PITTSBURGH, February 10, 2026 - Artist, ceramicist and educator Dr. Sharif Bey will receive an award of $29,180 from the Eben Demarest Fund, a Pittsburgh Foundation fund. Dr. Bey is a Syracuse, New York-based artist who is also a professor of art at Syracuse University. Images of his work are available for media use.
The Demarest Fund supports the work of independent creative artists and archeologists from across the United States. Established in 1939 by Pittsburgh professor Elizabeth B. Demarest in her father’s name, the award program is one of the premier national honors for artists and archeologists. Demarest Fund awardees must have produced significant work in their fields and demonstrate special promise for future achievement.
Dr. Bey grew up in Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover neighborhood and has deep roots in the local arts community, beginning in 1988 when he spent four years in the apprenticeship program at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild on Pittsburgh’s North Side. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics from Slippery Rock University in 1998 and his Ph.D. in Art Education from Pennsylvania State University in 2007. (See his full resume.)
Dr. Bey’s research and studio practice probes how fetishism, racism, science fiction, and popular culture shape and often distort interpretations of so-called “non-Western” objects.
“I create objects that revisit and amalgamate multiple histories by locating and reclaiming literal and metaphorical fragments – some from my own maker-history, as well as refuse from post-industrial sites – including pottery shards, scrap metal, broken clay figures, photos and stories, while also incorporating historical fragments from African and Oceanic visual lexicons,” he said.
Dr. Bey's work has garnered a multitude of awards and inclusion in many high-profile exhibitions in world-class art museums. He envisions using the funds from the Demarest Award to pursue an arts-based research project, “Reimagining the Cityscape: African Americans and the City of Steel” that will examine the stories, images and objects associated with the lives of African Americans who worked in Pittsburgh’s mid-20th century factories and steel mills.”
The project involves oral history interviews, and archival research (at The University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh) as well as visits to historical facilities like the Carrie Blast Furnace located in Pittsburgh’s Swissvale neighborhood and RIDC Mill 19 in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood Green development. Dr. Bey ultimately plans to synthesize interpretations of these archives, site visits, and ensuing interviews to create a body of work in clay and cast iron that will commemorate the contributions of African Americans to Pittsburgh’s industrial history.
Since its establishment, at least 50 individuals have received the award. Past winners include painter Jackson Pollock (1948), poet Robert Duncan (1975), sculptor Carol Rubenstein (1979), painter Brendan O’Connell (2003), singer/poet Latasha Nevada Diggs (2008) and dancer/choreographer Kyle Abraham (2012). Abraham was also selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 2023. Most recently, Gavin Benjamin, Daniela Kovacic and Kennedy Yanko received the award in 2021.
From 1923 to 2009, the awards were overseen by a committee at a private foundation. In 2010, the fund came to The Pittsburgh Foundation. Awardees are now selected by a Pittsburgh-based committee.
