SHACK15 Artist Fellow in Conversation: Adrian Burrell @ SHACK15
Co-presented with the Museum of the African Diaspora
Join us for a conversation with Adrian Burrell, a recipient of the SHACK15 Art Prize, whose multidisciplinary work explores memory, migration, and Black identity through photography, film, and installation. A third-generation Oakland artist and grandchild of the Great Migration, Burrell draws from a rich family archive to create evocative spaces rooted in resilience and kinship. The conversation will also feature artist Jessica Monette, whose multidisciplinary practice spans installation, sculpture, and painting, exploring themes of memory, resilience, and the layered histories of the African Diaspora through material-driven work. Together, Burrell and Monette will discuss how lineage, materiality, and contemporary storytelling shape their artistic practices and visions for the future. The conversation will be moderated by Cornelia Stokes, Assistant Curator at the Museum of the African Diaspora, whose work centers contemporary artists of the African Diaspora through exhibitions, research, and public dialogue.
This event is presented in collaboration with the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD).
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Adrian L. Burrell is a third-generation Oakland artist whose work explores the intersections of race, class, and intergenerational dynamics. Burrell's work has been featured at ICA San Jose, Minnesota Street Project, in The New Yorker, BlackStar Film Festival, and in the permanent collections of the Crocker Art Museum, and SFMOMA. Burrell is a past resident of Black Rock Senegal, is currently a Lewis Latimer Fellow, a Kenneth Rainin fellow, and a curator in residency with Artist As First Responder.
Jessica Monette is a multidisciplinary artist from New Orleans working in the Bay Area. Some of the themes she investigates in her work include the maintenance and expansion of cultural retention throughout the African diaspora, ancestral influences, colonialism, identity, marginalization and the political and social implications of Hurricane Katrina 2005. She oscillates between mediums such as painting sculpture and installation in order to examine the intricacies of Black existence.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Cornelia Stokes curatorial practice is based in Pan-African practices and kinship, focusing on building community through the arts and philosophies of the Black diaspora. Looking to complexify the oversimplification of Blackness within mainstream culture, Stokes invests in opportunities to promote and explore the wide varieties of the Black experience. Cornelia Stokes is the inaugural Assistant Curator of the Art of the African Diaspora with The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD).
Run of Show
5:30 PM — Doors open, cash bar service
6:00 PM — Artist conversation
6:45 PM — Brief Q&A and closing remarks
7:00 PM — Open conversation
7:30 PM — Event ends
About the SHACK15 Art Prize
The SHACK15 Art Prize, curated in partnership with ArtBae, represents an unprecedented investment in the Bay Area’s cultural future, offering $20,000 fellowships to seven regional artists to create new work culminating in a group exhibition during SF Art Week 2026.
About ArtBae
ArtBae, co-founded by Inga Bard and Andrew Berardini, and organized with Lucas Foglia, helps the Bay Area connect with art through criticism, events, and community engagement. ArtBae supports the local art ecology by amplifying artists and building cultural infrastructure. Visit artbae.info or follow @artbae.info on Instagram.
RSVP Required
This event is 21+
Please review our House Rules and Guest Code of Conduct.
About SHACK15
SHACK15 is a community for Founders, Innovators and Changemakers. Located on the third floor of the iconic San Francisco Ferry Building with panoramic views of the Bay, SHACK15 provides the stage for a diverse global community to gather and connect.
SHACK15 Location
We’re located on the 2nd floor of San Francisco's Ferry Building. Please use the elevator to come to the 2nd floor in the Ferry Building’s “Office Lobby” - located underneath the giant clock tower, on the left side of the main market entrance.
Image credit: Cyclical Symphony, 2022. Photo courtesy of the artist Adrian Burrell.