Derrick Adams

Derrick Adams (1970- ) is an artist working across painting, sculpture, collage, performance, video, and public art. Much of his work centers on Black joy and leisure. His recognizable style comprises angular and flat bold colors. In 2022, he established Charm City Cultural Cultivation, a non-profit organization to support and encourage underserved communities in Baltimore through events conducted by three entities: The Last Resort Artist Retreat, a residency program that subscribes to the concept of leisure as therapy for the Black creative; The Black Baltimore Digital Database, a collaborative counter-institutional space for collecting, storing, and safekeeping the data of local archival initiatives; and Zora’s Den, an online and in-person community of Black women writers, including a writers’ circle, and a monthly reading series that strive to promote instruction, support, and social engagement.  Adams received his BFA at Pratt Institute and his MFA at Columbia University