Stephen Hayes, Art Creator: Black History in the Making

Expert sculptor, instructor, and award-winning artist Stephen Hayes has a deeply rooted passion for visual art. With his advanced knowledge of sculpture, fabrication, ceramics, metal working, blacksmithing, and exhibit instillation, Durham NC native Hayes prefers to be known as a “creator” and not as just an artist.

“As a creator, my goal at first thought is to wow my audience,” says Stephen.  “I enjoy collecting objects; then creating interesting and amazing compositions. This goes back to my childhood, when my mom would bring old machines home from work and allow me to make things with them. That’s what started me creating art. As a creator, my favorite process is adapting to material and learning a new process.”

He has a successful record of teaching art conservation and producing professional individual and group exhibitions. In 2006 he earned his BFA in Visual Communication from North Carolina Central University. The next year Stephen received a full summer scholarship to New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Following his studies at Alfred University, he pursued a Masters Of Fine Art at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta and received his MFA, May 2010.

Stephen began teaching college art courses in 2011 at Georgia State University in Atlanta while creating art at a 3-month residency at 701 Contemporary Center of Art in Columbia, SC.  In 2015 he received a 13-month residency at the McColl Center of Art and Innovation in Charlotte while teaching at two local colleges.

Currently, Stephen is touring his MFA thesis exhibit Cash Crop and adding new elements to the exhibition each stop. This exhibition depicts the horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade as well as creates a dialogue between human rights violations of the past and present. In addition to that, Stephen is currently working to create his new e

xhibition named “How to Make a Dollar.”

“I use materials that are at my disposal and combined the skills that I learned over the years to create my art. Not only do I strive to create something that will be visually stimulating the work must have a meaning. With my art, I like to take a subject from the past and compare it to the present. The subjects my artwork revolves around brainwashing, capitalism, and commodity,” says Stephen.

Stephen Hayes’ show “Daily Bred” is on exhibit at the Durham Art Guild (120 Morris Street Durham, NC) on February 9 – March 5.  “Cash Crop” on currently on display at the Rosa Parks museum (Troy University campus, Montgomery, AL) until March 8th.

Learn more about Stephen Hayes, visit www.stephenhayescreations.com

WORK OF STEPHEN HAYES (Photos: Mel Brown)