Joyce J. Scott is a mixed-media sculptress who constructs sophisticated bead sculptures incorporating glass, clay, fabric swatches, and found objects that address social topics including racism, violence, and gender inequality. Her work scales from a human-worn neckpiece to a ceiling-high installation. Her work has been exhibited over sixty times in the U.S. as well as Europe, Africa, and Asia.

A lifelong Maryland native, Scott incorporates her family narratives into her art. While teaching in South Africa, Mexico, and Italy, she applied local aesthetic in her work. “My influences are generally cultural,” says Scott. “For me it’s important to impute the work with something that will resonate and follow somebody home.”

Joyce J. Scott is an active leader in Baltimore, promoting creative spaces for the local community. “There was also the fact of seeing black people in the museum – not only as guards and maintenance workers, but also showing their work, working in the education department, the curatorial department, hanging out, part of the community. It’s got to be more of a collective experience. That’s important,” says Scott.

Scott holds a bachelor of fine arts from Maryland Institute College of Art, and a master of fine arts from the Instituto Allende in Mexico. She has received honors from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2016 Baker Artist Awards, and most recently a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship. She has exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Applied Arts in Helsinki, and the Meguro Museum of Art in Tokyo.