Join independent curator and writer ESSENCE HARDEN and artist JUNE EDMONDS as they discuss Edmonds’s practice and current solo exhibition “Allegiances & Convictions,” on view through June 29, 2019 at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
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June Edmonds is a painter, public artist, and teaching artist. She has exhibited widely at venues including the California African American Museum, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, the Luckman Fine Art Gallery at CalState Los Angeles, and the Watts Tower Art Center in Los Angeles, CA; the Angels Gate Art Center in San Pedro, CA; Manhattan Beach Art Center in Manhattan Beach, CA; and Kenise Barnes Fine Art Gallery in New York, NY. Edmonds has completed several works of public art with the city of Los Angeles and the Department of Cultural Affairs, including an installation at the MTA Pacific Station in Long Beach, CA. Edmonds has been the recipient of several residencies and awards, including a 2018 City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Grant (COLA); a California Arts Council Individual Artist Grant; Paducah Artist Residency in Kentucky; Helene Wurlitzer Foundation artist residency in Taos, NM; and Dorland Mountain Community artist residency in Temecula, CA. Edmonds received her MFA from Tyler School of Art, a Bachelors degree from San Diego State University, and has attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Essence Harden is an Independent Curator based in Los Angeles and Ph.D. Candidate (UC Berkeley). Essence has curated exhibitions at California African American Museum (CAAM), Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Charlie James Gallery, Antenna Gallery (New Orleans), The Advocate and Gochis Galleries, and Residency Art Gallery (Inglewood). Their writing has appeared in LALA, Performa Magazine, Curate LA, and SFAQ: International Arts and Culture, amongst other publications. Essence is a recipient of The 2018 Creative Capital, Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Program Grant.
