Black Glass Artist Series: Episode 1 - N'Kosi Barber

Black Glass Artist Series at Alfred University | 2022
The inaugural Black Glass Artist Series welcomes three glass artists of color to the Alfred University campus for one-week residencies during the month of February, which is celebrated as Black History Month. The visiting artists present artist talks and give demonstrations of their practice in the Alfred University School of Art and Design’s Hot Shop.
The series is the brainchild of third-year B.F.A. student Adeye Jean-Baptist from Scarsdale, NY. Last year, Adeye proposed to host a series of visiting glass artists who hail from the afro diaspora. She led efforts to gain funding to support the series, including organizing an auction. The series is also supported by the School of Art and Design, and its Sculpture Dimensional Studies Division, Student Senate, The Institute for Cultural Unity, and Olympic Color, a glassblowing supply company in Seattle, WA.
The United Nations declared 2022 the International Year of Glass, and the Black Glass Artist Series is part of the University’s overall efforts to celebrate the occasion.
This episode features N’Kosi Barber, an illustrator and sculptural glass artist from Chicago’s South Side. Barber is an instructor and peer educator with Project Fire, a program that teaches wounded victims of gunfire the skills of the hot glass shop. He draws inspiration from his Project Fire students and mentors, noting that learning patience and trust have a great deal to do with his perseverance in the art form.
A message from Firebird Community Arts :
A 501(c)3 born in 1990, the mission of our organization grew as we broadened our community reach. In 2015 we became ArtReach Chicago and expanded to the Firehouse Art Studio on Roosevelt near Racine. Since 2018, we moved all operations to our current studio at 2651 W. Lake in East Garfield Park. In 2020 we grew into our new name: Firebird Community Arts. Here we honor the legacy of our roots by empowering and connecting Chicagoans through the healing practice of glassblowing and ceramic arts.
Our flagship program, Project FIRE, began in 2015 and informed our understanding of the arts as a tool for healing. As a result we have structured our programs to include trauma-intensive programs with robust wraparound services and healing justice programs that focus on cultivating wellbeing and reimagining futures. Firebird Community Arts signals the rebirth of our organization. Our use of two fire-based artforms to reimagine and rebuild ourselves brings to mind how mythological firebirds regenerate themselves through fire from ashes. Firebird Community Arts signals the rebirth of our organization. Our use of two fire-based artforms to reimagine and rebuild ourselves brings to mind how mythological firebirds regenerate themselves through fire from ashes.