Isis Davis-Marks is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in New York City. Her artwork has been exhibited at the Yale School of Art and La Loma Projects gallery, and she regularly contributes illustrations to the Rumpus. Her writing has been published in Artsy, smithsonianmag.com, Elephant and a number of other places. Through the use of paint, drawings, text, and fabric, Isis explores different materials in order to tell stories about identity, everyday moments, femininity, race and class. When she embroiders, Isis uses optical color mixing in order to create color gradients and the illusion of light and shadow. Right now, she’s experimenting with different supplies including fabric dye, embroidery thread and collage because she loves texture.
Vibraphone master and songwriter Joel Ross has adopted an entire ethos dependent on truthful, ongoing communication. A Blue Note artist of critically acclaimed releases KingMaker (2019) and Who Are You? (2020), he regularly tops the DownBeat Critics Poll for his work in the broad lineage of Black music that pulls from jazz, hip hop, church and Chicago improvised music. Now based in Brooklyn, Ross has collaborated with Makaya McCraven, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Maria Grand, Kassa Overall, Nicole Mitchell, Gerald Clayton, Melissa Aldana, Walter Smith III, Wynton Marsalis and Marquis Hill, and performed as a leader at Smalls Jazz Club, Umbria Jazz Festival, Winter Jazz Fest, Newport Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s Club, The Blue Whale, North Sea Jazz Festival, Bimhuis, and The Village Vanguard