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SASSAFRASS

SASSAFRASS

$900.00Price
Sales Tax Included

DESCRIPTION:

24W X 36H

recycled upholstery samples, embroidery thread, latex paint on canvas; 2022; (Upholstery is hand-stitched to canvas in cross stitches -- the earliest samples of cross stitch were discovered in Egypt and date back to the 6th century.)

 

CONSORTS OF THE SPIRITS

This is a work in my series titled Consorts of the Spirits and was inspired by a phrase from the writing of Ntozake Shange:

 

"Where there is a woman there is magic. If there is a moon falling from her mouth, she is a woman who knows her magic, who can share or not share her powers. A woman with a moon falling from her mouth, roses between her legs and tiaras of Spanish moss, this woman is a consort of the spirits."


Finishing Consorts of the Spirits this spring at the two-year mark from when the globe first shut down — and during the week of Earth Day 2022 — was important to me.

 

In my art (words and visual) I try to alchemize trauma into triumph, turn something ugly into something beautiful. For these, I’ve used upcycled upholstery samples from a woman-owned business that had to close due to the pandemic. (Some of the samples I retrieved from the dumpster, others were donated to me by the owner.)

The series is informed by three things:

  • My relationship with Ntozake Shange's choreopoem titled for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbos is enuf.
  • The research I've been following by McKinsey & Company regarding the impact of the pandemic on women and women in the workforce, globally.
  • My own personal journey over the last 30 years, from a girl to a woman and from a 7th grade stuent to an adult artist, to find -- and define -- my own rainbow through art.


A portion of the sale of this work is donated to the Catherine McAuley Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which serves distinct populations – immigrants, refugees, and women experiencing crisis. The Center offers one-on-one tutoring and small group learning opportunities to adult learners, and provides refugees and immigrants with employment-readiness education and job-seeking support, as well as assistance navigating community resources like transportation, healthcare, and housing.

 

A FEW KEY PANDEMIC-RELATED DATES (spring 2020)
🗓 March 11, 2020 the World Health Org declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
🗓 March 13, 2020 Pres Trump declared a nationwide emergency.
🗓 March 15, 2020 US states began to shut down to prevent the spread of COVID1-19.
🗓 April 3, 2020 CDC announced new mask wearing guidelines and recommends that all people wear masks when outside of the home.
🗓 April 7, 2020 a report from the Chicago Tribune illuminates racial disparities of the pandemic in the US.
🗓 April 24, 2020 Georgia, Alaska, Oklahoma begin to partially reopen their states despite concerns from health experts.
🗓April 30, 2020 Operation Warp Speed, an initiative to produce a vaccine for the coronavirus is launched.

In April 2021 is when I started working with the recycled upholstery samples and you can read about the first series, completed on Earth Day 2021, here.
 

"In the mists and fog of life find your way to the rainbow by the sound of your own voice." -- Ntozake Shange

 

*Please note art does not come framed, though it may be pictured in a float frame.


This is art that makes a statement using recycled upholstery samples.
🗑 —> ♻️ —> 🖼 = 🌎🚺

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