This is America is an artist talk series curated by Jaime Ransome and presented by the Woodstock School of Art (WSA). The series invites artists to reflect on how cultural, ethnic, and ancestral histories shape their practices—whether through technique, materials, themes, or artistic lineage. Informed by Ransome’s curatorial philosophy—community-driven, historically grounded, and centered on BIPOC, feminist, and queer perspectives—This is America transforms WSA’s gallery into a space of storytelling, resistance, and connection.

Upstate Art Weekend conversation with Layo Bright

Layo Bright (b. Lagos, Nigeria) explores themes of migration, agency and identity through hybrid portraits, textiles, and mixed media works.

Bright’s work is currently on view in Making Moves: A Collection of Feminisms at The Crocker Art Museum, Altar Ego at de Boer Gallery, and A Two-Way Mirror curated by Jabari Owens-Bailey at The Knoxville Museum of Art.

Bright received her MFA (Hons.) from the Parsons School of Design (2018) and has been the recipient of awards including the 2025 UrbanGlass Artist Honoree Award (2025), the Ron Desmett Memorial Award for Imagination with Glass (2023), UrbanGlass Visiting Artist Fellowship (2023), NXTHVN Fellowship (2021), the International Sculpture Center’s 2018 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award (2018); and the Beyoncé Formation Finalist Scholarship (2017).