2026 ARTISTS
Session II
Dennis Redmoon Darkeem
Dennis Redmoon Darkeem is a visionary interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural practitioner working at the intersection of community, environment, and identity. His multi-dimensional works fluidly bridge installation, performance, education, and historical inquiry. Community engagement, reflection, and experimentation are key to the development of his work. He engages public art, sculpture, sound and performance to honor the layered histories and cultural legacies of Black and Indigenous peoples, particularly in urban landscapes. Darkeem has participated in residencies such as Art Omi (NY), The Laundromat Project (Bronx), VomIII (Brooklyn), the Vermont Studio Center and the International Center of Photography NY. Public artworks include PS180 Public Schools Art Mural, Amtrak Penn Station NYC, and the Queens Botanical Garden. While in Seaside, Darkeem will create a new body of mixed media collage and sculptural works under the theme “Earth Memory,” an exploration of relationships between nature, memory, and cultural survival.
His work will be exhibited at Anne Hunter Galleries, 25 Central Square, with a multi-sensory performance and artist talk entitled “Soundscapes of Memory” to be held during our annual reception on Sunday, February 22nd, 4PM-6PM.
Judith Dupré
Author Judith Dupré’s works of non-fiction illuminate the marvelous, especially as revealed in art, architecture, and religion. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards, Dupré is a 2015 National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, a three-time MacDowell Colony fellow, and finalist for the 2025 James Patterson Literary Grant. Reviews of her books, editorials, and essays have appeared in major U.S. media including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Forbes, USA Today, and many others. An inspired visual storyteller published in 15 languages, Dupré’s writing connects people to ideas, structures, and places, creating new understanding and joy. Dupré returns to Escape To Create (2017) to develop Bird on a Wire: A William James Mystery, the first historical novel in a trilogy that pivots on the singular insights of philosopher/psychologist, William James. Set in the Gilded Age amid the rapid expansion that fueled the transformation of American society, the novel grapples with issues of belonging, identity, and power against the backdrop of the first form of mass entertainment, P.T. Barnam and the three-ring circus.
Dupré will contribute an illustrated presentation of her novel in process on Wednesday, February 25th, 10:00AM-11:00AM at Coastal Branch Library.
Bryant Whelan
Bryant Whelan’s multi-disciplinary artworks are constructed from botanicals and beach drift collected during walks in nature. Through a process originating in photography and photo transfer, the Fairhope, Alabama artist combines drawing, painting, stitching, and collage to create delicate images from natural elements. Her aim is to share her fascination with the intrinsic beauty of natural forms and evoke wonder and reverence for the incredible biodiversity of the coastal environment and shoreline. Her unique work has been exhibited widely in the region and is held in private collections across the country. Whelan was honored as the 2024 Alabama Audubon Bird of the Year Official Artist. She also teaches experimental printmaking techniques and botanic eco-printing in venues across the Southeast. While E2C artist-in-residence, Whelan will produce a dedicated body of new work for exhibition and will create a handmade book to be titled A Botanical Florilegium of Coastal 30A as a celebratory record of the biodiversity of 30A.
Images of Whelan’s artistry will be exhibited at Anne Hunter Galleries where she will give an artist talk during our annual reception on Sunday, February 22nd, 4PM-6PM.