Stephanie J. Williams: Things That Don’t Have Names

Stephanie J. Williams presents a free talk on her interdisciplinary artistic practice, which connects sculpture and animation. Her work examines hierarchies of taste and questions how “official” histories are formed, using those inquiries to explore contemporary social coding. The event is presented by UMBC’s Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA), and a reception will follow.

Williams’s work has appeared in Fictions, an exhibition associated with the Studio Museum in Harlem; at the Walters Art Museum, where she was a Sondheim Finalist; and with Washington Project for the Arts, Lawrence University, and the Delaware Contemporary. Her recent animated films have screened at Slamdance, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the New Orleans Film Festival, the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, the Atlanta Film Festival, and Outfest LA LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. She has received residencies from Yaddo, Sculpture Space, Williams College, the Nicholson Project, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and ACRE, as well as grants from the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund at Johns Hopkins University and the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. She holds an MFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, earned under a Presidential Scholarship, and teaches animation full time at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

When: Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Showtimes: 5–6 p.m.

Run time: Approximately one hour

Tickets: Free

Venue: Fine Arts : 427

Format: In-person talk

Presenter: UMBC’s Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA)

Featured artist: Stephanie J. Williams

Reception: A reception follows the talk.

Registration: Attendees are asked to RSVP if they plan to attend.

Accessibility: The event is open to full participation by all individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, or university nondiscrimination policies.

Image: The event image features Williams’s work *The Expectation of the Observed*, shown in the 2026 exhibition *I’ll Meet You There* at Hamiltonian Artists and The Nicholson Project.