In the Artist’s Studio is a monthly program inviting MoAD audience members to join us in visiting some of our favorite artists in their studios to see what they’re currently working on. We follow all talks with an audience Q&A.

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Willie Little is a Black multi-media artist and author. His visual narratives document a fading part of rural southern life while also tackling topics of racism and Black Lives Matter, social justice, and the childhood memories of growing up on a tobacco farm in Eastern North Carolina. His memoir, In the Sticks, documents his years growing up as a poor, Black and gay child in the rural south. He currently lives between Palm Springs,CA and Portland, Oregon. Little is an artist whose genius incorporates sculpture, painting, sound installations, re-constructed architecture, recycled memorabilia, and real-life stories. Willie pours out his soul for all to see as he relives growing up during a time of radical change. The common thread in all the work he creates is his examination of the manifestations of physical and societal decay in American culture.

Willie received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His solo exhibitions include the Smithsonian Institution, The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the American Jazz Museum, Oregon Contemporary, and Froelick Gallery in Portland, Oregon, Noel Gallery in Charlotte. Notable group exhibitions include the Corcoran and the California Folk Art Museum; three international assemblage exhibitions in Berlin, Germany and The Hourglass Project: Baggage, an internationally renowned residency and exhibition program, which toured venues throughout South Africa, Belgium, and Mozambique; the work is archived in a catalog published by Caversham Press (South Africa).

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Generous funding for this program is provided by the Westridge Foundation.