Sharif Bey completed his residency at the Kohler Arts Center, invited as part of a select group of artists returning to the factory for a second residency in celebration of the Arts/Industry's fiftieth anniversary.
Since 1974, over five hundred artists have participated in the Arts Center’s Arts/Industry residency. The program offers artists the time and space to focus on the creation of new work in the company’s pottery and foundry studios, encouraging experimental art making on the factory floor.
10 years ago in his residency proposal, Bey wrote, "Although my works are created in proximity to the body in a small intimate studio, they are designed to activate large spaces... I am interested in pushing the boundaries of scale beyond the object itself and into the realm of installation art."
A decade later, Sharif continues to further his original goal of creating large-scale installations with ambitious, multi-media sculptures like Domestic: Queen (2024), belonging to the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Sharif began experimenting with slip-casting molds and high-fire clay during his previous residency at the factory in 2014. These techniques have become integral to his artistic practice and have resulted in the creation of forms seen in his Adornment works. Pieces from the series are now collected by prestigious institutions including the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX; and Dallas Museum of Art, TX.
