In the fall I submitted a proposal to create a public artwork to honor Helen Stevens as part of the A.R.R.O.W.S. program at Boston University. Helen Stevens was a chemist who, after graduating from Boston University with her A.B. degree in 1905, began working as an assistant to Prof. Lyman Newell, who founded the Chemistry department at BU in 1904. In 1921, Helen wrote a thesis called A scheme for the identification of the carbohydrates, which describes a series of tests that can be used to identify different types of sugars. In her thesis, Helen describes the different color reactions that occur when different elements are added to different types of sugars. I was interested in her research because I was simultaneously learning more about the chemistry of dye in my Fabric Dye elective. I was curious about the overlap between the chemistry tests that Stevens described in her thesis and the chemistry involved in dyeing different types of fabric and how I could visualize her work through art. At the end of February, I met with Professor Didem Vardar-Ulu to do a series of carbohydrate tests similar to those in Steven's thesis. (We decided not to do several of the experiments in Steven's thesis because they are now considered very toxic.) When I got to the lab, Professor Vardar-Ulu had set up the materials. I shadowed her teaching assistant as she showed me how to perform the first series of tests. Pictured above are the results from Tollen's Test (middle) and Chromic Acid Test and Iodoform Test (right). I soon got the hang of how the procedure worked, I started performing some of the tets on my own. On the left is an in-process photo of Barfoed's Test and on the right is a picture of Benetict's Test. We also did three types of Starch Tests. In the first one, I added a few drops of chromic acid to small samples of table salt, sugar, corn starch, bread flour, and milk powder. In the second starch test, I observed how the chromic acid effected cooked rice and a potato. In the third test, I observed how the chromic acid reacted to liquid solutions of glucose, fructose, lactose, and sucrose.
It was a lot of fun doing these carbohydrate tests and gaining first-hand knowledge about why certain carbohydrates react to certain elements. Stay tuned for my next steps related to this project! à la ligne, string and thread on denim, stained with fabric dye and bleach, 10 x 8 inches This semester I tried some new ways of working. The piece above was created for an assignment I had early in the semester. Our assignment was to create a painting inspired by a piece of art that we don't like. I first fell in love with painting when I saw impressionist paintings in high school, but have always disliked Renior. His chalky pastel palette is off-putting and his forms often lack definition. They're so etherial, like they're made of someone's hot breath. But the assignment intrigued me. I started looking at his paintings online and came across the painting Le pêcheur à la ligne. I was drawn to the phthelo green + beige color palette and marks he used, so decided to try and reproduce those elements of the piece, minus the subject matter. The first thing I did was turn the reproduction of the painting upside down as a way to isolate the colors and marks. Working from "back to front," I poured fabric dye on a canvas of stitched jeans that I had made earlier. Then I added some bleach to the dye. I worked back and forth until I created a "stain" to work on top of. Then I began adding lime green stitches to the denim using my sewing machine and drawing with a royal blue marker to describe some of the forms I observed, like the flittering leaves of the vegetation. Then, for several hours, I continued layering machine stitches, hand embroidery, and loose threads to the surface until the image felt resolved. I really enjoyed the assignment. It was a practice in empathy. I learned to appreciate the technique of someone's work who I usually have a negative reaction to. It was a little like being locked in a room with an enemy and being forced to find common ground. Left: A Piece of Me, A Piece of You, acrylic, spray paint, oil pastels, string and thread on sewn canvas and repurposed clothing, 18 x 22 inches Right: Love Quote, repurposed clothing and mesh on sewn canvas, stained with fabric dye, and oil on pre-primed canvas, 22 x 18 inches I continued experimenting with mark-making throughout the semester. Above are two different examples of experiments in mark-making that I tried. On the left, I layered a lot of different colored sewing machine stitches on top of paint, spray-paint, and oil pastel until the colors began to blend together. This caused the canvas to warp and buckle. I had seen this technique several years ago in a video of Rebecca Ringquist explaining her process and knew that I wanted to try it at some point. On the left, I created individual marks with the machine, dispersing them across the canvas. To me, they start to resemble letters or characters from an alphabet. Detail of A Piece of Me, A Piece of You To see more of the work I made this semester, click on the tabs pieced and painted and fabric paintings.
Sedrick Huckaby in front of A Love Supreme I learned about the work of Sedrick Huckaby when I was an undergrad in painting. Serdrick also went to BU for undergrad. At the time, I was painting a lot of self portraits and was intrigued by his use of thick, imposto paint to create portraits. My mom happened to be visiting town while he was having two solo shows--one at a gallery on Newbury Street and one at the Danforth Museum of Art. We went to see them together while they were still up. His paintings at the gallery on Newbury were small and intimate portraits of himself and family members. The paintings at the Danforth, on the other hand, took up an entire room. Each of the four canvases depicted a still life of quilts, each one fitting the four walls of the room. I was blown away. The pieces were immersive and intimate, yet grand and powerful. Sedrick Huckaby, A Love Supreme – Spring, 2001-2009, oil on canvas, 92” x 240” Sedrick Huckaby, A Love Supreme – Summer, 2001-2009, oil on canvas, 92” x 240” Sedrick Huckaby, A Love Supreme – Fall, 2001-2009, oil on canvas, 92” x 240” Sedrick Huckaby, A Love Supreme – Winter, 2001-2009, oil on canvas, 92” x 240” Sedrick's paint is thick and lush. His paintings are meditations, feats of strength, acts of love.
I was reading a catalogue of his work a couple years ago, and this passage stood out to me: "A painting is a quiet dialogue in which volumes of information are slowly and silently revealed, yet its entire essence can be experienced within a moment's glance. I believe my paintings are done in a language more closely in tune with my soul then the language of my tongue. For me, the act of painting is not just a means to a product; it is also a meditative process of communication." -Sedrick Huckaby, 2004 To view more of his work, visit his website: https://huckabystudios.com/about/sedrick. Below is a list of BIPOC Artists to Know (BIPOC A2K) that I have compiled. It include artists that I have loved for years and artists I have just recently learned about. The list is ongoing, incomplete, and in no particular order:
Visual Artists Sedrick Huckaby Horace Pippin Faith Ringgold Kara Walker Jean-Michel Basquiat Kwesi Botchway Micalene Thomas Nick Cave Emma Amos Steve Locke Ebony Patterson El Anatsui Jack Whitten Gee's Bend Quilters Odili Donald Odita Toyin Ojih Odutola Romare Bearden Kerry James Marshall Amy Sherald Henry Taylor Chanel Thrivel Sanford Biggers Mike Cloud Jordan Casteel Jerrel Gibbs Howardena Pindell Nathaniel Mary Quinn Tschabalala Self Nadia K Waheed Bill Traylor Kenesha Sneed Muzae Sesay David Hammons Robert Pruitt Dominic Chambers Lania Sproles Deborah Roberts Clementine Hunter Padma Rajendran Amoako Boafo Lorna Simpson Adrian Piper Bisa Butler Titus Kaphar Jennifer Packer Noah Davis Mikey Yates Beatriz Gonzalez Tsedaye Makonnen & Ayana Evans Toyinoji Hodutola Lania Sproles Jessica Sabogal Hank Willis Thomas Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Ariana Vaeth Kudzanai-Violet Hwami Musicians Al Greene TLC Mulatu Astatke Beyonce Lianne La Havas Mavis Staples Alabama Shakes Leon Bridges Anjimile Writers Zadie Smith Audre Lorde Richard Wright Langston Hughes Toni Morrison Jamaica Kincaid Sonia Guinansaca Film Cheryl Dunye If you have suggestions of artists that you think I should add, please email me using the "contact" page. I will also be adding these artists to the ongoing list of "Artists to Know" on my teaching blog. |
CurrentDrawing from Perception, Invention & Memory @ Stein Galleries
Jan. 16 - March 8, 2024 160 Creative Arts Center Wright State University Dayton, OH Gallery Hours: Tue/Thur 11-4pm Wed/Fri 12-4pm Sat 10-4pm Feast @ Mosesian Center for the Arts Jan. 26 - March 8, 2024 321 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 Gallery Hours: Wed. - Sat. 1-8pm Tag Cloud
All
LinksBlogs & Organizations
art, life (no separation) Big, Red & Shiny Boston Art Review Dorchester Art Project Gateway Arts Friends & Mentors
AJ Rombach Bridget Bailey Chen Peng Dana Clancy Dana Frankfort Daniel Kornrumpf Dena Haden Eleanor Anderson Elizabeth Menges Georganna Greene Hannah Cole Jason Lipow Jen Caine Jenn Houle Joetta Maue Josephine Halvorson Kaitlin McDonough Katherine Vetne Lindsey Warren Liza Clement Lucy Kim Madeline Kobe Madeline Norton Matt Milkowski Marc Schepens Maria Moltini Meena Hasan Natessa Amin Sarah Pater |