March 2017

Jessica Lynne is a writer and art critic. She is a co-editor of ARTS.BLACK and also a founding editor of the now-defunct (but still special) Zora Magazine. Jessica received her BA in Africana Studies from NYU and has been awarded residencies and fellowships from Art21 and The Cue Foundation, Callaloo, and The Center for Book Arts. She contributes to publications such as Art in America, The Art Newspaper, The Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, and Pelican Bomb. She is currently at work on a collection of essays about love, faith, and the American South. Jessica lives and works in coastal Virginia.

During her residency, Jessica gave a talk on the current state of art criticism and the development of ARTS.BLACK, which is a journal of art criticism predicated on the belief that art criticism should be an accessible dialogue - a tool through which we question, celebrate, and talk back to the global world of contemporary art. She also participated in a panel discussion for the opening of the IDEA Space exhibition, "Beyond Mammy, Jezebel and Sapphire: Reclaiming Images of Black Women" along with Colorado College professor Dr. Heidi Lewis, performance poet Sha'Condria "Icon" Sibley and Vanderbilt University professor Dr. Claudine Taaffe. Jessica also visited a sociology class taught by Dr. Vanessa Munoz, and an English class taught by Dr. Claire Oberon Garcia.