It’s a good time to see work by Joyce Scott


Joyce Scott is enjoying a lot of well-deserved shows and publicity right now. Here’s what I know – and there could be more!

The cover article of the Fall 2014 issue of UrbanGlass Glass (Quarterly) is of Joyce Scott. It’s a substantial article, unfortunately not freely available online. The description on the website is, “Joyce J. Scott’s work, as fearless as its creator, offers and unflinching comentary on insjustice, violence, and race.” Using my librarian chops, I see that the online magazine indexes of Art & Architecture Complete and Art Source (EBSCOhost databases) carry the full text of Glass. Check with your local public or academic or art library to see if you can get access through them. It’s not online yet; there’s usually a lag until the databases load the article. You can buy the issue from UrbanGlass, of course, and then get all the wonderful color photographs.

Spelman College in Atlanta is currently showing “Brides of Anansi: Fiber and Contemporary Art.” Using Anansi the trickster god as a theme, eight artists “explore how fiber has become a distinctive voice of women of the African Diaspora to articulate identity, relationships, history, experiences, and artistry about the world(s) in which they live.” In the video, you can see Scott’s work at about 4:00. The show is on display through December 6.

The big exhibition that I’d like to get to most is “Maryland to Murano: Neckpieces and Sculptures by Joyce J. Scott at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. “Maryland to Murano will be the first exhibition to examine the relationship between Scott’s beaded and constructed neckpieces created in her Baltimore, Maryland studio and her more recent blown glass sculptures crafted in the Berengo Studio on Murano Island in Venice, Italy.” “In Scott’s hands, human adornment becomes a vehicle for social commentary and a means for confronting contentious issues affecting contemporary society. Navigating controversial themes including hunger, rape, and racial stereotypes, Scott’s jewelry transcends the typical function of adornment and embellishment.” The exhibition is on display through March 15.

Through today (sorry!) at Goya Contemporary in Baltimore is “Joyce J. Scott: Can’t We all Just Get Along?” From the press release, “Scott is known to deliberately and systematically close the gap between the virtuosity of fine art and the honed adroitness of fine craft, to reveal a practice of meaningful storytelling through the vehicle of the object. Uncharacteristically for Scott, the exhibition Can’t We All Just Get Along? focuses on a particular subject, the global gun culture.”

Recently closed at Mobilia in Cambridge, Massachusetts was “Joyce J. Scott: New Work, 2014.”

On November 23 and 24th, Galerie Myrtis Contemporary Fine Art in Baltimore is having a holiday sale, “Body and Soul,” including work by Scott.

This article on the Metalwerx blog, “Joyce J. Scott, Queen of Beads…” sums up many of these recent Scott sightings and doings, with photographs.

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