Join us every Wednesday at the downtown public Library from 4-6PM and Saturday at the CAC from 1-3PM for our Artist-in-Residence program where artist Ciara LeRoy will practice their art alongside the general public, educating and inspiring along the way!
Residency Theme: SECRET WORDS
From the early days of written language to now, humans have found creative ways to obscure or hide the things we just can’t (or shouldn’t) say out loud. Mysterious symbols and characters. Invisible ink. Tiny words inside of lockets. Scribbled notes folded into small paper packages that silently pass between hands in a classroom. Sometimes you need to send a message, but you just can’t be so obvious about it…
During the “Secret Words” residency, visitors will explore what it means to “say the quiet part out loud” and give new life to things left unsaid while learning hand embroidery, acrylic painting, and color blocking techniques from artist-in-residence, Ciara LeRoy. Using these techniques, visitors will create their own camouflaged messages as they examine how color value, contrast, pattern, and saturation affect a message’s reach and meaning.
Ciara LeRoy is a multidisciplinary artist and designer primarily focused on text-based works. Her work examines wealth inequality, systemic injustices, pop culture, and mental health through the lens of her experience as a Black queer woman raised in the Midwest. A lifelong love of media informs the eye-catching, color-saturated, and word-based nature of most of her work. Her work has been featured by Insider, Better Homes & Gardens, and Frankie Magazine and some of her past clients & collaborators include Penguin Random House, Madewell, Boxed Water, and Uncommon Goods. Ciara has exhibited at several galleries in the South & Midwest, including the Lexington Art League and Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center in Lexington, Kentucky, and the Clifton Cultural Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
This program is financially assisted by Institute of Museum and Library Services