Artist's Statement

An artist and curator, Bess creates experiences out of objects, community and research.  She has recently presented and exhibited a variety of community-sourced projects, installations, exhibitions and and experiences.  Recent presentations include in Borrowed Time: A Community-Sourced Time Machine at the Washington Street Art Center in Somerville in 2023 and Our Stories, Our Stuff, Our Somerville at the Somerville Museum in 2019. As a member of the collective Excavate, she also produced the performance Trans/Lucent/See at deCordova Museum and Sculpture Garden, Quotidian Wonder at Somerville's Nave Gallery and But Does it Bring You Joy? at the former Nave Gallery Annex. As a program producer and curator, she is honing the model of community curating, wherein the community selects the objects she displays, creating beautiful and meaningful installation-exhibitions made entirely from the energy and joy of the people who bring her stuff to work with.