News and Events
Current and past news and events. Feel free to contact me directly to schedule a studio visit. For further inquiries on available inventory, please contact:
Walker Fine Art (Denver, CO)
Bozzuto Greene Art (Lutherville, MD)
Van Zaig Gallery (Palm Desert, CA)
–2024–
VAN ZAIG GALLERY
I am excited to share that my artwork can now be found in California at the Van Zaig Gallery in Palm Desert. It has been a goal of mine to show in this part of the country since I first visited Palm Desert many years ago. I am thrilled to be working with Susan Van Zaig and her gallery partners on this endeavor. Bonus is that Susan wants to represent women artists and has a philanthropic mission supporting Women for Women International. Visit the website here!
–2023–
INTERNAL MAPPING
September 8 – November 4, 2023
Walker Fine Art, 300 West 11th Ave #A, Denver, CO
The human brain is an entangled landscape working to organize an individual’s experiences of internal and external stimuli. Influenced by their mind’s own algorithms, the six artists featured in INTERNAL MAPPING dive into the intricate tapestry of human existence through painting, printmaking, 3D printed sculpture and mixed media. By exploring the profound connection between their inner and outer world, complex mark making develops. These exhibiting artists use their artistic process to explore the network of the human psyche to make sense of our world and how we are a part of it.
Featuring: Farida Hughes, Heather Patterson, Blair Vaughn-Gruler, Deidre Adams, Ren Cannon, Jonathan Hils
Art to Dine for with Creative alliance
September 10, 2023
Wander and Wonder in Old Goucher
We had a sold out event for our Art To Dine For! I was happy to sponsor this event for the Creative Alliance, bringing in the neighborhood businesses Dutch Courage, Galerie Myrtis, and Our Time Kitchen, for a tasty wander through Old Goucher in Baltimore. Such fun!
RADIUS: COLOR SPEAKS
June 9 – August 27, 2023
Delaware Contemporary, 200 South Madison St., Wilmington, DE
Contemporary artists emphasize the power of color to communicate a range of ideas, building on the raw power of color to function visually, symbolically, and emotionally. In Color Speaks, an exhibition featuring art works by Khamari Smith, Nikki Painter, Jenee Mateer, Irwin Freeman, Farida Hughes, and Chris Combs, we present a selection of stunning and delectable objects which hum, buzz and glow with chroma that tickles our retinas.
“BELOW THE SURFACE”, ART & MUSIC COLLABORATION DEBUTS IN BALTIMORE
“Below the Surface”, is a collaborative, art and music performance by visual artist Farida Hughes, and classical percussionist Matthew Keown to be held Friday, March 31, 2023, 7–9PM at Lovely Lane UMC in Baltimore. This novel evening of visual art and music uses inspiration from both the generative and erosive power of volcanic activity and the creative forces of nature to parallel the act of artistic creation. The collaborative one-night effort debuts new light-box artwork developed and choreographed by Hughes, and a new solo percussion piece in three movements composed by Keown that interacts with the visual images and creative process that Hughes experienced while creating drawings on the Mauna Kea lava fields of Hawai’i. Keown will perform his musical composition as well as other solo percussion works, and we will be joined by two additional musicians playing pieces in which composers have represented earth’s natural beauty. Hughes’ artwork will be illuminated via a programmed light-box show. The evening will end with a question and answer period on artistic collaboration and the nature of creativity in the artistic process.
Event is at at 7 pm, Friday, March 31. Parking is available in the Lab School lot next door to LLUMC. Enter from the side door nearest the Lab School. We are looking forward to a great evening of art and music!
This project was supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org)
INTERVIEW WITH 3 ART QUESTIONS WITH JACKSON
Viewers looking at “Blends” paintings at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, St. Paul, MN, 2022
January, 2023
Recently I was asked to be interview for 3 Art Questions with Jackson and it was really fun to think about his questions. Read it on the blog.
–2022–
MINNESOTA MULTIMEDIA SHOW, INCLUDING WORK BY FARIDA HUGHES, CHALLENGES VIEWERS
Our show is featured on MPR’s Art Hounds today, November 17, 2022. Have a listen. She is describing my installation piece “Seeing through Masks.”
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/11/17/art-hounds-minnesota-multimedia-shows-challenge-viewers
BETWEEN THE STRIPES, UNDER THE STARS
November 5 – December 11, 2022
Between the Stripes, Under the Stars opened to a fantastic crowd on November 5, 2022 at The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN. I am thrilled to be exhibiting again with this stellar group of women artists. The exhibition attempts to answer the question, “who is an American?” This is our second exhibition, exploring identity within the context of multiculturalism, language, upbringing, gender and the legacy of colonialism. Using a variety of media and methods, these artists present a range of viewpoints and experiences contained in contemporary American identity. This exhibition is curated by Fawzia Khan and includes artists Hend Al-Mansour, Susan Armington, Nida Bangash, Roya Farassat, Nina Ghanbarzadeh, Farida Hughes, Fawzia Khan, Ifrah Mansour, Kimberlee Joy Roth, and Helen Zughaib. Through December 11, 2022. View the exhibition catalog here.
Virtual Artist Discussion: Wednesday, December 7, 2022, via Zoom.
bmoreart billboard in baltimore
BmoreArt recently featured a photo of me in my studio, taken by Justin Tsucalas of Plaid Photo, on their @orange_barrel_media billboard ad in Station North, Baltimore. I was so surprised to get the message on a Monday morning that this photo was included on a billboard! Thank you, BmoreArt and Orange Barrel Media.
BmoreArt says “You may have noticed a recent emphasis at BmoreArt on publishing photo essays online, as well as in print, by some of Baltimore’s incredibly talented photographers!! We believe that our artists and photographers have an important story to tell and we are thrilled to seem them living LARGE in the Baltimore skyline. Billboard love from @orange_barrel_media at Charles and Greenway featuring photos by and of some of our favorites from print and online!”
–2021–
VIRTUAL LISTENING PARTY INCLUDES FARIDA HUGHES AS A PRESENTER
I was so pleased to be a panelist in “Virtual Listening Party | Mirrors and Windows: Art and Evolving AAPI Identities”. The event on September 23 was well attended and the Towson University students had thoughtful questions that led to deep conversations. We heard from Asia in Maryland artists Tima Aflitunov, Farida Hughes, and Jinyoung Koh and reflected on how their work provides a mirror and/or window into expressions and notions of AAPI identities. Hosted by TU Department of Theatre Arts professor, Mohammad Rohaizad Suaidi.
Exhibition: Asia in Maryland 2021, featuring the works of thirty-three Maryland-based Asian and AAPI artists, on view at the Asian Arts Gallery, Sep. 8 – Dec. 11, 2021. towson.edu/asianarts
Details pictured (L-R): Blend 32, Farida Hughes; Co-Existence #3048; Pressure, Tima Aflitunov
REVIEW IN WASHINGTON POST
“A Line Doesn’t End With Me,” by Farida Hughes was picked up in the Washington Post! Many thanks to Mark Jenkins for coming out to the Athenaeum and reviewing the show! He says “Hughes’s paintings are ravishing merely as color-blending exercises, but their layered depths have poignant human significance.” Read the entire review here.
CLEAR LAKE ARTS CENTER’S CREATIVITY CHAT SERIES WITH FARIDA HUGHES
Recently I had the great pleasure to talk with Jeffrey Ebeling, Executive Director of the Clear Lake Arts Center, in Clear Lake Iowa, for their Creativity Chat Series. This series of chats with artists from around the US are designed to give a glimpse into the creative thinking, process, and workspaces of artists and other creatives with the goal of inspiring viewers to engage in their own creativity. In this half-hour or so we talk about color, the effects of changing light and environment on an artist and their work, and some new things I am working on since the pandemic. If I had more time to think about it, when asked about influences I would have mentioned many contemporary artists that I admire rather than digging up the oldies (although they are still great), and I am glad to know that I never seem to take myself too seriously. Enjoy the conversation on YouTube here.
–2020–
NEW CONVERSATION ON THE PROCESS PIECE PODCAST WITH FARIDA HUGHES
New on Process Piece Podcast, Episode 27 – hear my conversation with Ruby Smith as she poses questions for me on artistic process, ritual, and community. We discuss themes of multiculturalism, individual identity, community belonging, among others. We had such a wonderful conversation about the in-depth process of the work behind the work! Listen below or wherever you enjoy your podcasts:
PAINTINGS BY FARIDA HUGHES INSTALLED AT HARBOR POINT IN BALTIMORE
Five of my paintings can be found in downtown Baltimore! Four of them are new commissions, and they are on view at the new Wills Wharf building at Harbor Point in Baltimore, Maryland. Beatty Development Group LLC commissioned the artwork which was completed this past winter. Though installation was put on hold due to pandemic delays, the project was finally installed in August and the building will be opening soon. I was so happy to participate in this project. This image shows four of the five paintings.
COLOR STORY: ARTIST FARIDA HUGHES USES ABSTRACT ART TO TELL HUMANITY’S TALES
Read the story!
Many thanks to Christianna McCausland for interviewing me in my studio this past January for Baltimore Magazine! We had a lively, enjoyable discussion, and she wrote a thoughtful and thorough piece for the April 2020 issue. Thank you, also, to Mary Gardella for the awesome photoshoot in my studio! Such a fun experience to get to know and work with two very talented women, Read the full “Color Story” online at Baltimore Magazine.
Color Story story by Christianna McCausland, (see her website), photography by Mary Gardella.
–2019–
“LAYERS OF EXISTENCE” REVIEWED IN THE DENVER POST
Thank you to Ray Mark Rinaldi for the review of our exhibition, “Layers of Existence” at Walker Fine Art in Denver, Colorado, through January 4, 2020. The review opens with: “The exhibit “Layers of Existence” offers an inward look during an outward time. At a cultural moment when everyone seems to be focused externally — on politics, on the climate, on their social media feeds — the show asks us to aim the camera in reverse and explore our own psyches.” Of my work Rinaldi says: “Farida Hughes’ series of resin and oil paintings on wood panels feature eye-appealing blobs of overlapping colors — bright and fruity blues, yellows, reds and greens. From a distance, you might think the paintings are standard examples of corporate art, color and polish just for the sake of color and polish.
Up close, however, the fluid shapes reveal themselves to be human head-like forms. She means these works to be “portraits” of a sort, though without eyes, ears and noses. Instead, they’re all emotion, thought, introspection. Layers and layers of those things. They’re lively, but also difficult.”
Read the full review here.
OUR BLENDED HISTORIES: A CONVERSATION WITH ABSTRACT ARTIST FARIDA HUGHES
Fordham Magazine of Fordham University, my undergraduate alma mater, sent photographer and writer B.A. Van Sise, also a Fordham alumnus, to speak with me in my studio about my background, my artistic process, and the stories that inform my work. On a warm August day in Baltimore, he composed this photograph. Read the interview that transpired here.
10 WOMEN GROUP EXHIBITION AT MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN
I am so pleased to be exhibiting with a group of nine other artists in I Contain Multitudes, on view through March 9, 2019, at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The paintings, drawings, mixed media objects and installations from 10 artists from diverse heritage and artistic backgrounds invite viewers to examine how multiculturalism and navigating between different social norms affects the artists, as well as how it relates to the issues of immigration and diversity in our contemporary society. The work of the artists explores living a multicultural life and examines concepts of cultural negotiation, memory and nostalgia. The artists’ work showcases juxtapositions of visual languages, cultural icons or symbolism and gender inequalities.
The exhibition is curated by Nina Ghanbarzadeh. In addition to Ghanbarzadeh, artists featured include:
Hend Al-Mansour, a former cardiologist from Saudi Arabia, she now makes prints in Minneapolis.
Painter and mapmaker Susan Armington lives in Minneapolis and spent time teaching in Japan.
Visual artist Nida Bangash, born in Iran and raised in Pakistan, creates miniatures in McKinney, Texas.
Roya Farassat, an Iranian painter/sculptor, lives and creates in New York City.
Farida Hughes, an American abstract artist of Asian-Indian/American descent, explores community engagement and movement in her mixed media work.
Fawzia Khan, a Pakistani-American abstract artist born in Nigeria and living in Minneapolis, works in the visual arts after a career in obstetrics/gynecology.
Ifrah Mansour was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Somalia, Kenya and the United States. The Muslim Somali refugee is now a multimedia artist and educator in Minnesota.
Kimberlee Joy Roth, a former physics and science teacher who has spent time in several European countries and Israel, is a ceramic artist living in Minneapolis.
Helen Zughaib, a native of Beirut, Lebanon, currently lives and works in Washington, D.C.
The exhibition is generously supported in part by the Mary L. Nohl Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.
–2018–
APRIL EVENTS WITH ART BY FARIDA HUGHES
I’ve been very fortunate this year to have had already many opportunities to show my paintings. This, of course, means painting more pieces to show! I have kept up, and am excited to list some of the events in Minneapolis this April where you can see my work.
Dog Days Open Studio event at the California Building, 2205 California Street, NE, Minneapolis, is Saturday, April 14. My studio, 207A, will be open for the entire event from 11 am – 4 pm. You are welcome to bring your social dog. Aurora the rescue pup will be there to greet visitors for the first couple of hours. Then, on Sunday, join me for the Opening Reception of Connections at The Mill Yard at Stonebridge Lofts, 1120 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, from 2 – 5 pm.
Surface | Tension at Bridgewater Lofts is up until June 8, 2018 at 215 10th Avenue S., Minneapolis.
Collected Amalgamations, a solo exhibition featuring my Blends and Common Threads series, is up at Opening Night Gallery through April 23, at 2836 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis.
And don’t miss this intriguing group exhibition: Artists in the Kitchen, A Collaborative Project, through May 19 at, Textile Center Galleries, 3000 University Ave SE, Minneapolis.
–2017–
NEW PAINTINGS ON VIEW IN ON2GALLERY
“Interpretive Blendings” – 2-person Exhibition by Brenda Litman and Farida Hughes is on view in the on2gallery, California Building through August 24. Meet the artists in the gallery on Saturday, August 12, 1-3 pm. Brenda and I will be available in the on2gallery from 1-3 pm to discuss our work during the August 12 Second Saturday Open Studio event in the California Building.
COMPLETED COMMISSION OF PAINTING BY FARIDA HUGHES INSTALLED
I was so pleased to have the opportunity to paint this theme again for my client in Georgia. The painting, “Swallows II” graces the wall between kitchen and sitting room.
–2016–
PAINTER FARIDA HUGHES FEATURED IN NEMAA ARTIST SERIES
Twin Cities arts writer, Susannah Schouweiler, visited with me in the studio in late October. Her article is now out on mnartist.org. Thank you, Susannah! She did a great job of capturing the flavor and intent of my work.
NEMAA Artist Series: Pluralism in Motion
Painter Farida Hughes captures the temporary intimacies of people mingling and moving through space, by way of vivid, fluid, aerial-view abstractions.
By Susannah Schouweiler, December 16, 2016
This is the eighth in a sponsored series of articles featuring member artists of Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association, a non-profit arts organization that works to build a more vibrant, diverse and economically healthy community through the arts.
Read the full story here.
new gallery announcement
I am pleased to announce a new arrangement with Walker Fine Art, Denver, Colorado. They will be exhibiting my recent “White on White” paintings in one of the showrooms they curate. It is so exciting to be able to reach new audiences. If in Denver, please check them out!