Detroit, MI
I was born.
I am animal.
I am human.
I live.
I live negro.
I tell you this because you will mistake me for an africanamerican BUT i am negro, a descendant of the enslaved peoples of theseunitedstatesofamerica.
I live southern.
I was born colored in Louisiana. I was raised negro. I was educated Black at Grambling College, a historically integrated college.
I live in the moment.
In the moment is creation. Creation is within every human. We must celebrate our creativity. The moment fuels our creativity.
I live to put ink on paper.
This is the major outlet for my creativity. I put ink on paper for the glory of my peoples. The words of my peoples have largely been excluded from “fine print.” I defy this condition and force my peoples’ presence into this part of this civilization’s culture.
I am a printer.
I am not an artist.
I am a stuff-maker.
I am not an artist.
I am a visitor.
I will die.
Omaha, NE
Therman Statom- sculptor, glass artist, and painter – is most notably known as a pioneer of the contemporary glass movement for his life-size glass ladders, chairs, tables, constructed box-like paintings, and small scale houses; all created through the technique of gluing glass plate together Born in Winter Haven, Florida in 1953, Statom spent his adolescence growing up in Washington, D.C. His interest in the arts grew from a fondness of painting and he began to investigate ceramics at RISD. However, after an experimental glass blowing session with Dale Chihuly, he was soon hooked on the spontaneity of glass blowing and its limitless possibilities. Statom went on to pursue studies at Pilchuck Glass School during its inaugural year, completing a BFA in 1974 from RISD, and later studied at the Pratt Institute of Art & Design.
Throughout his career, public artworks have been permanently installed at prominent locations including the Los Angeles Public Library, Corning, Inc. Headquarters, the Mayo Clinic, San Jose Ice Center, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Jepson Center for the Arts in the Telfair Museum, Savannah as well as several hospitals across the country.
His artwork appears in numerous exhibitions annually, including solo and group shows around the nation and internationally.
Much of the latter half of Statom’s career has been focused on the importance of educational programming and development within the arts. He has taken a deep interested in employing workshops as a catalyst for social change and in affect, positively impacting a community.
Evanston, IL
Anne Wilson is a Chicago-based visual artist who creates sculptures, drawings, performances, and video animations that explore themes of time, loss, and private and social rituals. Her artwork embraces conceptual strategies and handwork using everyday materials — table linens, bed sheets, human hair, lace, thread, glass, and wire. In 2014, Wilson’s thread walking performance was staged at The Drawing Center in New York City and her work was also included in the exhibition “Fiber: Sculpture 1960-Present,” originating at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Wilson’s artwork has been shown in exhibitions internationally including the 2002 Whitney Biennial; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. Her work is in the permanent collections of museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Knoxville Museum of Art; and the Detroit Institute of Arts. She has received the National Association of Schools of Art and Design citation for distinguished contributions to the visual arts and she is part of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Wilson’s artwork has been recognized by awards from the Driehaus Foundation, Artadia, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Illinois Arts Council. Her primary representation is the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago. She is a Professor in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Kooskia, ID
Marcus Amerman is a Choctaw bead artist who uses traditional Native American techniques to create contemporary art and imagery. He first learned beadwork among the Umatilla in Pendleton, Oregon, making beaded regalia for his family and beaded jewelry to sell at pow-wows. As his skills evolved over the years, he expanded his content and imagery to include political and socially conscious themes, as a tribute to his ancestors. Known both as a multi-media artist/performer and a teacher, he has passed on his innovative use of traditional beadwork to a new generation of makers, encouraging students to make beadwork about their lives and experiences. His photo-realistic, painterly aesthetic, which he calls, “photo-beadalism”, has been emulated by many of the top Native beadwork practitioners. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums all over the world, including the Highgate Gallery in London, The Museum of World Culture in Sweden, The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, The Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco and The Far Eastern Museum in Russia. Amerman’s work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and The American Museum of Natural History.
San Diego, CA
Einar and Jamex de la Torre are brothers originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, they have been collaborating in earnest since the mid-nineties. They work together to develop their signature style mix media work with blown glass sculpture. Their pieces represent a multifaceted view of life that reflects a complex and humorous aesthetic that could be called baroque. Their approach is additive, constantly layering material and meaning. Their influences range from Catholic iconography to German expressionism and pay homage to Mexican vernacular art as well as pre-Columbian objects and images. Many of their pieces address issues of the border region as they live and work on both sides, as well as aspects of human sacrifice. In recent years, they have been experimenting with lenticular printing, creating photomural installations alongside blown glass. They have won the San Diego Foundation Grant Award, The San Diego Art Prize, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award. They have had 15 solo museum exhibitions including the National Glass Centre Museum in England, the Glazhuiz in Belgium, the Mesa Arts Center Museum, and the Chrysler Museum of Art.
New Orleans, LA
Darryl Montana is the Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas “Hunters” Black “masking” Indian Tribe. In the late 1800’s, the New Orleans indigenous Black Indian movement of “masking Indian” on Carnival Day began in the Montana family. Hailing from a prominent family of Black masking Indians and son of the Chief of Chiefs Allison “Big Chief Tootie” Montana, he uses sequins, beads, pearls, marabou, feathers and stones to create multi-dimensional Mardi Gras costumes for each year’s carnival in New Orleans. The techniques and use of materials have been passed down to him from his father. He began learning how to string beads at age six and made his first suit when he was eleven using a used vinyl raincoat as his canvas. His suits can take up to 5000 hours to complete and they are in response to themes like metamorphosis and evolution. He says the on Carnival day, “he is in full regalia representing a culture that unites the community around the tradition of masking and simply being the prettiest.” In addition to creating these massive pieces, Montana passes his techniques on to children and teaches them how to construct sculptural costumes. Montana’s work is in the public collections of the International Folk Art Museum and the Joan Mitchell Foundation and private collections of the late John Scott, Diego Cortez, Ron Bechet, and Mapo Kinnord-Payton, to name a few.
Vaughn, WA
Tip Toland was born outside of Philadelphia and now lives in Vaughn, Washington. She received her MFA from Montana State University in 1981. In 1986 she received a visual arts Fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded first-place in 2005 for the Virginia Groot Foundation grant. Tip is a full-time studio artist and a part-time instructor in the Seattle area. In addition, she conducts workshops across the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally. Most recently she was represented through Barry Friedman Gallery LTD.until it closed in May, 2014. Her work is represented in both private and public collections, including Yellowstone Art Museum, Archie Bray Foundation, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, Kohler Art Center, Nelson Atkins Museum, The Museum of Art and Design and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sitka, AK
Tlingit/Aleut artist Nicholas Galanin describes his work as “contemporary multimedia work that transcends the familiar, time-honored iconography of Tlingit and Northwest Coast art.” He combines the traditional and contemporary in works such as Tsu Héidei Shugaxtutaan (2006), a two-part video in which a Tlingit dancer moves to a techno soundtrack, and a non-Native break-dancer interprets a Tlingit song. Galanin received a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award in 2011.
Wolf, 2009; photo credit Wayne Leidenfrost
Stone Ridge, NY
Metalsmith Myra Mimlitsch-Gray creates jewelry and tablewares. Although she works in traditional metals such as copper and silver, Mimlitsch-Gray alters familiar forms, producing objects that only suggest function and instead serve as portraits or social indicators. Her Motified Corn Pone Pan (2007), made during a residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, alludes to corn’s ubiquity in the Midwest and issues around monoculture agriculture. She has received several awards, including an NEA Fellowship (1994). Mimlitsch-Gray is currently Head of Metal Progam at SUNY-New Paltz.
Modified Corn Pone Pan, 2007; Photo credit Myra Mimlitsch-Gray
Huntsville, AR
Basketmaker, Leon Niehues works in the traditional Ozark splint knife method. He is mostly self-taught, having learned from an instructional booklet published in the 1950s by the University of Arkansas. Working mostly in white oak, Niehues harvests his materials from his own woods in northwest Arkansas. He employs time-honored techniques, weaving freeform to reinvent the traditional oak utility basket into elegant sculptural forms with loose, flexible whips and asymmetry. Niehues received a Mid-America Arts Alliance/NEA Fellowship Award (1995) and the Arkansas Living Treasure Award (2005).
Warrior, 2007; photo credit Chris Hunter