Art in Embassies Chief Curator Virginia Shore commissioned Nick Cave to spend January, 2012, living and working in Dakar, Senegal and ultimately produce a 22 x 23 foot tondo. The work will be inspired by Cave’s onsite cultural research and created from materials collected by Cave in Senegal.
Nick Cave (born 1959 in central Missouri, USA) is an American fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. He is best known for his Soundsuits: wearable fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical, and other-worldly. He also trained as a dancer with Alvin Ailey. He resides in Chicago and is director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Nick Cave was raised in Missouri by a single mother. He had many siblings, and the family was of modest means. Cave attributes his interest in found objects and assemblage to his childhood circumstances. Cave graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1982, where he learned to sew. Also during his time he began studying dance through an Alvin Ailey program, both in Kansas City and New York City. Cave went on to get his masters from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1989.
![Stephen Wilkes, Presidential Inauguration, Day to Night, 2013, Archival Digital Type-C print on Acrylic [Edition #4/30], Courtesy of the artist, Westport, Connecticut](https://uss58003.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Stephen-Wilkes-Presidential-Inauguration-Day-to-Night-2013-700x500.jpg)
