What’s your business name and what do you do?
While I don’t have an official business name, I think being an artist is a lot like running your own business. You have clients, collaborators, partners, projects and you have to market yourself, build a brand, etc. I’m an interdisciplinary artist working in sculpture and textiles. My practice is a vessel to present diverse representation and visibility to the African American image, intellect, and spirit. Merging traditional textile/fiber techniques with sculptural sensibilities and applications, my work reinterprets abstract portraiture. My objects are a hybridization of traditional craft processes and spatial practice to reinterpret the human body and explore various modes of portraiture.
How did you learn your craft?
My creative background is pretty broad, but I certainly credit my teachers, mentors and professors who demonstrated what being an artist is. I went through a formal arts education, having obtained my BFA from Maine College of Art & Design, which definitely formed the base of my work today. I also participated in a 7-month mentor and apprentice program through Maine Craft Association and had the privilege of working with the incredible artist and person, Lissa Hunter who really helped me create a philosophy of making and establish what a sustainable studio practice looks like for me personally. During that time, I also did a micro residency with master papermaker, Mary Hark who gave me the space to play, while also instilling an emphasis on the importance of consistency in making and attention to detail.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
The thing I enjoy most about being an artist or a maker is that I am able to use artmaking as a mode of connecting. I love to teach, so using artmaking as a way to connect with people is so fulfilling in the sense that it allows me to learn about my community and learn more about myself in the process. But overall, I just love bearing witness to the different ways people use art and creative outlets to tell their stories and use it as a vehicle for change, for awareness, for visibility and representation.
What do you enjoy least?
Re-organizing or cleaning my studio post-exhibition, haha. In the month(s) that work is out of my studio, I usually spend that time working on other pieces and filling my space back up, so when the work comes back, it can feel a little overwhelming.
What’s one thing you wish people knew about your work?
How much time it takes to finish an artwork. Depending on the project, I can physically make something fairly quickly, but it takes me a much longer time to feel like I’ve finished a piece. I like to spend time with my work and sometimes it will take me weeks or months to fully solve a piece.
What’s one artist you look up to?
It’s sooo hard to narrow it down to one, but I find the work of Simone Leigh, Vanessa German, Audre Lorde, Rina Banerjee, Octavia Butler, and Wangechi Mutu to be really aspirational and deeply moving and inspiring.
What do you do when you’re not creating art?
I work full time at a non-profit organization called Indigo Arts Alliance, where I serve as their Studio and Programs Manager.
Night owl or early bird?
Night owl for sure.
What's your favorite place in Maine?
Again, hard to narrow down to one, but in terms of sites Mackworth Island is high on the list.