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Center for Art Design and Visual Culture - UMBC
White book cover that reads, "Cockeysville to Baltimore: Levester Williams at CADVC."

Cockeysville to Baltimore: Conversation with Levester Williams and Dan Shields

April 1, 2025 6PM–7PM

CADVC artist resident Levester Williams was recently featured in all matters aside, a survey exhibition curated by Lisa D. Freiman. The exhibition featured a selection of works produced during Williams’s artist residency research into the histories and mythologies of Cockeysville marble, a material used in both the Washington Monument in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood and the iconic exterior steps of local rowhomes. The exhibition was accompanied by a number of public-facing activities, including the publication of Cockeysville to Baltimore.

This webinar features Levester Williams in conversation with sound designer Dan Shields, moderated by Lisa D. Freiman.

Recording of Webinar

About Levester Williams

Levester Williams (b. 1989) was born in Lansing, Michigan, and raised in Columbia, Tennessee. He received his B.F.A. in art and design from University of Michigan (2013) and his M.F.A. in sculpture and extended media from Virginia Commonwealth University (2016). He recently completed his master’s degree in computer and information technology in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at University of Pennsylvania (2024). Williams currently lives and works in Philadelphia, a city that—like Baltimore— incorporates Cockeysville marble into it its architectural and monumental landscapes.

A man stands on a sunny city street, facing the camera. He wears a black sweater with lavender and orange accents.
Photo by Sizwe Ndlovu

About Dan Shields

Daniel Shields is a musician, composer, filmmaker, and sound designer based in Philadelphia, PA. Shields’ approach in all media is dialectical, leaning into the conflict and contradictions at the center of our aesthetic, somatic/emotional, and political experiences. Shields earned a BFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University, and his sound design work has been shown at Icebox Project Space and the UMBC Center for Art Design and Visual Culture. As a composer of electronic music, he has performed in venues all over the United States, including participation in a 24-hour performance at the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Shields is also a member of the West Philadelphia-based film screening collective Cinéspeak.

Black-and-white headshot of a man with a light skin-tone in glasses. He is wearing a striped shirt and is looking down.

About Lisa Freiman

Lisa Freiman is a curator, arts consultant, and writer with over thirty years of experience in the field of contemporary art. Since 2013, she has been a tenured professor of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University where she also served as the inaugural director of the Institute for Contemporary Art. Freiman was the curator and commissioner for the U.S. Pavilion for the 2011 Venice Biennale and developed a 100-acre sculpture park in Indianapolis that opened in 2010.

Headshot of a woman with her arms crossed looking at the camera. Her brown curly hair blows in the wind, and she is wearing a snake print silver blazer.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Freiman

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