Destiny Palmer currently is working at Thayer Academy and most recently was an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Palmer is trained as a painter but her work explores the intersections of painting, history and color, allowing it to blur the lines of painting, sculpture and installation. Palmer has participated in exhibitions at Antenna Gallery, The Colored Girls Museum, Automat Collective, Ely Center for the Arts, Vandermoot Gallery, Landmark College. Palmer has hosted workshops at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. Most recently Palmer was invited to speak on her relationship to Hans Hofmann at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Palmer explores and investigates what it means to be an artist, educator and advocate for the arts. She has worked with various communities to create public art projects ranging from traditional murals to community engaged/lead mural to digitally created murals. Palmer has worked with MIT, Lifewtr, Saxby’s and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Some of her murals can be found at the Gallivan Community Center in Mattapan, Kendall Square Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Creating art in public realms has been a focus for Destiny. “I love being able to work with a community to reclaim space. It is extremely important that communities consistently see themselves within their own neighborhood and have ownership of it. Many of these communities are undergoing immense change or are at the bottom of their cities priority list.” Destiny Palmer had the privilege to collaborate and envision a new Codman Square Park as their finalist artist. Palmer was the finalist and collaborating with Doug Kornfield on his revisioning of Gertrude Howes Park. Most recently Palmer is the finalist artist for the interior of Vine Street Community Center in Roxbury.
Palmer received her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and Bachelors in Fine Art in Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Destiny was co-founder of Traditions Remixed, an artist collective whose goal is to create a supportive community for young artists, especially artists of color, encouraging collaboration and networking. Palmer served on Boston’s Arts and Culture Team Mayor Marty Walsh. Palmer has also worked with organizations like Discover Roxbury, Dorchester Arts Collective and TLC Arts and Sciences Foundation. As an educator her goals are to mentor students as they develop as young creators, especially in preparation for college and as artistic professionals. “I am aware I may be my students’ first art teacher of color, shifting their understanding of art starts at that very moment.”
She has taught at the New Art Center since 2020.