchstone Center for Crafts, Farmington, PA
Obsessions, Coastal Carolina Community College, Jacksonville, NC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Recent Acquisitions, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Peace, Power, and Prestige; The Metal Arts in Africa, Bard Graduate
Center, New York, NY
2022 New Arrivals, Belger Art Center, Kansas City, MO
Endless Summer, albertz benda, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Sharif Bey, Eddy Kamuanga, Pat Phillips, Michael Ray Charles, Kathia
St. Hilaire, Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg City, LU
THIS IS AMERICA, Kunstraum Potsdam, Berlin, DE
2020 Fragmented Bodies, albertz benda gallery, New York, NY
2019 The Pittsburgh Anthology, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Conjuring Wholeness in the Wake of Rupture, De Buck Gallery/1-54
Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, NY
Afrocosmologies, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
2018 Art in the Embassies, Jakarta, Indonesia (Invited Commission and
Permanent Installation)
Making a Difference, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Visual Voices, Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Making it in Crafts, The Art Museum of LaFayette, LaFayette, IN
Crafting Resistance, Boise State University Museum, Boise, ID
2016 Art in the Embassies, Kampala, Uganda
Tribute to the Harlem Renaissance: Works from the Permanent
Collection, The Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
2014 Conceal/Reveal: New Work from the Faculty of the College of Visual
and Performing Arts, SU Galleries, Syracuse University, NY
ARTS/INDUSTRY: Collaboration and Revelation, John Michael Kohler
Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
Collector's Choice: Inside the Hearts and Minds of Regional
Collectors, The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens,
Jacksonville, FL
INVITED LECTURER
2022 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Gardiner Museum, Toronto, CA
2021 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2019 University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
College Art Association, New York, NY
The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Washington, DC
2018 Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
Germana Community College, Fredericksburg, VA
2017 George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
2016 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA)
annual conference, Demonstrator, Kansas City, MO
2015 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
171 Cedar Arts Center, Corning, NY
Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Onslow County Schools, Day of the Arts, Jacksonville, NC
Coastal Carolina Community College, Jacksonville, NC
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2010 Community College of Alleghany County-Boyce Campus,
Monroeville, PA
2009 Hunter College, New York, NY
Taylor Gallery, SUNY Oswego, NY
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston Salem, NC
2008 The McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC
Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
The James Michener Museum of Art, Doylestown, PA
Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University,
Greensboro, NC
Tidewater Community College, Virginia Beach, VT
2007 California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA
The Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2022 Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Summer 2022 Artist in
Residence, Helena, MT
2021 Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Summer 2021 Artist in
Residence, Helena, MT
2017 Pittsburgh Glass Center, Idea Furnace, Spring 2017-Spring 2018
Artist in Residence, Pittsburgh, PA
The Union Project, Spring 2017-Spring 2018 Artist in Residence,
Pittsburgh, PA
2014 John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Arts and Industry, Spring 2014
Artist in Residence, Sheboygan, WI
2009 Hunter College, Summer 2009 Artist in Residence, New York, NY
Vermont Studio Center, Summer 2009 Artist in Residence,
Johnson, VT
2007 McColl Center for Visual Arts, Fall 2007 Artist in Residence,
Charlotte, NC
2003 The Academy of Fine Arts and Design, 2003-2004 Artist in
Residence, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
2002 The University of Kentucky, Fall 2002 Artist in Residence,
Lexington, KY
AWARDS,GRANTS & HONORS
2022 USA Fellowship, United States Artist, Chicago, IL
2019 Seinfeld Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement, Syracuse
University, NY
Faculty Award for Research Excellence, College of Visual and
Performing Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Conrad Nelson Fellowship, Millersville University, Millersville, PA
2018 Pollock-Krasner Award, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY
2017 New York Foundation on the Arts- Fellowship awardee in the
Crafts/Sculpture category
2014 John Michael Kohler Art Center- Residency Program fellowship,
Sheboygan, WI
2011 Slovak Academic Information Agency, National Scholarship for
Faculty Teaching and Research, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
2008 Winston Salem Arts Council, Regional Artist Grant Recipient
North Carolina Arts Council, Arts in Education/Artist in Residence
Vermont Studio Center, Civil Society Institute Artist Fellowship,
Johnson, VT