Steve Prince

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Biography:

Steve A. Prince is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and he currently resides in Williamsburg, Virginia.  He is the Director of Engagement and Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Muscarelle Museum at William and Mary.  Prince received his BFA from Xavier University of Louisiana and his MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Michigan State University.  Prince is a mixed media artist, master printmaker, lecturer, educator, and art evangelist.  He has taught middle school, high school, community college, 4-year public and 4-year private, and has conducted workshops internationally in various media. 

He has worked with several churches of various denominations across the nation spreading a message of hope and renewal philosophically rooted in the cathartic nature of the Jazz Funerary tradition of New Orleans.  To Prince, art media is like languages to a linguist as he adeptly tithers between two-dimensional and three-dimensional artistic practices while working with virtually every age bracket and multiple ethnicities.  He is represented by Eyekons Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Black Art in America in Columbus, Georgia, and Zucot Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia.  Prince has created several public works including an 8’ x 8’ mixed media work titled “Lemonade: A Picture of America” at William and Mary commemorating the first 3 African American resident students in 1967 at the college, a 15’ stainless steel kinetic sculpture titled “Song for John” located in Hampton, Virginia and a 4’ x 32’ communal woodcut titled, “Links,” commemorating the 400^th anniversary of 1619 and the first documented Africans at Point Comfort (Hampton, Virginia.) 

Prince has received several honors for his art and scholarship including the 2010 Teacher of the Year award from the City of Hampton.  Prince has shown his art internationally in various solo, group, and juried exhibitions.  He has participated in several residencies including Artist in Residence at Segura Arts Center at Notre Dame University, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, the Atlanta Printmakers Studio, and the University of Iowa to name a few.

Artist Statement:

My studio practice is centered on research, oral stories, and sketching. Philosophically I have created work in various media through the Jazz funerary tradition from New Orleans. The Jazz funeral is broken into two parts: the Dirge and the Second Line. The Dirge is the mournful portion of the funeral and participants are encouraged to express emotionally for the deceased through the energy exerted by the musicians.  Once the body is laid to rest, the once mournful tune is translated into a celebratory tune called the Second Line. The musicians create an atmosphere of celebration, and the people are encouraged to mourn no more because the loss does not have to suffer anymore, they are in a better place. It is my belief that we can use the tenets of the Dirge and the Second Line to grapple with social issues and concerns. The Dirge is synonymous with the deeper social concerns we must confront collectively without fear, and it is my belief that if we confront those issues, we can experience a Second Line while we are alive.

I approach media as a linguist approaches language.  I am not simply interested in creating work that makes commentary about the societal ills, I am interested in creating work that helps us to look back like the mythical Sankofa bird, in order that we may move forward and collectively work toward creating a more just societal structure that is not fixated on race constructions, but upon a foundation that recognizes that difference is not an evil. We are one body. I have utilized printmaking as one of my primary mediums because I am able to make multiples to disseminate the message.  Woodcuts, Linoleum Cuts, and Lithographs become a beautiful language to encapsulate a poly-narrative of symbols and metaphors that challenge the viewer to sift through the work to construct meaning, understanding, and prompts for communal action. I am using a method of art that some critics may consider to be dying, but I contend that making art with a message that operates in drawing us closer as a people, is connected to nobility that will never die.