Folayemi "Fo" Debra Wilson is an American

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

artist, designer, and academic administrator. Her practice includes work as a furniture designer and maker, installation artist, muralist, and graphic designer. Wilson is the first

associate dean Dean is a title employed in academic administrations such as colleges or universities for a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, over a specific area of concern, or both. In the United States and Canada, deans are usua ...

for access and equity in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture.

Early life and education

Wilson has an MBA degree from

New York University Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

, and a MFA degree (2005) in furniture design from

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

(RISD).

Design career

In her early career she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and creative director. Wilson worked for ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' and '' YSB magazines.'' In 1984, Wilson was named the first female

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

at Essence magazine. In 1991, she established ''Studio W.'', a graphic design studio, building off her professional experiences from work in the magazine industry. In August 2016, she co-founded with

Norman Teague Norman Teague (born 1968) is an American social practice artist, designer, furniture maker, and educator. Teague co-founded the Chicago-based design studio, ''blkHaUs Studios'', and in 2019 went on to form his own ''Norman Teague Design Studios''. ...

the blkHaUS Studios, a design studio based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Their work was

social practice Social practice is a theory within psychology that seeks to determine the link between practice and context within social situations. Emphasized as a commitment to change, social practice occurs in two forms: activity and inquiry. Most often a ...

–focused, in order to make public spaces in Chicago more inviting. The blkHaUS Studios' ''Back Alley Jazz'' project worked to revive the jazz culture and traditions found in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s; they brought together local musicians, architects and artists to build events and performance spaces.

Visual art career

In 1995,

Renee Cox Renee Cox (born October 16, 1960) is a Jamaican-American artist, photographer, lecturer, political activist and curator. Her work is considered part of the feminist art movement in the United States. Among the best known of her provocative works ...

, Fo Wilson, and

Tony Cokes Tony Cokes (born 1956) is an American visual artist and educator. Early life and education Cokes was born in Richmond, Virginia. He studied photography and creative writing at Goddard College, and received an MFA degree (1985) in sculpture from ...

created the Negro Art Collective (NAC) to fight cultural misrepresentations about Black Americans. In 2008, Wilson constructed a fictitious, 19th-century style scientific exhibition commemorating Sartje Baartman (also known as "The Hottentot Venus") during a residency at the School of Art + Design at SUNY/Purchase. Her 2016 installation ''Eliza's Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities'', was a constructed, full-scale, 19th century, fictional, slave cabin with a cabinet of curiosities full of a 100 items of what an African American woman of this time period may have owned or dreamed of owning. ''Eliza's Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities'' was an ongoing,

Afrofuturist Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocultu ...

project and was used as a location for related events and performances; on display in 2016 to 2017 at the

Lynden Sculpture Garden Lynden Sculpture Garden (formerly the Bradley Sculpture Garden) is a 40-acre outdoor sculpture park located at 2145 West Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in Milwaukee County. Formerly the estate of Harry Lynde Bradley and Margaret (Peg ) Bla ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In 2019, she was commissioned to create

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

for the

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , o ...

(CTA) within the newly built Damen Green Line station. Her work is in the museum collection at the

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian Inst ...

. Wilson has served on the board of the

American Craft Council The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly maga ...

(ACC).

Academic career

In July 2021, Wilson was appointed as first

for access and equity in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture. She previously was the co-director of academic diversity, equity and inclusion at the

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

Publications

* * Wilson, Fo (2013). ''The Baartman Diaries'' (Chicago, Illinois: Studio W Editions). *

References