[photo credit: Side Street Projects]
Side Street Projects today released “cloud over dena,” a limited-edition print by kenturah davis, as the 33rd annual Phantom Ball edition. The 9-by-9-inch work on kozo paper features clouds davis photographed in her hometown, with text she wrote about her drawing practice debossed into the surface. Tilt the paper, and each letter casts a shadow. The edition of 150, each signed and numbered by the artist and priced at $400, funds the organization’s free community and youth educational programming.
Davis, who was born in Altadena and grew up in the historically Black neighborhood west of Lake Avenue, lost her home in the Eaton Fire in January 2025. Her parents’ home nearby also burned. Her family had lived in West Altadena since the 1970s, when her mother’s family migrated from Arkansas.
The Phantom Ball is Side Street Projects’ signature fundraiser — and it is, by design, an event that never takes place. For 33 years, the Pasadena-based nonprofit has partnered with an artist to produce a limited-edition work. Supporters buy the piece sight unseen at half price before the reveal date; on June 1, the image goes public and the price doubles. Previous Phantom Ball artists have included John Baldessari, Betye Saar, Kiki Smith, and Mel Chin. All proceeds go to Side Street Projects’ programs, according to the organization.
“cloud over dena” uses UV ink and a technique called blind debossment to press text directly into the kozo paper without visible ink. The text, written by davis, illuminates some of the principles that guide her drawing practice — a body of work that treats language as its raw material. Davis’s work oscillates between various facets of portraiture and design, manifesting in drawings, textiles, sculpture, and performances. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Occidental College and her MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2018, and teaches at Occidental. She works between Los Angeles and Accra, Ghana.
Her public commissions include large-scale, site-specific works permanently installed on the Crenshaw/LAX rail line for LA Metro. She was an inaugural artist fellow at NXTHVN in New Haven, Connecticut, and a 2026 Creative Capital Award recipient. Her work has been included in institutional exhibitions across Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
Since the fire, davis has been involved in recovery efforts tied to Altadena’s arts community. She helped organize “Ode to ‘Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena,” an exhibition at the California African American Museum that brought together works by multiple generations of Altadena artists, including her father, retired Hollywood set painter Keni “Arts” Davis, and her mother, quilter Mildred “Peggy” Davis.
Side Street Projects, a 501(c)(3) founded in 1992, serves thousands of artists and youth annually through programs including its mobile Woodworking Bus and My Masterpieces, a second-grade public art curriculum serving every second grader in the Pasadena Unified School District. The organization’s community and staff were also affected by the Eaton Fire, according to a statement released during last year’s Phantom Ball. In February 2025, the nonprofit co-hosted a regional town hall with the Armory Center for the Arts on supporting Pasadena and Altadena’s creative cultural sector, according to the organization’s website.
The 33rd Annual Phantom Ball edition, “cloud over dena” by kenturah davis, is available now for $400. The edition of 150 is a 9-by-9-inch UV ink print with blind debossment on kozo paper, signed and numbered by the artist. There is no physical event — the Phantom Ball is a non-event fundraiser in which all purchases are made remotely. Orders may be placed online, by phone at (626) 798-7774, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by mail with a check and $20 for domestic shipping to Side Street Projects, PO Box 90432, Pasadena, CA 91109. For international shipping quotes, email info@sidestreet.org. For more, visit sidestreet.org/editions.
Words pressed into paper. Clouds held still above a neighborhood rebuilding itself. Davis told the New York Times in February 2026 that she plans to rebuild in Altadena. Her parents, she said, share that intention.
