Ron Norsworthy is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose work employs notions of space and decoration of space as narratives about his lived experience as a queer person of color as well as that of his communities. Through the creation of collaged reliefs, decorative objects, textiles, and installations, his work carries the viewer with him through the non-linear, layered story of his life: where he’s been, where he is, and where he’s going or might imagine going. He's long tapped into the power of space-making as an effective means to share narratives.
As production designer for iconic music videos and televised events, he created worlds that helped visualize the soundtrack of a generation. The music videos he’s designed and directed have collectively received hundreds of millions views on YouTube. As creative director of the eponymous brand, NHOME, developed in limited partnership with home shopping network QVC, he developed and sold his own line of bedding and home accessories on the network.
His work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum of Harlem, The International Quilt Museum, Princeton University, The Visual Art Center of New Jersey and the New York Historical Society. His work has been published in Art Quilt Quarterly, Artnet, The New York Times, Glamour, Vogue Italia, InStyle, ID Magazine, and New York Magazine, among others. A story on his life and practice first aired on the CBS News magazine, Saturday Morning in August 2022.
In addition to his solo practice, Norsworthy is part of DARNstudio, an art collaboration with his husband and fellow artist, David Anthone. During their 2023 MacDowell residency, they worked on new work from the ongoing series, “Another Country: A Quilt Cycle” with David Anthone as the collaboration DARNstudio. Work from this series is included in the permanent collection of the International Quilt Museum, the NY Historical Society as well as private collections. They also created a video presentation for a symbol quilt workshop that they’ll be leading for 400 sixth graders. Additionally, DARNstudio refined their final round submission for the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers for Roanoke College. Finally, they spoke about their new social sculpture, GOAT: THE ART GAME with a small group of other Fellows and workshopped the project during a lively evening of gameplay in MacDowell’s Main Hall. GOAT will be acquired by the Newark Museum of Art in the Spring/Summer of 2023.
