Linocut

This is one of the first prints from the linocut.  With limited space and supplies I think it came out pretty well.  I had the speedball ink and a brayer.  I used freezer paper to ink the brayer and a book and spoon to press.  I really like how it came out and I'm going to watercolor a few of them once it dries.

I'm going to do a few more of these, some small designs to put on cards.

SYMBOLISM USED:


I used various symbols from different areas of Africa. There are two Adinkra symbols:


NYANSAPO (background): 

"Wisdom Knot." It is a symbol of wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence and patience.  It is an especially revered symbol of the Akan, this symbol conveys the idea that "a wise person has the capacity to choose the best means to attain a goal. Being wise implies broad knowledge, learning and experience, and the ability to apply such faculties to practical ends."


SANKOFA (hand to the right)
"return and get it"
A symbol of the importance of learning from the past.

In the hand to the left  there is a shield being crossed by a gun and a spear.
The ankh is also used in the crown of the black woman's hair and is the Egyptian symbol for Life.  THe black man is kneeling in front of the black woman, his position indicative of the womb from which he came emphasized even more by the second circle of the nyansapo.

The flame that burns in his chest, a play on "heart of darkness" and representative of his soul force.

Black Writers and Artists---My Thoughts on a Dwindling People

I mostly collect non-fiction but I have picked up fiction books and short stories by black authors recently. A few authors you guys can check out (some you may know):

Maya Angelou
James Baldwin
Toni Cade Bambara
Edwidge Danticat (she's Haitian-American and writes beautifully)
Ralph Ellison
Lerone Bennett, Jr.
Arna Bontemps
Octavia Butler
Arna Bontemps
Frank London Brown
Sterling A Brown
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
John Henrik Clark
Eugenia W. Collier
Arthur P. Davis
John P. Lewis
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
Rudolph Fisher
HOyt W. Fuller
Ernest J. GAines
Loyle Hairston
Martin J. Hamer
Chester Himes
Langston Huges
Zora Neale Hurston
LeRoi Jones
Jennifer Jordan
William Melvin Kelley
John O. Killens
Claude McKay
James Alan McPherson
Paule Marshall
Albert Murray
Carl Ruthven Offord
Ann Petry
Rosemarie Robotham
John Caswell Smith
Mary Elizabeth Vroman
Alice Walker
Richard Wright
Frank Yerby

A lot of my examples are not recent authors. It is definitely difficult to find quality these days at least to my standards. I want to mostly learn rather than get lost in a story, which I enjoyed in my youth. 

To be honest, we're mostly at fault as black people. How? We need to foster our individual gifts and talents among ourselves. No one is going to appreciate what we do more than we would ourselves. We will not get the credit that we deserve in this society, not to the degree that others would be appreciated. I've experienced this firsthand. When I got to shows that have artwork that is predominantly done by black people, I see very few black people in attendance. We have to be our greatest supporters if we want to be seen as an independent force to be reckoned with. With my poetry and my art, I want people to, first and foremost, THINK, and to see things in a way that they can immediately relate to, even if it repels them. I want to incite dialog. Does this work? No. I end up with white folks trying to relate to strictly Afrocentric themes that they never get the point of and black people saying things to the effect of, "I like your work, it's deep/makes me think/etc."  Then they walk away because they either don't want to think about it any more or they don't know what to say.  I don't make "feel-good" work.  If I did "standard black art" perhaps I would get more of a response.  We are all put on this earth for different things.  I wasn't put here to placate the masses.  I was put here to say something with my art; to convey a message that is bigger than myself.  One that is easily understood, even if it is not readily accepted.  One that would plant the seed of change and transformation into a searching yet confused soul and ground it.


I am an artist and it has become one of my main goals to not only collect black art but to give voice to the rich history. It's a very recent history. Back when the law of the land was to hold my ancestors in chattels, their creative ingenuity wasn't considered or acknowledged.  We can only access what has managed to slip through the sands of time.  When I did my last exhibition I wrote out my artist statement with ideologies that were fostered by my childhood and spiritual explorations as an adult. Imagine my surprise when I got to studying black artists back from the early to mid 20th century that a lot of the things and themes I explored they explored also. I came to a common ground with them without even knowing them. I feel the same way about many black authors and artists of substance...their writing touches and speaks to me. Art is subjective, but let's face it. You know when someone's spoon-feeding you bullcrap.

What I'm up to...

I attended the artist reception for Terry Hunter on November 11th. My husband was hesitant...I guess I can't much blame him as I drag him and the kids around town to art-related events and I suppose they can't be as enjoyable to them as they are to me. After viewing Dr. Hunter's work I was certain my husband would like it and tried my best to dissuade his concerns. So we went to my dear alma mater to see the show. We got there slightly after 6:30 but we didn't see too many folks. The gallery director came out of the theater and told me that everyone was in there watching a powerpoint. My kids were diving into their favorite part of any reception...the food! My husband found that he really liked Dr. Hunter's work (told him) and was looking forward to meeting him. We went into the theater just as he was starting his question and answer. My husband asked him a question in regards to how he was able to organize and filter all of his ideas when he had so much going on in each of his pieces.

"Focus!" Dr. Hunter replied exuberantly. He expounded more on his process. I would have to admit I was initially thinking to myself that his works were done on black paper. His mixed media was stumping me as I can usually guess or identify the mediums involved. I guessed white prismacolor and charcoal to some degree on black paper. Boy was I wrong! He started with a white base (a rag paper) and built his rich black tones up across the surfaces using printmaking techniques, collaging, prismacolor pencils (got that one), charcoal (got that too), mylar (say what?) and airbrushing (didn't see that one coming). Naturally how he arrives at the final artwork is his "trade secret" that he has spent many years (since 1980) perfecting. I absolutely love his integration of text and images...his works have a very graphic feel to them. My children even got into the art. My son (he is popular with the artists) told him what his favorite piece was, a work called "Wrap" which was a play on the evolution of rap music. The child got a kick out of spotting the Energizer Bunny and Snoopy among the images. As we were leaving my son called out to him and said, "Wow, you're a really good artist!" We couldn't help but to laugh.

I got to see my professors which always warms my heart. I found out that Ms. Gilkerson is also going for the same fellowship I was through the arts commission. Now THIS ought to be interesting lol. I told Mr. Nevitt I was seriously considering going for my MFA at USC and asked him if he would mind reviewing my portfolio. Naturally he didn't mind at all. I think he was relieved to no end that I didn't abandon my artistic endeavors as soon as I got my degree. No...it's too much a part of me for all of that.

When we were leaving my husband wanted to know why I didn't touch on more social subjects or add more images to my pieces. Personally I like to subtly offend rather than outrightly offend. I get a kick out of white folks trying to interpret my work because it really has nothing to do with them other than the effects of what the enslavement and colonization process has done to minorities in America and across the world. That's mostly indirectly but if they really want to get deep with it...He made some suggestions that bout near had me crying from laughter. He had commentary on every group in America even homosexuals and I would have to admit it would be pretty hilarious to observe a crowd viewing some of those pieces. I told him for his sake I'll do a series I'll call tentatively "The Melting Pot" until I come up with something more fitting. His whole commentary revolved around food. Simply hilarious. I'll probably get started this weekend.

Dr. Hunter's work did remind me of work I did when I was younger. There was so much I wanted to say that all related so I would use one piece and incorporate all of my ideas into it. I did a piece in high school, a linocut, called "The Spirit of Africa" that was one of those pieces. I still have that linocut too. It is a black woman in a headwrap, her dress is flowing behind her. Between the folds of her dresses are the words "The Spirit of Africa" in block capitals and there are bambara antelope headdresses in the background along with some African masks. I won the Savannah River Site Black History Month Art contest when I was in the tenth grade using a similar method. I did four panels each with multiple images from the Africans sojourn in America. As I got older, less is more became my mantra as I got really caught up in the technical aspect of art more than the deeper meaning. I could manipulate the viewer more when I limited the amount of information they were perceiving. While I still utilize less is more, I say more with my art...people do not like to think. Sure I can tell them what to think with my imagery but I'd rather make them work for it. What I enjoyed about Dr. Hunter's work was the fact that despite all of the imagery and the words, you develop a different perspective each time you viewed his pieces. Everytime I went back to look at a piece I found something new I didn't see before and I would get a little laugh out of it. He said that he was inspired by satire and by Mad Magazine growing up. He liked the fact that you had to read it multiple times and catch the subtle hints of satire that would be spread out through each page. His pieces are EXACTLY that way and the best part? All of the imagery in each of his pieces just belonged. He has the perfect balance of imagery and message. I will definitely seek out his work in the future. He is the executive director of a program called FACETS, the Fine Arts Cultural Enrichment Teaching Studios that works in conjunction with Clemson University to serve the underserved young artists in the upstate area. He invited us to a show that he would be having with some of his students. We will certainly try to make it. I'll ask my professors to keep me abreast of his events.

One day, I intend to teach. I have been able to not only improve the artwork of children I have worked with as a volunteer art instructor in the schools, I have given them skills they could utilize across different curriculum and use at home and in their communities. The mere imparting of information is not education...true education should stimulate the mind and result in making a person think and do for him/herself. I desire to work primarily with black children. Our black children get such a bad reputation for not "performing to standards." Whose standards? I am of the personal opinion that the educational system of America is insufficient and incapable of properly educating the young black mind. The system is antiquated...immobility and rigidity are the products of modern socialization and are really unrealistic when it comes to teaching (in my opinion).

The mind is fluid as should the method of molding said mind. I don't know how many times I have sat through classes and observed children sitting with a blank stare, looking off into space or dozing while the teacher is trying to teach them any number of subjects. What's worse is the children are punished for not being able to focus despite the mundane methodology that is being employed to enrich their mobile minds. Now most of the art instructors don't take too kindly to my methods so I have to find a balance. I changed my approach in a way that the children would constantly ask questions. I make them challenge me. The first class I taught was one of animal portraiture and I was drawing a bulldog. I began with shapes. The children immediately got argumentative. "That's too easy" and "how is THAT going to be a bulldog?" and my personal favorite, "are you REALLY an artist?" *sigh* Eleven year olds. Anyway, I began from there and within minutes had an exact drawing of the bulldog. Now I really had their attention. I was answering questions for the better part of an hour...thankfully it was a two hour seminar. The methods I taught them for drawing their pet portraits could be used to draw ANYTHING. I play on their expectation that something should come out perfectly as soon as you put it down...children for whatever reason think that way. I turned their expectations upside down and kept their attention. I tell them to quiet down and guess what? They actually do it! They don't want to miss a thing. They were surprised when it was time to go as was I (I was having a blast). The teacher called me back again for a portrait drawing class. I draw pretty fast which works pretty well with young people. They think I'm some kind of superhero or something.

My husband says I just have a way with children and so does he just more so. Every time we go to the park he ends up with a pretty good following of children wanting to play. It's funny to watch. I'm glad that my son has him as a constant positive role model.


What art have I been doing? I completed these some weeks ago. I'm in the process of doing some smaller studies now.

Thanks to the talented folks at wetcanvas I have made improvements to the last painting and I am very pleased with it.

I do not intend to work on it any more...these are studies after all.


While painting on these studies I was having a bit of difficulty doing something that is very important to an artist...seeing. The images were blurry and I was really having some difficulty so I went to the eye doctor. Yep. New glasses were overdue.

This piece is 8 x 10.

I completed this study of a Sudanese woman.  While painting isn't my forte I do enjoy doing it sometimes.  It remains unfinished as I do not desire to mess around with it any more.  These are studies afterall.

This piece is 11 x 14.  I will work on larger paintings later...there is so much I want to do.  Slow and steady wins the race as they say.  With a four day weekend coming up I intend to get a jump start in that race.  I want to go to the About Face drawing group tonight but have decided not to.  My husband is training for a Power Lifters meet and needs his gym time.  He offered to be my model as my chief complaint was the lack of a model and the lack of the ability to stay focused what with four kids running around.  Staying focus will still be an issue which is why I wanted a more structured setting.  Well I'm not doing so badly though...I get more done than most.  I still teach crochet classes at A.C. Moore and intend to get back into volunteering at the schools I guess when everything gets on the up and up.

Yesterday my last two water mixable oils finally arrived to complete my palette:  burnt sienna and cobalt blue.  It's amazing I got anything done without them to begin with.  My painting world is now complete.  I had made a pretty good substitute but to tell you the truth, portrait painting is near impossible without burnt sienna. I was soooooo pissed off at Daniel Smith Art supplies...I called to see what was taking so long with my order (I got some linoleum too) and they told me the paint was on back order until the 21st . Lucky for them it all came today but I doubt I'll purchase from them for awhile even if they do have some of the best prices I've seen.  I appreciate continuity more. 


Here is another oil study:

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I don't have a refined looking process but it works.  I start every drawing whether from photo or from life with an oval and perpendicular lines indicating the skull and eye lines.  I usually stray from it but that's just what I do.  This painting is 8" x 10".

Usually I paint mostly people of color...it is interesting working with a greatly reduced palette.  The hair is going to be a challenge...I'll use this study to experiment.  Since I will have access to my husband's computer tonight I will probably work on this portrait after I finish up the above one.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/terry-k-hunters-retrospective-is-a-well-drawn-grid/Content?oid=2008550

If the weather permits, we will be attending the artist reception at Columbia College for Terry K. Hunter on Thursday, November 11th.  I can't make a promise that we would be able to but I hope so.  I was told about this exhibit a while back by the gallery coordinator (yay Jackie) and had made a mental note of it.  I have missed a few I had wanted to attend.  We have to be safety conscious first and foremost...my husband would prefer that I not go anywhere at night by myself or with the kids if he happens to be working..  The world just isn't what it used to be. Also if it is rainy that would be a no go.  It is getting cold and the last thing we need to deal with are four kiddies with the sniffles. 

"In his artist's statement, Hunter encourages viewers to keep their explanations and interpretations inside one's own mind. 'There, they can be whatever one makes of them.' "  

I'm on a roll...

I forgot how much fun painting is, even if it's not your "thing."  A quick google search confirmed that I can mix acrylic with water-soluble oils so I took off with that.  I really can't stand trying to make backgrounds with oils.  Even water soluble oils dry pretty slowly so it is a bit nerve racking but not nerve-racking enough to convert me to acrylics.

Anyways I was supposed to be working on the image from the previous post but I came across another image I found in my public domain/creative commons (I don't remember which so I will say creative commons) search some months ago.  I figured she would be a good subject for light and dark and for utilizing the method that I learned so long ago (to make sure I still remember how to do it). 

I also wanted to play around with collage so this is a mixed media study.  My husband said that he understood I was just practicing to get back in the groove but he really wanted me to do a bigger one similar to this one.  Not a chance, yet.  I have several more canvas boards to practice on.

This is the sketch and beginning tonal underpainting.  I didn't take a picture of it once I had set all of the light and dark tones in...the camera just wasn't on my mind.  I did change the pic a little for interest.  On the original the negative space just wasn't interesting so I changed some elements of her face around just primarily the shape around the edge.  I made it more angular.

My son caught me working on it.

The completed painting.  Her headwrap is made up of cut up papers decoupaged to the surface.  I painted over some elements with gold,.  I made her dress a flat gold.  The background I just had some fun.  Despite all of the fun I had with a flower stamp it doesn't distract from the portrait.  The coloration is more natural in this although I wasn't really aiming for realism.  In person I have flecks of some of everything in it.  That's the fun with experimenting.  This is a much different from the grisaille piece and I will use this method in the future.  I am going to play with more unrealistic colors like blue and red in the future.



I will definitely work on the lady from the previous post next.

Another study, another method

I am in the process of working on another painting study while the grisaille piece dries.  I am not quite sure what to call this method. I will call it the Gian Cassone method since he taught it to me.

I was very successful at painting realistic portraits and still lifes when I took painting back in college using this method.  I learned it from Gian Cassone, my mentor from my teenage years.  He is a very prolific portrait painter.  He was hard on me.  I remember being so excited to learn painting from him only to spend the majority of the summer drawing still lifes (no eraser) in conte for over six hours a day lol.  Then he finally let me get some painting done.  I copied a few painters I admired (Robert Henri and John Singer Sargent).  Then he let me paint other subjects.  You guessed it.  More still lifes.  The tricks he taught me in regards to drawing and painting and establishing tones I still use to this day (when I'm not being lazy lol).

He really drilled home the difference between "looking" and "seeing."  I remember I was working on drawing this elegant vinegar bottle that he had.  I spent four hours refining it and it was really good.  He came over and said "start over."  I thought he was kidding but he was very much serious.  He asked me what I saw.  I told him I drew what I saw.  He said no I didn't.  I had made the background black (to make all of the details I had worked so diligently on really pop) when it was really more of a medium gray.  Since no erasers could be used I had to start over and get it right lol. Another four hours *smh*.

Now I must have been a special kind of 16 year old to take all of that but I was a better artist because of it.

Anywho here is what I have:

This is the image I chose.  It was from flickr by user hdptcar.  It is licensed under a creative commons attribution license and can be reworked so it will be my reference study.

My freehand charcoal drawing of it.  I am done for the time being. It is rainy so I can't spray fixative on the image (outside because of the fumes).  This is 11 x 14 inches.  I have to get rid of all these tiny canvases I have all over the place so I will have more of these studies to come before I get to larger work.

I made the shawl come in more on her face by the forehead.  The photo looked a little awkward.  I wanted to make the negative space more interesting so I made her shawl more pointed to the left.  I can still see the ghost of another sketch I was working on prior to deciding on this image.

What I am up to...

I was doing some cleaning, mostly to clear out a space where I could paint that wasn't visually cluttered.  I tend to amass a great deal of items and since I do so many things this is very easy.  I have stuff everywhere.  Even when I was finished organizing I STILL have things everywhere, only neater lol.

My neater, more refined painting space.  I decided to take up oil painting again.  This is usually impractical as you have to have proper ventilation and all that for the fumes, however I'm working in water soluble oils so this takes care of that factor.  Also I am right by the back door.  This is one half of the dining room that we rarely use.  See the colorful drawing?  My kindergarten baby won first place in her Oktober Fest Student Art Contest.  It is hanging (with her blue ribbon) on the wall now.

I reverted the table into a drawing space.  My husband's laptop won't usually be there though lol.  You can kind of see my organized clutter.  I have several boxes under that table. And most of my polymer clay items are on the bench.

A better idea of how I organize clutter.  Sketchbooks, canvases, and foamcore abound.  I have two large tackle boxes from Wal-Mart that hold a lot of my drawing and painting supplies.  I was so pissed off when I was younger when I realized that artbins were essentially expensive tackle boxes.  Yes, the novelty with name brand wore off real quick.  Everything is more easily accessible now and out of the living room.


My crochet is another story.  I have a large wicker drawer that I am storing all of my yarn in.  I'm still working on my "ugly" blanket so that should take care of the scraps.

What's on my easel?

This 8 x 10 oil painting study on canvas board.  I did this a few nights back and even though it is with water soluble oils I'm still waiting for it to dry.  I am using the grisaille technique.  Grisaille means "grey" in French.  With this technique all the values are worked out before any color is added.  The colors will be followed up using translucent glazing and scumbling techniques with the heavier applications of paint coming in the last stages.  I haven't done a painting of this nature in years, ten to be more exact.  It is only a study to see if I can still do it.  I haven't oil painted in some time.  I think the last time I did it was back in 2008.

I would have to say I chopped off the head lol.  I'm not too concerned as it is just a study.  It isn't a bad composition.  The competing focal points between the finger tips and the eyes would be worked out with the color and ultimately the eyes win anyway.  All in all my eyes rest comfortably on  the painting...the eyes really grab the viewer and in my opinion offsets the chopped off head as my eyes tend to want to continue the painting off of the canvas board.  The negative space is just as interesting as the positive...it has an abstract quality that I like.  Some drawing issues that I notice now I'll work out with the color, primarily in the end stages when I add the highlights so I'm not too concerned.

I love painting eyes, which should be obvious as they are the most refined portion of this painting and any other portrait I work on.  My subject was holding a necklace which I painted out.  I will probably add a 3d element of a necklace when it is finished.  No, I will add a 3d element, my venus figures.

I created a small Venus of Willendorf some time ago out of polymer clay.  I wanted to do more work exploring the woman so doing venus figures seemed like a natural extension of this.  The mold is made out of Amazing Mold Putty.  It is expensive but I love this stuff.

These were the original polymer clay venuses that I made.  That Willendorf was a challenge.  I can see these as additions to artwork in the future.

I love working in polymer clay.  I also love experimenting making faces.  This is the latest one I created.  It hasn't been baked yet as I am refining the features more.  I am happy with how it has come out so far.  I didn't get a view of the side but her hairstyle is three bounded buns.  Her neck ends in a straight area towards the back so she could be mounted.  I have plans for her.

This polymer clay venus stands about six inches.  I utilized my anatomy book to work on this particular piece.  It still needs to be sanded smooth and when I work up the patience (I can't stand to sand) then I will do so.  It has a foil armature with the polymer molded over.  I am pleased with how it came out considering I haven't molded a model in over 10 years.


I haven't even posted the million drawings I have done.  There is so much I want to do including larger paintings.  Everything takes time.  I will get there.

My reading

I've been busy working on projects and catching up on my reading.  My reading list is pretty interesting.  Seeing the trailer for Tyler Perry's version of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf and I can't really say for certain that I am impressed.  I am definitely going to see it.  Naturally the book of "choreopoems" has made my reading list.  I haven't read this since middle school.  I didn't fully understand it then so hopefully age has opened my eyes more.  I have never seen the play and I won't youtube it until I have read the book again.

What else is on my reading list?

The Strike That Changed New York:  Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis, Jerald E. Podair (current read)

The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson

How to Teach Black Children by Alton D. Rison  --- This was one hard book to find (at least affordably!).  Even the resellers on Amazon were at a loss.  I kept at it and finally (finally) found it!
Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey --This is currently en rout. 

My Bondage and My Freedom and Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Up From Slavery: an Autobiography by Booker T. Washington (a reread)

Stolen Legacy by George James (a reread)

From the Browder Files by Anthony Browder (a reread)

Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery by Na'im Akbar---a definite reread.

The Goddess Black Woman by Akil--- (a reread) I was trying to get my niece and my stepdaughter to read this but they didn't show any interest :-(.

These are books I have to get a hold of:

The Willie Lynch Letter and the Destruction of Black Unity (Slave Chronicles) The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave by Willie Lynch. --I remember when I was a member of a particular website I'll leave unnamed (because I am still a member) when discussions on this book would come up.  Naturally of course I read it at that time (2004/2005).  I was in the minority that appreciated the work.  The other "intellectual giants" on the site, the majority, belittled it, claiming it wasn't written during the time it claimed because some of the words used were not in popular usage during that period.  Like any of that actually mattered.  A true discussion of the content was lost in the battle for "who was more intelligent."  I love black uplift sites.  I just wish their focus was less on Eurocentric ideologies in regards to education, self....just plain living.

They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America by Ivan Van Sertima --This book is somewhere in my house.

The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life by Kevin Powell--I heard some good things about it.  Worth a read if it concentrates on the African part of the black male and not the "European."  I hesitate to buy it because I will be pissed off as the world if I see anything in it on how to live the so called "American Dream."

 Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell
“Black people are not dark-skinned white people." I like this book already. 

The Wise Mind of Emperor Haile Selassie I  by Prince Ermias

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy Leary

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet Washington

The Isis Papers by Dr. Francis Welsing

Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America by Ayana Byrd, Lori Tharps --I bought and read this book at the beginning of my natural hair journey in 2004.  This book is floating around the house somewhere.

Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association by E. David Cronon

Visions for Black Men by Na'im Akbar

Know Thyself by Dr. Na'im Akbar and Asa G. Hilliard III

From Miseducation to Education  by Na'im Akbar

Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas by Sam Durant

Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture by Damian Duffy and others

The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture) by James Edward Smethurst

A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present by Romare Bearden

African Art by Frank Willett


Creating Their Own Image: The History of African-American Women Artists by Lisa E. Farrington

Black Art: A Cultural History by Richard J. Powell

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

Various writings of Dr. Malachi Z. York





Well I don't have a lot of these books yet but I will have them.  I will make it my goal to learn and then to fill the minds of every young black child I get a hold of with their true history and let them know the real truth of our innate genius!

What's Going On?

It has been a full month since I posted.  So much for weekly posting updates.  First things first.  On October 21st, I took my husband and kiddies to the opening reception of Tyrone Geter's "Black Works."  I remember when I first saw Mr. Geter's work.  It was my freshman year at Columbia College.  His work was shown along with Tonya Gregg's.  Now prior to ever seeing his work my professors had already mentioned his name in regards to my work, saying that I have a lot of the same "sensitivities" and styles so I was really looking forward to seeing the work of this artist.  I was blown away (actually totally floored) by his pieces, my favorite being a mixed media piece he did of a young child with angel wings with a trunk of old toys and items below it.  I can't find a copy of this piece online but I remembered just looking in awe at his mastery of the medium I was so in love with at the time: charcoal.  I thought my professors were insane for comparing me to a man that far surpassed my skills (although I did see the similarity).  Just amazing.  This show was no exception.  His new pieces were pretty striking.  He did have some of his older work here or there including one of my favorites of a young girl on grey paper.  I love his incorporation of 3d elements with the 2d. 

The reception was actually the first time I really met Mr. Geter even though I have talked to him on the phone.  The first thing he did was come up to my son and observe that he was the only boy of four.  He then told Ethan to always be nice to his sisters and about what happened to him as a child if he wasn't nice to his sisters. "I'd get a whupping!"  My little one, she really took a shine to him and even gave him a hug.  I call my oldest and my youngest my social butterflies as they are nowhere near shy.  My stepdaughter and my middle child are very quiet and reserve.  Just don't do anything funny around my Lana Mama.  She will laugh at you, lol.  I shook his hand and reminded him that I had spoken with him earlier in the year and he remembered and apologized (totally unnecessary though, I know he's busy) for not being able to meet with me at that time or make it to the show.   He said to give him a call and remind him that I was the young lady with the four beautiful children.


To be honest, I don't think my hubby or the kiddies like going to art receptions.  The kids get bored pretty quickly, which does reduce the amount of time I would normally spend at one and this one was no exception...we had to skip out earlier than I had originally planned.  My time is so tight I wasn't sure I would be able to make it back by the time it would come down.  

I love to talk about art.  I love to critique.  I love everything about it.  My children....eh, not so much.  There was one piece that incorporated black and blue paper.  On the bottom was a field of peas painted black with a lone blue marble in the middle.  My son made the mistake of asking me why there was only one blue marble down there.  It sparked a long explanation into color theory, balance and proportion which was very exciting to me.  When I was finished my son looked at the drawing, then he looked at me, then he looked back at the drawing and said "I don't get it."  I laughed and told him it was fine.  One of my favorite pieces was one done in pastels, which my little one said she liked because it was "so colorful."  I bit my tongue on a more detailed critique than "pretty colors" as the kids were bored enough.  How could I have four kids and NONE of them show any interest in art?  My Lana Mama has an eye but no interest really.  Well they are young yet.  

Artwork Update

This is the completed drawing from the previous post.  Once again scans do not do these drawings justice due to the glare from the crackle glaze and varnish I am using.  Also a lot of the fine details are lost.

"Into thy hands, I commend my spirit."

This is a current work in progress that is ballpoint ink and watercolor on vintage paper called "It is finished."  This paper holds up pretty well to my abuse without tearing but I'm not going to push my luck too much.

"It is finished."

I haven't forgotten about the Exotic Symbolism series.  Here is the second ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") drawing.  I wasn't happy with it for the longest.  This colored pencil, micron ink, ballpoint ink and watercolor amalgamation didn't becoming appealing to me until I put a crackle glaze over it which took in the most interesting of places that don't show up on the scan. 

The work in progress that's on my easel?  Well that's going to remain my secret for now until I see how part two of my texture experiment takes.  I'll update in a few days.

The Doll Test Revisited...

 If you are light, you're alright. If you're brown, stick around.  If you're black, get back. 

While it has been a very long time since I have heard this, I am very well aware of its implications.  Being of medium brown tone, I did not get teased very much about my skin color.  I knew of classmates who were teased incessantly from elementary to high school about being dark.  I also knew of classmates who were put on a pedestal by not only their peers but adults for having a lighter skin tone.  I can remember classmates saying "she think she cute, who does she think she is" referring to a lighter complected classmate with long hair.  Family members used skin lightening creams as I was growing up and family members/church members and the like doled out far more compliments to the lighter children than I received.  I remember in church once, this girl about my age was visiting.  She was light-skin with fairly long hair.  My sisters and other church members stood around her as she did the Hammer dance and ended in a split (looking back...why was she doing this in church anyway?).  Well I could do some things too and tried to show them but I was told to be quiet and get out of the way as they doled compliments on this other girl.  I'd be lying if I said this didn't affect me...I wouldn't be telling the story now if it didn't.  I try to be mindful of how I handle situations with the kids.  Things stay with children, no matter how minor.


Anyway in my rare visits to CNN (as I have little interest in being constantly bombarded with foolishness and negativity), I came across a story discussing this sweet little girl.  Anderson Cooper did a story where  CNN recreated the doll test used to support the Brown vs the Board of Education case.  The results were still similar to what they were all those years ago.  How is it that we have not instilled in our children a love of self?  What was interesting was the lady who was interviewing them, her reactions.  Her attitude was like, "what are these parents doing to their children?" as though the parents were wrong. When it comes to race specific issues like this, I don't expect other races to understand and I do not agree with them even getting involved because they are on the outside looking in without understanding the true dynamics of what's going on.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2010/08/12/ac.obrien.doll.study.folo.cnn



I try to expose my children to mostly ethnic influences, preferably black.  My children love Little Bill but as a whole it is not easy to find modern day examples of positive Blackness.  My children watch Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, which I grew up on, and love it.  They mostly (thankfully) ignore the television in favor of playing with each other or crafting with me so it is easy for me to monitor and control what they watch.  I need/seek positive Black families to show my children, our own included. I want my children to have the sense of pride in being Black that seems fleeting these days.  It's sad but a constant reality for many Black women and men.  How do you grow to accept an image that is constantly portrayed as something bad?  Nappy hair, darker skin...what do you do when these images just aren't beautiful to you?  Situations like this remind me of when I first went natural.  It was not popular or "the thing" as it seems to be now.  Attitudes towards natural blackness have certainly become more friendly since 2004 when I cut off my past shoulder length relaxed hair to rock a short two inch nappy fro. 

These and other things that have been going on have been weighing on my mind. I think so much it's amazing I'm able to get any drawing done.  I had to get a bigger purse to carry around a larger sketchbook and a lined journal.  My husband was driving me to work last week and I was just leaning back watching the scenery go by.  This image came into my mind and I just had to sketch it as it came.  I knew I would pretty much stick to the sketch.  I made one significant change in the pose since.  I started it this morning and it is still drying on my easel.  It's going to take awhile to finish this one...I'm dealing with multiple mediums and I didn't do a trial run.  Now there was a drawing sitting on my easel for the longest, this drawing of an old woman expelling her spirit.  I was never quite happy with it so like many others it is being recycled into this new work.  It's been torn, burned, decoupaged and gessoed and I still haven't started the new drawing yet.  If the new drawing doesn't fit my fancy I have discovered that in its new cropped state the old woman makes for a much better drawing so it's a win win either way. 

I am sorely in need of a proper update.  My process is slow.  I've been battling colds and other distractions of late but no excuses.  My next post will have a record of the work I've done up until now and my current work.

Series

I haven't gotten much drawing done but I have gotten inspiration!  I went to the flea market about two weeks ago to sell.  One of the vendors inspired my newest venture:  Art Cards featuring the Adinkra symbols.  Now I have done work with the Adinkra symbols before a long time ago in pastels.  The work, while attractive, felt too contrived for my liking so I abandoned the process/approach but never the idea.  After seeing the artwork on the African Tarot cards that she was carrying, the idea of Adinkra cards seemed more and more the way to go.  A series with the symbols and an image that doesn't immediate convey the meaning unless the viewer digresses on it beyond what's presented.  This is a project in which I can take some of the wisdom of my youth (much of which is not readily understood to the uninformed) and incorporate it into my work.  I am still sketching out the details and will update when I have a good grip on my ideology and approach. 

I'm keeping track of the various series that I have going on.

The "Lost Within" Series is never complete.  Actually all of my work still falls under this series' artist statement.  It is solely a b/w exploration.  I love working with charcoal and ink.  I will continue to explore ancestral connections and the psychological effects of the past on the present day condition of blacks throughout the diaspora.  I will continue to use children as that vehicle for exploration.

The "Awakening" Series is very much a work in progress.  It deals with spirituality and religion.  Many of my sketches haven't come into fruition primarily because what's an objective look at reality is for me is someone else's spiritual cornerstone and staunch belief system.  I've been on the receiving end of challenging various belief systems before especially Christianity and it is not pretty.  I won't engage in any verbal exchanges any more...I'll let me art speak for me.  My goal is to make an image that is immediately understood as something far from what it was ever intended to be.  An African child in bondage on a page telling the story of the Israelites sojourn in bondage are images that don't often correlate.  It is representative of not only the physical bondage but the psychological bondage that many African Americans are still gripped by.  The story of our true salvation is shrouded in the guise of the Christian (and other) religions which provided the ultimate tool to enslave the minds of our ancestors and make them better tools of service.  It is a tactic that has worked to present day.  A young black woman on a page depicting the wealthy parishioners as those being closest to God and that God was closest to them.  Deeper reflection on that ideology creates an uncomfortable juxtaposition of race and spirituality.  I have another image that was hard for me to draw last year.  It was originally intended to be a part of the Lost Within series but the research for it was too difficult for me.  It still is...also the backlash for such an image to portray to the world is not one that I'm prepared to take yet.  They will remain sketches in my sketchbook until further notice.  I'm debating on whether to make it large and intrusive or small and intimate. As far as the technique, I love this approach.  I get to be loose and tight, conventional and experimental. I'm contemplating a larger piece in charcoal/ink/gouache coupled with excerpts from James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.

The "Adinkra" Series...I won't call it that officially but it is just a fledgling idea.  I did some sketches and drawings schematically but to be honest...I've been pretty much stagnate.  I collected some pages to be drawn on so I will be organizing.  I've been doing some life studies---there is nothing I love more than to people watch.  My husband says I'm being nosy.  He's concerned that people might react adversely to it but in my experience (nearly ten years) no one ever has.  As a matter of fact most people are flattered.  This past weekend I got caught in the act by a vendor next to us drawing some passersby and he was surprised when I pulled out a sketch of him!  He got so tickled!  Then he asked for my card and the possibility of a commission of his wife. 

Now that I think about it...I guess it is kind of being nosy lol.

New Drawing

So I started working on another drawing.  So far it is ballpoint ink on vintage paper with some watercolor.  It is roughly 5" x 5".  The original pencil sketch still shows through.  I am testing a new crackle medium in the meantime.  Hopefully this will yield quicker and better results.  Anyway, this piece is called, "Into thy hands, I commend my spirit."  I offer this innocent black child as an offering.  I ask, into whose hands?  Into the hands of the same God worshiped by the men who kidnapped her?  Into the hands of the same God worshiped by the men who would rape her? Into the hands of the same God worshiped by the men that would continually enslave, both physically and mentally, the fruits of her womb for generations to come?  Or is it into her own hands, by her own power?  We speak of her spirit, what of her soul?  This is going to be an interesting piece to work on.  Forgive the camera phone pictures---I will post a scanned version later.

In other news, today was the first day of school for my munchkins!  The two older ones are veterans in the second and fourth grade.  The younger ones...it was hard.  My husband and I spent a lot of time teaching them at home.  Letting them go just isn't easy.  My kindergarten baby was super excited to be in school finally.  She was all decked out in her pretty pink.  I sent her off with her school supplies and list of allergens (she's my sensitive baby) and a hug.  This school thing is going to take some getting used to.  She's really shy and sweet with gentle and humble ways.  Her teacher is great so I don't feel as uptight as I was feeling.

My pre-K baby was upset.  She saw all her siblings off to class and as we were heading out, she looked at my husband and me tearfully and asked "What about me?"  Bout near broke my heart.  We consoled her and told her that she would be there later today.  Today she had to be tested for eligibility into the pre-K program at the school.  My husband called me and said that she came bounding out of the classroom exclaiming that she told the teacher what the earth was and that she did really good. My husband said they passed my kindergarten baby on the playground and she was having a blast.  I'm happy to hear it.

Completed Portrait

This is an interesting manner to experiment with.  I am creating artwork that while it is visually interesting has the potential to be an archival and photographical nightmare.  To get really good pictures I would have to employ the help of a great photographer.  I am experiencing glare issues with the glaze and reflective issues with the scanner. This is a scanner here and the buckling of the paper shows up light on the hair even though it is all dark in the original.  I love how it came out either way in real life.  The textures are really beautiful.  This was completed in ballpoint ink, watercolor, goauche and crackle glaze.  It will be finished in a matte varnish.  This fits well into my Awakening series. 

In the closeup the textures are more evident.  I would love to see the dynamics on a larger scale.  I will do a larger portrait in watercolor, ink and gouache in the coming weeks, probably a self portrait to really experiment with this.  I am going to work on another piece in the Exotic Symbolism series that I will probably post later today.

So what does this piece mean?  It holds a lot of meaning in regards to religion and spirituality for the people of African descent in America.  I tend to avoid themes of religion specifically in my work however this piece deals with it directly.  The text talks about how the Hebrews yearned for their distant home after being in bondage.  It speaks to how despite being far away from home they harbored a longing for their future generations to survive and wished for the future what they themselves could not obtain.  They sat by the rivers of Babylon, in the land of their captors and wept when they remembered Zion.  This text resonated with me in its correlation to the plight of the people throughout the African diaspora.  The image is for anyone's interpretation.  Is she a representative of the past or a foreshadowing of the future?  I touched down on a similar theme in my piece To Our Future, Black Children.


That being said, the furthering of the Awakening series will no doubt ruffle a few feathers.  A lot of my recent ongoing readings have been slave narratives dating back from the late 1700s through the US Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.  It's painful, jarring, sad, and angering.  It's hard to control the gamut of emotions that comes from reliving their experiences.  Awakening has to deal with primarily our ancestors taking on the religion of their captors. What am I interested in? The lies they were told, the beliefs they were forced to hold and eventually accepted out of survival's sake, being told that if they ran away they were doomed to hell...the psychological effects of that is evident through today.  It passes down through the generations; a curse of sorts.  It's disturbing to me, and my thoughts, sketches, and writings over the years has culminated to an exploration in a series of small personal drawings.  Children will remain a central theme in my work they were with the Lost Within Series.  As I stated in my artist statement for that series:

"I chose children as my primary subject mainly because they are the purest vessel through which we can hope to reclaim our future.  It is through them that we survive and it is through them that the answers to the unknown can become known."

Current pieces and ACEOs

I decided to work on a larger piece that's about 4" x 6" roughly.  I named it "Difficult Journey Home."  It is ballpoint ink on a torn vintage page. This is a present work in progress as it will become a watercolor piece and an experiment with the crackle texture.

I completed this ACEO over the course of Monday.  Since I actually have to work, the original pencil and ballpoint ink portions above were done on breaks and taken as best as they could be with my camera phone.  I love the crisp lines of the ballpoint ink and believe it or not they blend really well when other mediums are added.  I start all of my drawings in pencil with basic shapes to make sort of a skeleton and approximation of where the features would fall.  In my larger work I let them stay as they only add to the final piece.  I built up a foundation with colored pencil on the face and watercolor on the veil.  I then layered on more applications, alternating between colored pencil and watercolor.  Then I overlayed portions of it with crackle glaze.  Below is the completed piece and a close up of the texture.  The challenge with the scan is that it whites out some areas due to the reflective nature of the glaze so the darks aren't as dark as they are in real life.  I am going to experiment taking photographs with my 10 mp camera to see if I can get a better rendition.  This is the first in an exploratory series I have tentatively named Exotic Symbolism.  It will feature close ups of ethnic women throughout the world and feature a sort of visual commentary on their different struggles.  This obviously is a Muslim woman.  Notice how her lower face is veiled but her hair is not.  I came across this article Joan Smith:  The veil is a feminist issue and was inspired to do a portrait based on this quote from the article:

"Women don't wear the burqa in Afghanistan because they like it; they wear it because they are afraid of being killed if they don't. Women haven't suddenly gone back to wearing the veil in Iraq because they're pious; they do it because women who refuse have been murdered. I loathe the niqab and the burqa when I see them there. And I can't pretend I don't find them equally offensive on my local high street." 

The eyes were once confrontational.  The glaze took the edge off of them and yet they are still confident.  I named this piece "Without a Voice (But Still a Choice)."

I came across a sketch in an old sketchbook from 2003, the start of my natural journey.  I had drawn a shattered glass with my image in it and had titled it "Missing pieces of my identity."  Seems I still haven't gotten away from identity issues or depicting fragmentation in regards to women's issues.  I have an old print I did of a woman from India wearing a burqa back from high school and another piece of a woman wearing one in college.  That image of being covered and having no voice sticks with me and creeps into my work every couple of years or so.

This is presently up for auction on ebay!  See the auction HERE!