Skip to content

Selected Works

This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "Is Somebody Gonna Match My Freak? Is Somebody Gonna Match My Nasty?!." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 80" x 60" [HxW] (203.2 x 152.4 cm). Its medium is Jacquard woven textiles, with hand-sewn fabric and sequins, beads.
April Bey
“Is Somebody Gonna Match My Freak? Is Somebody Gonna Match My Nasty?!,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "I KNOW ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 80" x 240" [HxW] (203.2 x 609.6 cm). Its medium is Jacquard, sherpa, crushed velour, metallic thread, beads, adorned clothespins.
April Bey
"I KNOW ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "And They Still Have Genders, They Walk Around with Limited Personalities, Aggressively Boring." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 80" x 60" [HxW] (203.2 x 152.4 cm). Its medium is Jacquard woven textiles, with hand-sewn fabric and sequins, beads.
April Bey
"And They Still Have Genders, They Walk Around with Limited Personalities, Aggressively Boring", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "COLONIAL SWAG: Regulate the Mosquito that Bit Your Lip Before You Regulate Who I Can Love." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 48" x 36" [HxW] (121.92 x 91.44 cm). Its medium is Canvas, sherpa and woven jacquard textile hand sewn into resin, glitter on canvas.
April Bey
"COLONIAL SWAG: Regulate the Mosquito that Bit Your Lip Before You Regulate Who I Can Love", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "Pineapple Afrovenus Sherbet IIII." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 24" x 20" x 3" [HxWxD] (60.96 x 50.8 x 7.62 cm). Its medium is Crushed velour, metallic thread, resin on canvas.
April Bey
"Pineapple Afrovenus Sherbet IIII", 2023
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "The Divine Venus of Eleuthera: Teal, Camel, and Speculative Futurism Among the Growers." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 36" x 36" x 5" [HxWxD] (91.44 x 91.44 x 12.7 cm). Its medium is Canvas, resin, glitter (currency), crushed velour, cotton, metallic thread, yarn on panel.
April Bey
"The Divine Venus of Eleuthera: Teal, Camel, and Speculative Futurism Among the Growers", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "The Pineapple Venus of Eleuthera's Magical Blue Holes." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 36" x 36" x 5" [HxWxD] (91.44 x 91.44 x 12.7 cm). Its medium is Canvas, resin, glitter (currency), crushed velour, cotton, metallic thread, yarn on panel.
April Bey
"The Pineapple Venus of Eleuthera's Magical Blue Holes", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "ENTER BIG GOD'S BED! Man's on His Knees Giving BIG GOD Head." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 60" x 48" x 3 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (152.4 x 121.92 x 8.89 cm). Its medium is Canvas, resin, glitter (currency), crushed velour, jacquard, yarn, metallic cord on wood panel.
April Bey
"ENTER BIG GOD'S BED! Man's on His Knees Giving BIG GOD Head", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "COLONIAL SWAG: If We Can Do Both Why Don't We Just Do Both?!." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 60" x 48" x 4" [HxWxD] (152.4 x 121.92 x 10.16 cm). Its medium is Canvas, resin, glitter (currency), crushed velour, jacquard, yarn, metallic cord on wood panel.
April Bey
"COLONIAL SWAG: If We Can Do Both Why Don't We Just Do Both?!", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "Calathea Crotalus Cerastes I." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 24" x 24" x 3 ³⁄₄" [HxWxD] (60.96 x 60.96 x 9.53 cm). Its medium is Jacquard, crushed velour, glitter, resin, metallic thread, on canvas.
April Bey
"Calathea Crotalus Cerastes I", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "Though They Possess the Power to Read, They do Very Little of This Life-Sustaining Task." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 85" x 57" [HxW] (215.9 x 144.78 cm). Its medium is Woven textile, sherpa, metallic thread, glitter.
April Bey
"Though They Possess the Power to Read, They do Very Little of This Life-Sustaining Task", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "They Don't Even Wear Stretchy Pants When They Eat Fat Food." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 48 ³⁄₄" x 36 ³⁄₄" x 4 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (123.83 x 93.35 x 11.43 cm). Its medium is CMYK halftone hand-printed image transfer, watercolor, hand-sewn crushed velour on gessoboard sewn (framed) into fur wrapped wood panel.
April Bey
"They Don't Even Wear Stretchy Pants When They Eat Fat Food", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "ATLANTICA MAGAZINE: Use Racists' Tears to Moisturize Your Locs!." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 32" x 28" x 2 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (81.28 x 71.12 x 6.35 cm). Its medium is CMYK halftone hand-printed image transfer, watercolor on gessoboard hand-sewn into metalic vinyl wrapped wood panel.
April Bey
"ATLANTICA MAGAZINE: Use Racists' Tears to Moisturize Your Locs!", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "COLONIAL SWAG: Here's to You and Here's to Us, if it Weren't for Pussy, Our Pussy Would Rust!." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 48" x 36" x 3 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (121.92 x 91.44 x 8.89 cm). Its medium is Canvas, crushed velour and woven jacquard textile hand sewn into resin, glitter on panel.
April Bey
"COLONIAL SWAG: Here's to You and Here's to Us, if it Weren't for Pussy, Our Pussy Would Rust!", 2024
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "When Your Limit is the Sky, I'm on Another Planet and You Just Fly." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 110" x 144" [HxW] (279.39 x 365.76 cm). Its medium is Water-based latex paint, watercolor, hand-sewn fabric, glitter, sequins.
April Bey
"When Your Limit is the Sky, I'm on Another Planet and You Just Fly", 2022
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "Love Me Or Give Me Red Wine." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 36" x 36" x 1 ⁵⁄₈" [HxWxD] (91.44 x 91.44 x 4.14 cm). Its medium is Canvas, sherpa and woven jacquard textile hand sewn into resin, glitter on wood panel.
April Bey
"Love Me Or Give Me Red Wine", 2023
This image depicts an artwork by April Bey titled "Your Failure is Not a Victory for Me." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 110" x 72" [HxW] (279.39 x 182.88 cm). Its medium is Watercolor, graphite, acrylic paint, digitally printed/woven textiles, hand sewing.
April Bey
"Your Failure is Not a Victory for Me", 2022

Exhibitions

1987
Bahamian/American, Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
2014
MFA, California State University Northridge, CA
2009
BFA, Ball State University, Muncie, IN

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024
"I See All The Way Back to Where I’m Supposed to See," Tern Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas (forthcoming)
"We Insist Upon Ourselves, In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe," Two Person Show with Kim Dacres, UTA, Atlanta, GA (forthcoming)
"I Know All About What You Want to Know All About," Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA
"Atlantican Opulencscapes Part II," Pasadena City College, Los Angeles, CA
"Atlantican Opulencscapes," Glendale Community College, Los Angeles, CA
2023
"Atlantica: The Gilda Region," Nevada Museum of Art, Reno NV
2022
"I Believe in Why I’m Here," Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK
"Colonial Swag," Tern Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas
"When You’re on Another Planet and They Just Fly," Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"The Opulent Blerd," Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
"Intersections: Where Art & Activism Meet," Scalehouse Gallery, Bend, OR
2021
"April Bey: Atlantica, The Gilda Region," The California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2020
"April Bey, UNTITLED ART ONLINE," UPFOR Gallery, Portland, OR
"Welcome to Atlantica," Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA
2018
"Made in Space," Band of Vices Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017
"COMPLY," Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA
2014
"Picky Head," Liquid Courage Art Gallery, New Providence, Nassau, Bahamas

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
"Crafting The Future/The Shape Of Water," Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA (forthcoming)
"REALMS," Carl Freedman Gallery, London, UK (forthcoming)
"I'd Love To See You," Juxtapoz 30th Anniversary Show at Rusha & Co, Los Angeles, CA
"The Golden Thread," BravinLee Programs, New York, NY
"Poly/Graphic Triennial," Institute de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
"Backstage Engelberg," Engelberg, Switzerland
"Surrealism and Us: Caribbean African Diasporic Artists Since 1950," The Modern Forth Worth, Fort Worth, TX
2023
"UNTITLED," TERN Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas
“The Threads We Follow,” The Southwestern Center for Contemporary Art, NC
“(En)gendered Agency”, LH Horton Jr. Gallery, Stockton, CA
“The Speed of Grace,” Simões de Assis Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
“ROOTED,” Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center, Anaheim, CA
“WITNESS,” WACO Theater Center, Los Angeles, CA
“We Are Enough,” 193 Gallery, Paris, France
“Queer Threads,” San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose, CA
“Weaving Data,” Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland State University, Portland, OR
“A Love Letter to LA,” PHILLIPS, Los Angeles, CA
“A Room Full of Mirrors”, Fragment Gallery, New York, NY
2022
“TEXT MESSAGES,” Grace Ross Shanley Gallery, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT
“New Pop Stars,” 21C Museum Hotel Chicago, Chicago, IL
“HAIRTAGE: Continuum,” Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, CA
“Common Ground: Artists Reimaging Community,” California Lutheran University Art Gallery, Thousand Oaks, CA
“Portraits of Metro Riders,” LA Metro, Los Angeles, CA
“Adornment Artifact,” The Getty, Los Angeles, CA
“Louder Now,” Fragment Gallery, Moscow, Russia (online)
“Salt to Catch Ghosts,” Slash Arts, San Francisco, CA
“Language in the Times of Miscommunication,” Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ
“Cantos of the Sibylline Sisterhood,” Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
“Terms of Endearment”, Hilger Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2021
“She Says: Women, Words, and Power in Art,” Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA
“HAIRTAGE: Tangled,” Twisted & Black, Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, CA
“TEXTURES: The History and Art of Black Hair,” Kent State Museum, Kent, OH
“Floating Rib,” The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas
2020
“Show Me the Signs," Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
“INVOCATION DEMOCRACY: A Political and Mystical Virtual Exhibition,” Presented by Pro Arts Commons
“Nasty Women,” Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“SPACELAND IV WAR,” Bermudez Projects, Los Angeles, CA
“Access,” Reflect Space Gallery, Glendale, CA
“Sanctuary,” California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
“Breathe/Breath,” Seer Virtual Gallery curated by: The Association of Hysteric Curators
2019
“Welcome to the AfroFuture,” New Orleans African American Museum, New Orleans, LA
“Dear Lucy,” UPFOR Gallery, Portland, OR
“Black, Brown and Beige,” Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
“From the Head to the Heart,” The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT
“Atlantica,” Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
“LA Painting Survey,” Museum of Art History, Lancaster, CA
“BLACK HISTORY 365,” University of La Verne College of Law, Ontario, CA
“AMERICAN,” Golden West College Art Gallery, Huntington Beach, CA
“Black on Black III,” Raleigh Arts, Raleigh, NC
“NE9: The Fruit and the Seed,” The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas
2018
Shika Shika Art Fair, Brazil House Gallery, Accra, Ghana
Visual Resistance, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA
Glendale Community College Faculty Exhibition, Glendale, CA
“Back to Black,” Avenue 50 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Eye Forward,” Curating Our Narratives, Fresno State University, Fresno, CA
“Dis...Miss,” Freewaves Los Angeles, CA
“Eyes Forward,” LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
“MANIFESTO: A Moderate Proposal,” Pitzer College Art Gallery, Claremont, CA
2017
“The Fabulous 7,” Feral Projects, Los Angeles, CA
“Dis...Miss,” Freewaves, Los Angeles, CA
"CHALE WOTE," Jamestown, Ghana
"ICONIC: Black Panther," Gregorio Escalante Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
"NE8," The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas
"Shift and Fade," BLAM Projects, Los Angeles, CA
"Dis...Miss," Freewaves, Los, Angeles, CA
"Reflections on the Self: Selections from the Permanent Collection," California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
"SKIN," Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015
"Colored Girls," Autonomie Projects, Los Angeles, CA
"Hard Edged: Geometric Abstraction and Beyond," The California Africa American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
"CA 101," Redondo Beach Power Plant, Redondo Beach, CA
"Out of Nothing," Glen Echo Park Gallery, Washington DC
"We Choose Art: A Feminist Perspective," Los Angeles, CA
"50 Years and I Still Can’t Breathe," Watts Towers Arts Center, Watts, Los Angeles, CA
"Pulse of LA," Southern California Women’s Caucus of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2014
"Fresh," South Bay Contemporary, Southbay, CA
"Antillean: An Ecology (NE7)," National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas
"GLAMFA," California State University, Long Beach, CA
"#Whodoyouworship?," Graduate Thesis Show, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA

Bibliography

2024
Boucher, Brian. "Why Fiber Art Is (Still) Having a Moment as Prices and Recognition Continue to Climb," Artnet, June 18 (Link)
Carlo, Pier. "April Bey," Thomas S. Kenan Institute For The Arts, March 18 (Link)
Pasadena Now Staff. "PCC Galleries Unveils Dazzling Exploration Of Afrofuturism By Bahamian Artist," The Pasadena Now, March 10,
Novoa, Gabriel. "April Bey’s ‘Atlantica’: An alien planet with a human story," PCC Courier, March 18 (Link)
2023
Modern Luxury Dallas Magazine Staff. "State Of The Arts: 9 Visual Artists Leading The Cultural Conversation Right Now," Modern Luxury Dallas Magazine, November 15 (Link)
Morrison, Alexander. "In pictures: focus on Caribbean artists," The Art Newspaper, December 8 (Link)
"Wide-Eyed and Dreaming—A Season of Seeing in Four Acts," e-flux, October 28
"TERN Gallery at The Armory Show 2023," Artsy, September 8
"Wide-Eyed And Dreaming: A Season of Seeing at the Nevada Museum of Art," Nevada Today, August 29
Bean, Jason. "Artist April Bey talks about fantasy and undercover aliens in "Atlantica, The Gilda Region"," Reno Gazette Journal, August 28
Holmes, Brent. "Q+A with April Bey," Double Scoop, August 21 (Link)
2022
Bochicchio, Sarah. "Thriving on Atlantica: April Bey & her Speculative Futurism," Art&Object, September 15
Eddy Frankel. "April Bey: ‘I Believe in Why I'm Here," Time Out, September 8
Donoghue, Katy. "April Bey Brings the Story of Atlantica to The Bahamas and Beyond," Whitewall, August 3
2023
Jackson, Leigh-Ann. "‘Few people ask us what we think about ourselves’: This L.A. art show elevates Black women and nonbinary artists," The LA Times, May 8
2022
Orozco, Jonathan. "On Atlantica: April Bey’s Utopian Planet," Whitehot Magazine, May
Lawrence, Gabrielle. "Brimming with Lush Texture, Mixed-Media Tapestries by April Bey Envision an Afrofuturist World," Colossal, May 5
Stromber, Matt and Elisa Wouk Almino. "Your Concise Los Angeles Art Guide for March 2022," February 28
Piejko, Jennifer. "Los Angeles: seven must-see shows on view now," Art Basel, Feb
2021
Ortiz, Maria Elena. "Colonial Swag Fashion: A Conversation between April Bey and María Elena Ortiz" Pérez Art Museum Miami, Caribbean Cultural Institute
Dexter, Henry. "April Bey Is an Emissary for the Unseen," Cultured Magazine, November 23

Teaching Experience

2015 - Present
Tenured Professor, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA
2015-2016
Inglewood Cultural Arts Instructor, Inglewood, CA
2014-2015
Adjunct Professor, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
Instructor, artworxla, Los Angeles, CA
Ryman Teaching Artist, Fullerton, CA
2012-2014
Adjunct Professor California, State University Northridge, CA

Visiting Artist/Lectures

2022
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA
Chadwick School, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
Kent State University, Kent, OH
Cypress College, Cypress, CA
2021
Cypress College, Cypress, CA
Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Pomona College, Pomona, CA
Glendale Hoover High, Glendale, CA
2020
University of the Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas
Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA
Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA
Women Painter’s West, Laguna Beach, CA
2019
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
University of Alaska, Anchorage, Anchorage, AK
Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, CA
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Chapman University, Orange, CA
2018
Art+Practice, Los Angeles, CA
The MAIN Museum, Los Angeles, CA
California African American Museum (CAAM), Los Angeles, CA

Residencies & Fellowships

2024
"UNION Fellowship," The Union for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
2020
Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
Fullerton College Artist in Residency, Fullerton, CA
2019
Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Artist in Residence, Norwalk, CT
Nkyinkyim za, Ada, Ghana
2018
The Current, Nassau, Bahamas
In-Flux Artist Residency, Ghana, West Africa
2017
In-Flux Artist Residency, Bali, Dubai, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana
CHALE WOTE, Jamestown, Ghana
2012
Can Serrat Artist in Residence, El Bruc, Spain

Awards & Grants

2020
Center for Cultural Innovation Artist Grant
2019
GCC Foundation Grant
Student Equity Grant
2017
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee
2015
Melvin Best Award
2014
CSUN Arts Council Award

Public Art Projects

2022
For Freedoms, Inglewood Mural
2021
Fringe Projects MiamiDesign District
Glendale Library Arts and Culture
2020
Destination Crenshaw Outdoor Museum Finalist
Census Campaign East LA: Make It Count!
LA METRO Willowbrook Through the Artist’s Eyes

Public and Private Collections

21C Museum Hotels
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT
The Current Bahamas Tradewinds, Marsh Harbour, Bahamas
Escalette Collection, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA
Inter-American Development Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
METRO Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas
Newfelds Indianapolis Art Museum, Indianapolis, IN
Self-Help Graphics, Boyle Heights, CA