bio
Ky Vassor is a mixed media illustrator, curator, and muralist based in Baltimore. Their work focuses on self-preservation, healing of interpersonal communal trauma, and amplifying collective needs.
Vassor's career began in 2017 as an Assistant Art Teacher and freelance Illustrator with a deep commitment to co-curating exhibitions featuring underrepresented emerging artists in Baltimore. By 2020, Vassor was displaying their work in group exhibitions throughout Baltimore, holding intergenerational workshops, and being invited to facilitate seminars at conferences on community healing through the arts. In 2021, they curated the exhibition "The Coal Scuttle’s Legacy" at Motor House, which highlighted five emerging and established creatives in Baltimore who were carrying on queer muralist Tom Miller's legacy. The exhibit received a glowing review from The Afro Newspaper. Later that year, they were accepted into the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) for their ongoing community work.
In 2022, Vassor curated the exhibition "What's Left to Give?" and co-exhibited with Gen Fraser. The exhibition and its programming were highlighted in The Baltimore Beat. Later that year, Vassor co-facilitated a workshop at the National Arts Educators Conference Imagining America titled "Resistance, Resiliency, and Reparations: Arts-Based Rituals for Building Community," hosted by Tulane University. By early 2023, Vassor earned an MFA in Community Arts from MICA with an accompanying College-Level Arts Teaching Certification. For their thesis, they held a group exhibition inside Enoch Pratt Central Library that included various installations and interactive art-making activities throughout several departments of the institution for the first time in its history.
Vassor's recent work has involved marketing and administrative support on programming for the Banneker Douglass Museum and the Smithsonian American Museum of Art. Currently, the artist is the Gallery Manager at Galerie Myrtis, a guest lecturer at MICA, and working on collaborative art with communities across Baltimore.
General artist statement
Being a native of Baltimore, I have witnessed artists bring hope to residents and take on the responsibility of preserving community histories. In my work, I strive to carry on the tradition of esteemed creatives before me by using various forms of media to capture the resilience and beauty of the people who call Baltimore home.
I specialize in rendering mixed-media illustrations and murals that are vibrant, surreal, and deeply rooted in research. My work encourages viewers to consider how their connection with themselves influences the communities they are part of. I construct pieces using principles of assemblage, repurposing leftover workshop materials, found objects from communities, and mural remnants.
As a curator and educator, I support communities through scholarship, interpersonal relationship building, design, and documentation. My focus is developing accessible forums for documenting the history of Baltimore’s public art scene and its influence on our physical visual landscape. Engagement, so far, has included workshops, archiving, and partnerships with community organizations.
My work honors the communities across Baltimore that raised me by creating more opportunities for underrepresented artists, documenting the stories of under-recognized community members, and preserving our histories through collaborative art projects.