Malcolm Mobutu Smith is an artist and teacher, currently Associate Professor of Ceramic Art at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Mobutu earned his MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1996 and studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and Penn State University where he completed a BFA in ceramics in 1994. Smith’s vessels are inspired by the intersections of graffiti art, comic books, Hip Hop, and Jazz merging with playful organic abstractions of ceramic cups, bottles, and vases. Malcolm’s own multi-faceted/multi- cultural background blends identity politics, CAD/CAM, printmaking, and drawing into a complex web of influences and passions.

This program is presented by the School of Visual Arts, Anderson Lecture Series and co-sponsored by the Palmer Museum of Art.