Welcoming Basil Kincaid

ACI Welcomes inagural Artist-in-Residence, Basil Kincaid

Basil was selected to receive the ACI Artist-in-Residency for 2014-2015, which will support the vision and execution for his proposal, Reclamation Ghana.Reclamation Ghana will take Basil to Accra, Ghana where he seeks to examine the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the region, collaborating with local artists and children to make found-object sculptures that reflect and honor the cultural traditions of the area. This project will be an extension of the work he started in St. Louis.  

In Basil’s words: “I have spent my life cultivating artistic abilities to evince the beauty in all iterations of humanity in the hopes that my art will spread understanding, encourage curiosity, and inspire the willingness to include. I am driven to use community conscious art initiatives as stepping stones towards the unification of the American cultural landscape, eventually reaching a global scale.” 

The Reclamation Project focuses on valuing community, diversity and heritage with creative recycling as a tool implemented to bring conscious voice to how environmentalism shapes community. Making all of the art from found material, the transformation and glorification of these abandoned materials comes to exemplify the potential for our transformation as humans evolving towards greater liberation.

If we can transform broken boards & bricks into wonderful works of art, then too we can transform the desolation in our lives, making ourselves see, and in turn embody, the true beauty within us. Logic extends to the point that if one can transform their conception of self, then collectively we can grow into better, stronger, more beautiful iterations of humanity. 

Prior to joining ACI, Basil worked as an arts educator at Roosevelt High School in St. Louis, as an independent artist and entrepreneur / game creator. He received his BA in Studio Art from Colorado College.