Black Heritage:Quilting in the Family

Image:Presenting Grandma Malinda's Quilt at the Wade/Johnson Family Reunion. One of the things that I recall from Sunanda's African-American Artist History class is the tradition of quilting and furniture making in African-American culture. I also having being reading a book entitled African-American women artists, and quilting was a traditional format of creative expression for female slaves that has carried out to the current culture of African-American women. What I didn't know is that my great-grandmother Malinda Harper was a well-known quilter(And I wonder why I like to work with my hands). So I've posted a image my mom recently sent me of a quilt that my great-grandmother had done which was presented at our recent family reunion. I was totally blown away. I always knew that my family had a very artistic background, but it is interesting to know to what degree. I also discovered that she  used to make the communion bread at her local church(somehow this explains a lot for me too). So I believe going towards the next residency I would like to use the idea of quilting as a inspiration. Perhaps using the pattern formality of quilting to reference and speak about social issues within the African American culture. I still would like to address colorism because I feel like there was so much that I wanted to do this past semester but didn't because of time constraints so I feel I'm going to lay it all out this semester. I actually did take quite a few photographs this semester for a side piece that I was working on, and I will hopefully bring some of the images to the residency if I can. But for now things are going to get interesting. I have a crit with Sunanda tomorrow and I really don't know what to expect from him. We'll just have to see... I'll let you know what happens:)

The Big Layout on Colorism

To all that contributed their stories to my colorism project, I just wanted to show you all what I was able to put together with all your wonderful text. Looking at this image it's hard to define the scale but it's a 40x60 magazine spread on the affects of colorism. After I put together this piece, I found a recent article in Bookforum entitled Voices Carry by writer Lawrence Hill that pretty much sums up the relevance  of this approach.He quotes Henry Louis Gates in his review of Andrew Ward's The Slave's War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves. He quotes Gates' theory that "life stories" are the most important statement a black author can make to illustrate the African-American experience, and the tradition of story-telling in the African-American community. Magazines are ways inwhich ideas are communicated, and shared. So in this piece I choose to display the stories that were contributed as a artistic approach of publishing the need of voices to speak and expose the pain that the issues of colorism has caused. I was very amazed and blown away by all of the stories, particularly because most of the people here have a close connection to me whether a childhood friend or family member. It was amazing that eventhough we all held close relationships we never were able to communicate this sort of inner turmoil, yet at the same time coming to grips and loving ourselves all at the same time. It's truly remarkable. I believe that this piece also address the idea of publishing as a platform where people feel either comfortable or uncomfortable about expressing their opinions and thoughts. Please let me know what you think.

Delayed but not Denied

Images: Top, AIB residency space. Second,   Being Black1,93 mixed media illustrations

on index cards, 2008. Third, What is a yellowbone?installation, artificial bone,clay, and glue on painter's linen.2008

So I know that these images are long overdue, but I attribute it too my perfectionism with images and the way they are displayed. Anywho, here are images from the colorism piece that I've been working on. They are images taken while here at the AIB residency, but I figure it's better late than never. Some of my group mates complained about the lack of images on my blog so here ya go! I'll be sure to overwhelm everyone next time with images. 

So far I've received one crit at the residency and to my surprise it was mentioned that the work is too "literal." An opposite to what I received last residency, but I was told it was attributed to the religious notions in my previous works. I'm not sure how I perceive that entirely, but I do think it's interesting. I've always wanted to use text in my work, however I knew I would receive a lot of flack for not using any photography like I did last residency. I definitely would like to combine the too, but I think it was definitely necessary to go to this extreme so that I can strip away.Because as my studio mentor told me, I had enough content but just needed to express the content. I'm glad that Oscar Palacio is going to be my faculty advisor this semester.He deals with issues of race in his work, and I know he enjoys this type of work. The tricky part will be to find a studio mentor that will be able to work with me this semester. There have been plenty of suggestions, but we will have to see.Well enjoy and until next time...