The Importance of Community Education - A Conversation with Devyn Briggs & Katie Hovencamp

Lehigh Valley Arts Podcast

This week, Elise talks with Devyn Briggs & Katie Hovencamp about their work in the community and how it ties to their personal art practices.

Katie Hovencamp received her BFA from Arizona State University in 2009 and her MFA from the Pennsylvania State University in 2014. Hovencamp has exhibited her work in numerous exhibitions within the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her work has been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, Chicago Reader, and several online and print publications. She was the recipient of the Outstanding Student Achievement Award for Contemporary Sculpture in 2014 and the University Graduate Fellowship at the Pennsylvania State University in 2012. Hovencamp has participated in residency programs at Vermont Studio Center, Serde Interdisciplinary artist group in Latvia, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland. In 2016, she was awarded an artist residency with International Sculpture Center at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ. She has taught at various institutions such as the Edna Vihel Center for the Arts, Totts Gap Art Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg Area Community College, Keystone College, and Northampton Community College.

Devyn Briggs grew up in Bethlehem, PA and studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. She studied drawing, painting, sculpture, fiber arts, and ceramics and earned a BFA with a major in Ceramics in 2013. She then earned a masters degree in the Business of Art and Design, studying creative entrepreneurship before opening a studio at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, PA. In addition to making art, Devyn is an educator and arts activist dedicated to fostering equity and inclusion within the Lehigh Valley arts community. She has worked in numerous areas of the arts world including fine art collection management, creative start-ups, community and public art, and non-profit management. She currently works at Northampton Community College as a Career Readiness Specialist, empowering students to start successful careers, and as an adjunct instructor in the art department. She previously served on CACLV’s Color Outside the Lines Quality of Life Committee and as an advisory board member of the Guild of Creative Citizens, a non-profit dedicated to arts equity in the Lehigh Valley. She is an active member of the Juneteenth Lehigh Valley Steering Committee and African American Business Leaders Council Events Committee.

You can follow Katie on Instagram @katiehovencamp or visit her website at www.katiehovencamp.com.

You can Follow Devyn on Instagram @devynlenor or by visiting her website at www.devynlenorbriggs.com.