BIO
Grant Mahan is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina. They are a current Master of Fine Arts candidate at Winthrop University where they are working towards their Masters in Studio Art with a certificate in Art Education. They studied at the Rhode Island School of Design for undergraduate school where they received their Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting with a double minor in art history and drawing. They are a showing artist with work shown in Charlotte, North Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; Rock Hill, South Carolina; Providence and Newport, Rhode Island; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Rome, Italy. They were awarded a place in the European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. They were also a recipient of the presidential scholarship from Anderson Ranch, and a resident at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Summer Seminar in Colorado. Their work explores the intersections of spirituality and queerness, specifically exploring the “non-binary” hybridity that happens when the two are synthesized. Grant works to overt the male gaze by representing the queer body through abstraction and ornamentation. In their teaching, Grant believes the essence of art education is to help students answer the question "who am I?" through the use of visual language. Grant is passionate about teaching, hoping to emulate the teachers in their life who had such a large role in establishing who they are at a professional and personal level today.