Anita Bates

Dr. Anita Bates is a 2019 Kresge Arts Fellow and a native of Highland Park, Michigan.  A contemporary artist, she has been exhibited in several venues including the Trout Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin; the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit; G.R. N’Namdi Gallery; Dell Pryor Gallery; Detroit Artists Market; River’s Edge Gallery in Wyandotte, Michigan; Querini Stampalia Museum in Venice, Italy; A Gathering of the Tribes Gallery in New York, NY and the Ashara Ekundayo Gallery in Oakland, California.

 

The artist and her work have been noted and reviewed in various periodicals and publications such as the Detroit News and Free Press, Detroit Home Magazine, Art News, BLAC Magazine, TR8T Magazine, Imago Mundi: The Luciano Benetton Collection and The Romeo Observer.

 

Dr. Bates’ work has been acquired for the Woodward West Art Collection; the N’Namdi Permanent Collection; the Luciano Benetton Collection and Detroit Public Schools Community District Artist Collaborative. 

 

Of late, Anita has expanded her artistic endeavors to curatorial practice, developing exhibitions for Detroit’s Cass Café, the Detroit Artists Market and most recently for the Progressive Arts Studio Collective (PASC), a studio and arts collective dedicated to artists with disabilities.

 

Ms. Bates holds both a PhD in Education and M.F.A. in Painting from Wayne State University.  She also has an MA in Studio Art with a painting concentration from Eastern Michigan University.  Other accomplishments include a Fulbright Memorial Fellowship in Japanese education and a King, Chavez, Parks Future Faculty Fellowship from Wayne State University.  Her research interests center around the ways in which museum narratives and visual imagery can be used to promote critical thinking regarding systems of inequity and representation.   Currently she serves as an Assistant Professor of Teaching and Program Coordinator for Visual Art Education at Wayne State University.