Baker Artist Awards - Baltimore Museum of Art

A quilt depicting two adults with dark skin who appear to be women swimming underwater with fish and other sea life. A sailboat with ten silhouetted figures and full white sails floats above them in the background.

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This quilt made with fabric, thread, acrylic, crystal glass beads, and shells depicts two adult figures with dark skin swimming underwater with fish and other sea life. The swimmer on the right leads the other by holding their hand and swimming forward while looking back reassuringly. The leading figure wears a women’s red-and-white-striped, short, unitard-style swimsuit and a white swim cap. The swimmer on the left wears a red women’s swimsuit with yellow polka dots and a white swim cap. A sailboat with ten silhouetted figures and full white sails floats above them in the background, and a sandy beach with palm trees is in the middle ground. The sun is surrounded by a bright blue sky and is low on the horizon, reflecting on the water, suggesting early morning or late afternoon.

Stephen Towns
Date:
2024
Medium:
Natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, acrylic and crystal glass beads, shells

These works by Stephen Towns depict Paradise Park in Ocala, Florida. Opened in 1949 on May 20—Emancipation Day in Florida—Paradise Park was one of the few vacation spots open to African Americans in the United States at the time and quickly became one of the most popular. Drawing from extensive archival research and photographs, Towns introduces the visitors of Paradise Park through richly textured and vibrant quilts and paintings. Despite segregation and discrimination outside Paradise Park, these works represent African Americans freely at play and in moments of leisure.

Towns was born in 1980 in Lincolnville, South Carolina, and lives and works in Baltimore. He is a trained painter with a B.F.A. in studio art from the University of South Carolina and has also developed a rigorous, self-taught quilting practice. Alternating between media practices, Towns mines archives and family stories to explore African American history.

Courtesy Art Bridges BMA