Bio
Bethani Blake (b. 1999) is an artist, curator, and educator based in West New York, New Jersey. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she received her B.F.A in Painting and Performing Arts at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2021 and has exhibited work in group and solo exhibitions throughout Connecticut, Georgia, and Ohio. Upon graduating from SCAD, Blake began working in museums and art centers such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art where she most recently held the title of Associate Curator for the African Diaspora and stewarded the permanent collection through scholarly research, organized exhibitions, and managed an artist residency for teen photographers. Blake has recently relocated the New York City area to focus on her studio practice.
Artist Statement
I translate a present day world bridging personal nostalgia with current interests through recontextualizing appropriated and personal imagery. Growing up biracial in the American Midwest, I was surrounded by iconography and other paraphernalia specific to American culture and first-world consumption. With conflicting agency as a consequence of existing between contradictory circumstances, I choose to acknowledge this tension which drives me to depict my experiences in American society with subject matter related to globalization and popular culture.
My practice involves the systematic curation of visual information which is accessed through the Internet and interpersonal communication. From subculture to video games, fandom, and social commentary, I create physically layered work which investigates my relationship to the imagery. I am most interested in the collapse of time, how information intersects conceptually, and the irony of my position in the work I am investigating.
C/V
Education
Savannah College of Art and Design 2021
BFA - Painting & Performing Arts
Professional Experience
Service Representative | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2025 - present)
Associate Curator for the African Diaspora | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (2024-25)
Programs Manager for the African Diaspora | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (2023-24)
Curatorial Intern | Wexner Center for the Arts (2022-23)
Exhibitions, Programs, and Public Presentations
2025 In Conversation: On the Consideration of the Black Grid with Silas Munro, University of Hartford
Real Wall: Bethani Blake, Real Art Ways
2024 Thicker Than Water | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Ming Smith: Wind Chime | Wexner Center for the Arts
Styling Identites: Hair’s Tangled Histories | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Made Visible: Origins in Belonging | Creative Arts Workshop
There is Always Something Left to Love | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
2023 SNAP! Photography (2023-present) | The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Sahar Khoury: UMM | Wexner Center for the Arts
AFROgenius | The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Breaking the Mold: A Survey of Women’s Art | The King Arts Complex
Anna Tsouhlarakis: The Native Guide Project: Columbus | Wexner Center for the Arts
There’s a Space For All of Us | Westerville Arts Council & Otterbein University
2022 That’s a Wrap! | Gutstein Gallery | SCAD
Black Joy: Expansive, Unfiltered, Unapologetic | The Ohio State University
In Conversation with Katharina Grosse and Dan Cameron | SCAD
2021Drawing Works | Alexander Hall, SCAD
Fragments | 400 West Rich Gallery
Hinterland Tour and Artist Talk with Andrew K. Shepherd | Instagram Live
B.F.A Senior Showcase | SCAD
2020UNdefineD Art | CUMSHOT Collective
Open Studio (Spring) | SCAD
Read, Watch, Listen | Wexner Center for the Arts
Open Studio (Fall) | SCAD
Artist Residencies
2026 Alumni Atelier | Lacoste, France | Savannah College of Art and Design
Awards
2021 Summa Cum Laude | Savannah College of Art and Design
Honorable Mention | B.F.A Senior Showcase | Savannah College of Art and Design
Dean’s List (2017 thru 2021) | Savannah College of Art and Design
Publications and Press
2025 Tour a Hudson Valley Cottage That Embraces Weirdness, Architectural Digest
2024 The Griot (Fall/Winter 2024), The Amistad Center for Art & Culture
Thicker Than Water, The Amistad Center for Art & Culture
2024 How Hair Weaves Us Together | Hyperallergic
New Curatorial Role for Bethani Blake at Amistad Center | Culture Type
Weston Makes Belonging Visible at CAW | Arts Council of Greater New Haven
Native American Artist Anna Tsouhlarakis unveils 'The Native Guide Project: Columbus’, The Lantern
2022 Wexner Center for the Arts Winter-Spring Exhibitions Press Release
Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet As It’s Kept | Credits/Staff