The wall works of Kesha Bruce are less discrete executions of a concerted vision than the steady accumulation of a long creative process. Referred to by the artist simply as paintings, these mixed-media compositions are in fact patchworks of painted fabric, individually selected from Bruce’s vast archive and pasted directly onto the canvas in a textile collage that can sometimes resemble a quilt. The result of a slow and perpetual artistic method, each work represents hours of treatment, selection and juxtaposition until the whole becomes manifestly greater than its parts. Bruce’s process ends with her titling of each work: a poetic articulation of what the work is at this point capable of expressing for itself.

Kesha Bruce (b. 1975, Iowa) Born and raised in Iowa, she completed a BFA from the University of Iowa before earning an MFA in painting from Hunter College in New York City. Kesha Bruce has been awarded fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), The Vermont Studio Center, The CAMAC Foundation and the Puffin Foundation. Her work is included in the collections of The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture (14 pieces), The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, The University of Iowa Women's Center, The En Foco Photography Collection and MOMA's Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection. She has been represented by Morton Fine Art since 2011.

KESHA BRUCE

Arizona, b. USA

EDUCATION
M.F.A. Hunter College CUNY, New York, NY
B.F.A. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

SELECTED SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2022 Take Me to the Water, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2020 We Can Birth Worlds, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2018 Weapons for Spiritual Warfare, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2017 Sanctuary, Artology, Seattle, WA

2015 Magic Spells & Reminders, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2014 The Guardians (A Continuing Series), Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2013 The Guardians, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2012 Wrestling With Angels, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2011 (Re)calling and (Re)telling, Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC

2011       (Re)calling and (Re)telling. North Central College Oesterle Gallery, Naperville, IL., USA.
2009       Drawings & Paintings by Kesha Bruce and Julia Dorado. Galerie d'YS, Brussels, Belgium.
2008       The Girl Who Became an Eagle.   La Galerie Culture Plastique. Metz, France.
             New Work: Kesha Bruce & Kayla Steel. Atelier Deux Mondes, Metz, France.
2004:      Voices & Stories. L.N.D. Artists Space, Rochester, NY., USA.
2003:      Image/Vision/Word. Inkblotz Studio Gallery, Geneva, NY. , USA.
2002:      Self/Portrait. Flow Galleria, Vancouver BC, Canada.
2001:      Making My Own Reflection. Hunter College Time Square Gallery, New York, NY. , USA.
1997:      Picturing Femininity. The University of Iowa Women's Center, Iowa City, IA. , USA.

Artwork