May B.

Sharela May Bonfield (born 1988, Kingston, Jamaica) is a textile artist whose work explores themes of identity, memory, and cultural belonging.

                        

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2025          

Black Now!, Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA

Art=Work, Waterway Arts, Great Falls, MA

Ancestors in Progress, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY

Black Art Unveiled, The Pierro Gallery, Maplewood, NJ

2022               

Faculty Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

Joy, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY

Being Seen, Culture Lab LIC, Queens, NY

Everyday People: Eric Andrews and Sharela May Bonfield, Interchurch Center, New York, NY   

2021             

Protest. Resilience. Identity, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY

The Social Fabric: Black Artistry in Fiber Arts, An Exhibition in Homage to Viki Craig, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ

Hidden Figures, Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, Madison, NJ

Everyday People, Paradice Palase, Brooklyn, NY

2020               

Watershed, Carrie Able Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Windows for Black Lives, Eckford Street Studio, Brooklyn, NY

Personal/ Universal, Interchurch Center, New York, NY

2019               

Artist Co-Op 2019, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Queens, NY

Slow Art, Gallery West, Jersey City, NJ

2018            

Rendering Likeness Volume 2, La Bodega Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Nou La! We Reach…, Wyckoff Historic Museum, Brooklyn, NY

Usdan Faculty Show, Usdan Art Gallery, Wheatly Heights, NY

2017            

Sanctuary, La Bodega Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

A World Where We Belong, Dineen Hull Gallery, Jersey City, NJ

Usdan Faculty Show, Usdan Art Gallery, Wheatly Heights, NY

2016

Nasty Women, Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY

Accumulating Experience, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ

Arts to End Violence, Ron Taylor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Dissilience Brooklyn, Rabbit Hole Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

True North, The Fortune Society, Long Island City, NY

2015

Common Thread, Delta Workshop, Sacramento, CA

2^nd Annual Pop-Up Exhibition, Flock Gallery, Manchester, NH

Artist Co-Op II, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Queens, NY

Arts to End Violence, Ron Taylor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Small Wonders, Atomic Gallery, Hamtramck, MO

You’ve Got Mail, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Outside the Envelope, Alberta Printmakers, Alberta, Canada

Working Artists, Academic Gallery, Long Island City, NY

Pop Swap, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY

A Weekend at the Old Gem, Renaissance Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

The Big Draw, Catalyst Gallery, Beacon, NY

RESIDENCIES

First Friday Residency, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Queens, NY, 2017 

AWARDS & HONORS

New York Foundation for the Arts, City Artist Corps Grant, New York, NY                         

Congressional Recognition, Brooklyn Childrens’ Museum, Brooklyn, NY

Joan Mitchell Foundation Teaching Fellowship, New York, NY

Recognition Award, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD  

Martin Brown Scholarship, Madison, NJ 

COLLECTIONS

Fortune Society, Long Island City, NY, 2016

BIBLIOGRAPHY

New Bruso, Arthur & Mingst, Raymond E., Curious Matter Cookbook: Artists & Other Friends in the Kitchen. P.20, 2018          

Schatz, Denise, Witch, Beast, Goddess, Demon Slayer, You. Miniature Garden, p.12., 2017

Schmertz, Diana, Slow Art, p.42-3, 2019

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Fine Art, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD