Hot Shop Hot Nights with Adeye Jean-Baptiste
Date
Friday
Mar 29, 2024
Hot Shop Hot Nights
March 29, 2024 | 5-8 PM
The Hot Shop at Hilltop Heritage Middle School
During their week-long residency, renowned artists from the glass community set up in our hot shop, creating their own works, sharing with our students about their processes and experiences, and collaborating with Hilltop Artists.
The week culminates on Friday for our Hot Shop Hot Night, when we welcome our community to see the visiting artist and our young artists in action.
At Hot Shop Hot Nights, expect to see a professional glass artist working with and mentoring our advanced production students and alumni, creating spectacular collaborative pieces. The Gallery is open for shopping, and tea, hot cocoa, and coffee will be available.
This March, Adeye Jean-Baptiste is in residence at Hilltop Artists!
Adeye Jean-Baptiste is a recent graduate of Alfred University, where they received their BFA. Their work focuses on vehicular movement from the perspective of those who are non-native to a given space or place. The core of their practice, however, is rooted in community. This has led them to be a co-facilitator for the GEEX Community Table Group as well as co-creating Alfred University’s Black Glass Artist series.
Works by Adeye Jean-Baptiste. Photos courtesy of the artist.
Artist Statement
From an early age I was always on the go, hopping, running, jumping and later scooting, rolling, and zooming. This fascination with movement would become the crux of my artistic practice. I am fascinated by the movement of people, specifically across landscapes. Beyond the physical movement I am interested in why people migrate. Within my work I present a perspective of those who are non-native to the environment that they have traveled to or through. I draw from both personal as well as generational experience when building out my narratives. Aesthetically I am influenced by the cultures I grew up in such as graffiti, skate, and city. I am also influenced by the 1980s, the era in which my parents immigrated to the US. To match this aesthetic I draw from materials that have both a lived and conceptual history. I combined these seasoned objects with those that are newly formed to create cohesive installation work.
“The Alien” or “Star people” is a common motif within my work. The Alien becomes a metaphor for otherness. I use them as a way to tackle the challenges of movement in a non-direct way. While at first glance they may seem like these happy go lucky creatures when time is taken to peel back their visual layers there is something more. The wear and tear of their bodies capture a lived turmoil or the handmade knitted socks show that they were once deeply loved. It is these details that I use to really flesh out the deeper, more serious narrative.
