Crafted Kinship: Patterns and Connections with Malene Barnett

Malene Djenaba Barnett is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and founder of the Black Artists + Designers Guild. Working across ceramics, textiles and mixed media, her practice explores themes of identity, memory and the African Caribbean diaspora. Drawing on ancestral traditions and contemporary narratives, Barnett weaves together personal and collective histories through form, pattern and material. She holds an MFA in Ceramics from the Tyler School of Art & Architecture and has been recognized with a Fulbright award, residencies at leading arts institutions and exhibitions nationwide. Her recent book, Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practice of Contemporary Black Caribbean Makers, highlights the creative legacies and practices of makers across the Caribbean.

Her incised ceramic vessels and architectural installations, woven portraits and photo-based collages have been exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the United States, including the Museum of the African Diaspora, Kingston Biennale at the National Gallery of Jamaica, African American Museum of Dallas, Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami), the Museum of Science + Industry Sugar Hill Museum and Temple Contemporary. Her art and design work have been featured in The New York Times, Galerie, ELLE Decor, Architectural Digest, Departures and Interior Design, and on television in Room to Inspire (Magnolia Network, HBO Max). Barnett’s works are in private and public collections that include Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) and National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).  She has given numerous artist talks and panel discussions for international audiences, including the Rhode Island School of Design, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), the Bemis Center, Greenwich House Pottery, the Affordable Art Fair, the 92nd St Y, University of the West Indies and Design Caribbean.

She has participated in residencies at Anderson Ranch, Watershed, Greenwich House Pottery, Judson Studios and Haystack. In 2024, she was the Nellie Mae Rowe Distinguished Fellow at the Hambidge Center in Georgia.