History of a People traces the history of African Americans using scent as a charged material.
Mixed media: wood, cloth, human hair, beads, shell, cotton, ink, graphite, paper, paint, glass, scent, thread; Dimensions ( 20”H x 14”W x 12”D; Open: 7-1/4”H x 19 -1/2”W x 19 -1/2”D
Each of the six jars (or pages) holds a custom blended scent that corresponds to the cultural landscape of selected periods in African American history: Roots, Journey, Arrival, Harrow, Protest, Visioning.
Deluxe edition
History of a People traces the history of African Americans using scent as a charged material.
Deluxe edition
Each of the six jars (or pages) holds a custom blended scent that corresponds to the cultural landscape of selected periods in African American history: Roots, Journey, Arrival, Harrow, Protest, Visioning.
Deluxe edition
Mixed media: Scent, wood, glass, yarn, hair, paper, shells, cotton, indigo. Dimensions Size: 8” dia. X 9.5” (closed)
Farewell Florilegium is an ode to my first "real" garden.
The text was written in response to an article by storyteller, writer, performer, and cultural geographer, Carolyn Finney, entitled “Love Notes,” that ends with a prompt to write about a place that is loved.
A vial containing a mix of aromatic plant tinctures is embedded in the back cover.
Each page of handmade paper features an abstract pulp painted image of a plant from the garden.
Size: 5 x 6 x 2 (closed) 60 x 6 x 2 (open)
Media: Handmade paper, pigments, aromatics
Self, initiated during the early turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, considers that the power to choose how to respond, to resist, to speak out, to consider, to share, and to listen in any given situation resides within.
Perfect bound flip book in attached clam shell case
Size: 7.5” x 7.5” x 1.25” (closed); 16.25” x 7.5” (open)
Media: Paper, book cloth, board.
Edition: 10
Black, the sum of all colors, mysterious, all-encompassing, a shroud, a swarm. Familiar but unknowable, coveted and uncontained. This book work considers the encompassing nature of Blackness.
Each stitched cover opens to reveal a poem about Blackness.
Media: Book cloth, book board, paper, acrylic paint, graphite, glass, thread, silk, watercolor, graphite
Size, closed 4” x 4” x 5”
Size, open: 16” x 16” x 5”
Box containing painted cube surrounded by four flaps featuring single signature books.
Media: Paper, Leather, Ink, plastic, synthetic hair
Structure: Altered book
Wrongful Termination addresses race-based discriminatory practices. Starting in the 1980’s, multiple suits have been filed against employers, schools, and other agencies by people of color (primarily women) who were fired, passed over for promotion or hiring, or sent home for wearing their natural hair.Wrongful features two original poems and collaged texts from newspaper editorials.
detail
Size: 6.5” x 9” x 2.75” (closed)
When Is Now features an essay that questions the appropriate time to expect equal footing and humane action for marginalized populations.
Edition: 4 unique “hairstyles”
Media: Synthetic hair, cotton and linen thread, balsa wood, linen, cotton, paper, wax
Structure: Sculptural hair crocheted or knotted into circular box. Text wrapper inside box top band. Pamphlet accompanies book.
(Shown: “Afro”)
detail “Updo”
Size: 7.5” diameter, 4”H (closed)
Water moves from solid to liquid to gas and exists on, in, and over the earth in these three states. In religion and mythology, water symbolism relates to creation, passages, wisdom, and purification. It not only has the potential to heal and to quench, but also to devastate.
Water features texts about passages, purification, and wisdom that are abstract, symbolic, and realistic.
Media: Silk, dye, ink, thread, watercolor
Structure: accordian
Size, closed: 9” x 9”
Size, open: 9” x 42”
Fire – orange to red, to blue, to white – is both intimate and universal. Fire catches and holds on to matter, consuming it until it is transformed into something else, an essence. Fire is mesmerizing, in turn lulling and igniting fervor. In religion and mythology, it is the element that represents awareness and consciousness.
Fire features text that unfolds to reveal at its center, an essence.
Media: Wool, silk, cotton, thread, paper, wax, ink
Structure: Scroll
Size, closed: 9”x 9”
Size, open: 9” x 42”
Air considers intelligence (thought) and memory (identity). The text weaves three "stories" -- the background (large text) features the idea of creating the book Air. The background "idea" coalesces in the center of the book and takes flight in the tulle "cloud."
The idea goes from background (graphite) to foreground (thread). The second story is about air as breath and wind. This story winds itself around the other two throughout the book. The third story is a series of vignettes featuring more concrete memories (freedom, wind, breath, flight) and are represented by the text “patches”.
Size: 10” W x 9.5” x 1.5” (closed); 21.5” x 9.5” x 1.5 (open)
Media: Silk (organza, net, organza satin), cotton (mull), thread (metal, cotton), graphite, inkjet, gouache, incense, button, tulle
Earth provides exterior, or outward appearance and interior views of a body (corpus) and bearer. Timing is planned so that movement through the book is slowed once the interior is reached.
This bookwork features stories about outward appearance of the physical body and those garnered through the senses, experience, and thought. Various scans are presented throughout.
Size: 8” H x 9.25”
Media: Cotton muslin, cheesecloth, human hair, coconut bark paper, thread, buttons, batting, wire, tooth fragment, ribbon. Edition of 4
Structure: Modified French Door
Edition: 4
Afro Centric is a celebration of artistry in Black hair culture. It symbolizes the physical transformation of the outward appearance in order to make a statement. This statement moves beyond natural physical attributes and traditional “rules” about hairstyle and texture and often conveys political attitudes within micro-social structures.
Media: Synthetic hair, handmade paper made of recycled paper and human hair, thread, linen cord, unknown commercial paper.
Structure: Circular Coptic binding
Unique
Bad Hair addresses the issue of what is acceptable regarding hairstyle and texture. It is based on early struggles that many women of African descent underwent in order to gain acceptance of their natural (i.e. non-chemically altered) hair in the workplace.
Though most of the women’s styles were based on a fusion of traditional western and African hairstyles (ex. A braided bob style), the styles were considered unacceptable for work. In many cases, the women were either asked to change their hairstyle or were fired. Bad Hair features text from editorials and quotes relating to those who brought suit for being terminated by their employers.
Size: 7” W x 10” x 1.5” 14” x 7” (open)
Media: Paper, canvas, graphite
Structure: Altered book with flag book insert
Unique
At a very young age, many Black women in particular receive messages that their hair in its natural state falls outside the accepted standard of beauty. Though natural hair is currently accepted in broader circles, and straight hair is just another option, the underlying message often remains that natural hair is unacceptable.
This book features excerpts of conversations with women about their hair straightening experiences including some of my own. The book is constructed of commercial papers, digital and letterpress type, synthetic hair, wood and a hot comb.
Size: 11” H x 14”x1” 5”x 7”
Media: Paper, wood, synthetic hair, hot comb
Structure: Carved wooden tablet with synthetic hair and hot comb inclusion; Accordion book
Unique
Size: 7” H x 9.5” x 4.5”
Media: Paper, Leather, synthetic hair
Structure: Altered book with crocheted edges
Edition: 4 unique styles
Edges is based on African/African ancestry braided hairstyles. Each book features a different “style.” The pieces were created during a time when there was much political dialog on the national, state and local level concerning (illegal) immigration. Often the dialog took an underlying tone of intolerance and had little to do with immigration status. The tones of intolerance (which were cross-cultural), reminded me of growing up in the 60’s and 70’s during integration. The hair treatment symbolizes how much activity, creativity and life happens on the “edges” of mainstream society, regardless of whether or not it is recognized.
Physically and metaphorically, skin functions as a protective covering and plays a significant role in identity. Integument examines various meanings that can be contained in our skins. The front side of the accordion contains layers discussing the science of skin and how its topography has the potential to evoke memory.
There remains a barrier between “public” skin and “private” skin – that is, the division of scientific knowledge of the events that lead to a mark and what an individual thinks, remembers or concludes based on events that surround the mark. The reverse side of the accordion offers an example of the layers of meaning that can occur in an individual response.
Size: 4.75 H x 5” x 1.25”
Media: Handmade papers – subai, mitsumata, gampi, sugar cane, fig leaf, rice, straw, and flax; commercial rayon paper; cotton muslin; leather; thread.
Structure: Accordian with sutured cloth hinges, leather covers.
Unique
Size: 4” W x 6” x 1”
Media: Graphite, paper, thread
Structure: Pamphlet
Unique
Edition of 3
Unseen features layers of trace monoprints and a unique poem about invisibility.
Loci is a snapshot in time of three gardens that sparked and continued my interest in using plants as charged materials to forge connections with ancestors.
Size: Dimensions: 5.75” x 8.25” x 1.75”H (closed), 5.75” x 28.0” (open)
Media: Cloth, paper, ink, board
Structure: Three hard back accordion books housed in a wrap around case with sample cards.
Cotton Heritage features an essay discussing the connection of gardening to ancestral legacies.
Detail (cotton, bronze)
Size: 8”H x 6” x 0.5”
Media: Cotton plant, bronze, silk thread, cloth, watercolors, paper, ink, toner, plants (various), silk
Structure: Clam shell box containing cotton plant with bronze electroplate stem, one paper signature with text, one cloth accordion with pockets laminated (sewn) with plants. Pockets contain cards featuring watercolors and text.
Edition: 4
Planted features an original essay discussing the connection of gardening to ancestral legacies. Mono-prints of plants from my and my mother’s garden are featured in this bookwork. The portfolio cover on the edition features a photo from my mother’s garden and the lace paper folio simulates garden gates.
I’m always happy to visit gardens and am intrigued whenever passing by a gated garden – especially those that offer just a glimpse. These private spaces feed the imagination. The crocheted cover on the deluxe copy simulate these walled garden gates.
Size: 11”H x 9.5” W x 1”D
Media: Cotton, thread, cloth, paper, plant material (pittosporum, rosa, loropetalum, hydrangea, maple, oak), toner, ink
Structure: Crocheted doily with cloth triptych signature of sewn dried plants and paper triptych of monoprints contained in custom clam shell box
Unique - Deluxe
Size: 8”H x 6” W x 0.5”D
Media: Lace paper, cotton paper, toner, ink
Structure: Lace paper folder with folded paper signature and 3 loose leafs contained in portfolio
Edition of 4
Interwoven Alphabet is a collaborative edition of two artist's books created over an 8 month period between Alisa Banks and Diane Jacobs. Together the artists chose four words per alphabet with sound playing a role in the final selection. Themes include: relationships, nature, the senses, time, politics, and the environment.
Media: Wool felt blocks, thread, paper, plants, human hair, fur, bone, found objects. Stitched, carved, felted, drawn.
Structure: Individual wool pages housed in custom box.
Individual felt squares - 2.5" x 2.5"; 10.5" x 5.75" x 3" (closed); Open dimensions variable.
Detail
Fading garden is constructed from plant material gathered from five family gardens. The delicacy of the paper corresponds to the time in which the plants were gathered – a time of the summer’s waning when spring budding plants have given their all and gardens begin to fade in preparation for the next season.
The structure is both quilt and book.
Size: 51"W x 74"H
Media: Handmade paper (cotton, sugarcane, fig, kozo), plant inclusions (herbs, flowers), rayon paper, cotton printmaking paper, graphite, inkjet transfer, marker
Structure: Five accordion books (overlapped to form a quilt)
Unique
Our Lady takes its form from the homemade shrines found in homes throughout southern Louisiana where Madonna statues grace many lawns and are a sign of devotion.
Size: 8” W x 10”
Media: Wood, cotton thread, organza, beads (Job's Tears), wire, dried plants, graphite, metal, pigment print.
Structure: Modified Pamphlet on rods
Unique
Size: 8” W x 10”
Media: Wood, cotton thread, orgnza, beads, wire, dried plants, graphite, metal, pigment print.
Structure: Modified Pamphlet on rods
Unique
Things I’ll Miss is a jewelry box of blessings created from recycled materials.
Size: 5.0” x 4.0” x 4.5” H
Media: Cloth, thread, ink, paper.
Structure: Box containing paper moon, quilt, sweater sleeve, mini-pillow, papier maché fig.
Inheritance focuses on hair day, a custom prevalent in many Black households in the US andthroughout Africa and the diaspora. The act of hair grooming is an opportunity to share history, stories, and traditions.
Inheritance is a portable writing desk containing a
quilt, a brush, a bound book, and an “inkwell” containing scented “pomade.”
Size: 10.5” x 10.5” x 4”H
Media: Wood (walnut), pigments (soil, indigo, acorn, walnut), paper (cotton, abaca, human hair, dye), synthetic hair, human hair, glass, sterling silver, lily, beeswax, aromatics
Edition: 8 + 2 A/P
Yeene is an ode to an invisible and significant life.
Media: Paper, book cloth, book board, silver chain, gold chain, thread, hair, color pencil, pigment prints, amber, aquamarine, onyx, metal, found objects
Size, closed: 6.75” x 10” x 8.75
Size, open: 13.15” x 10” x 8.75”
Structure: House shaped box with Accordion affixed to base.
Imagine cleaning a closet and finding an unmarked box. It has a little weight to it and one can only guess what may lie within. Nan is constructed of handmade sugar cane paper and digital image transfers. It offers a glimpse of a “who” from long ago.
Size: 9” W x 6”x 4”
Media: Handmade sugarcane paper, cotton
Structure: Box with dos å do pamphlets.
Unique
Many pre-20th century homes lacked built in closets and furniture, such as armoires and dressers and cabinets were used to store clothing. Closets, by their very nature are memory keepers – even in the sparest environment they reveal something about the owner, and in cases where generations of owners have used them, closets can function as historical records. [cont.]
As a child, the opportunity to peek into my grandmother’s armoire was exhilarating – her armoire, like all closets seemed intensely personal and off limits. A look was usually accompanied by a story that brought to life persons unknown but not forgotten. Years later, my grandmother long gone, the armoire remains a repository of memory, culture, history, and tradition.
Size: 11”H x 9.5” x 2.75" (closed); 11” x 9.5” x 7.5” (open)
Media: Mahogany, metal, fabric (cotton), commercial papers (cotton rag), thread, batting, graphite
Structure: Wooden box containing 2 mounted photos, 2 accordian books, and 1 scroll book
From 1912 to 1932, the Julius Rosenwald Fund provided matching grants to African American communities in the South, for the purpose of building schools. Rosenwald tells the story of the importance that two such schools played in the lives of a family living in southern Louisiana. Told as a snapshot, the book recalls a story of hardship, determination and triumph.
During a trip to my parent’s hometown in Louisiana, I passed by the spot where a gas station once stood. The story begins as I remember looking out across the street from the station years ago in that same spot, gazing at the school across the street. The image of the school sparks a flood of memories of family stories spanning two generations and is told in one sentence. The main character in the story is my aunt Vie, who was a teacher and then a librarian for the schools. While researching material for this book, I learned about the important role the Rosenwald schools played in the education of African Americans in the South in the early 20th century. I intended the book to be in a form that would allow it to be read by either unfolding it bit by bit to reveal the story, or hung on a wall and viewed in total.
Size: 7”H x 12-1/4” x 2” (closed); 50”H (open)
Media: Linen (bookcloth), silk satin, silk organza, silk and cotton thread, glass, Bertini paper, Johannot papersilk tissue, linen book tape, graphite, oak
Structure: Sewn pamphlet with envelope wrap cover
Edition: 3
Katrina non-withstanding, Louisiana weather history is fraught with floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and other violent storms causing much damage and loss of life. Modern technology can offer little protection for those caught in them.
This book outlines the spirit of a ritual that my aunt would perform when the weather turned ugly. On an approaching storm, all would be called inside and though natives would consider the ritual a normal occurrence giving it little attention, being a visitor, I considered it to be a dramatic performance. Years later, I learned that my aunt was not alone in performing the Storm Sequence - it was practiced in some form by many in Pointe Coupee parish and possibly(probably) beyond. More recently, my aunt informed me that she still performs the sequence, though in an abbreviated format.
The book is loosely patterned after the homemade shrines observed in some of my relatives homes. The numbers on the inside of the doors are years of documented significant damage caused by storms in the area.
Size: 12.75” H x 9.25” x 1.75”
Media: Wood, bookboard, commercial papers, synthetic plaster, screws, glass, acrylic, oil
Structure: Accordion enclosed in frame with hinged doors
Edition: 5 + 1AP
I am interested in personal stories as they are often singular and universal. Island Girl re-tells a story of longing, rejection, acceptance and pride that my mother, who grew up in Southern Louisiana, often told us.
Island Girls consists of cotton, digital prints and type, buttons and thread.
Size: 11” H x 15”
Media: Recycled cotton cloth, button, thread
Structure: Dress with pamphlet bound cloth pages inserted into skirt
Edition: 4
Poule Aye examines the impact a sense of place has on one’s identity. More than just saying where a someone is “from”, it looks at how place and time influence the formation of attitudes, personal beliefs, and actions.
The story presented in this bookwork is based on comprehensive interviews held with my dad. Poule Aye consists of one page, part of which is folded to form a “shotgun” style house, and part of which contains a “field” of text. A backyard chicken coop can be viewed through the front door when the book is open.
Size: 5.5” W x 7.5”
Media: Cedar, rayon paper, chicken wire, handmade fig leaf paper, Larroque Aquarelle watercolor paper, nail
Structure: Accordion with tunnel
Edition: 4
Emergence is a book about examining truths in order to develop self-truths. The book consists of 3 pieces – Litany, a series of sayings that my sisters and I heard while growing up; Candle, containing an embedded medallion of St. Michael the Archangel; Election, a symbolic culmination – all relating to my family which hails from rural southern Louisiana.
Size: 14.5” W x 7” x 3.5”
Media: Magnani pescia and Tengucho white commercial papers, handmade gampi and fig leaf papers, wood, beeswax, metal, linen, Plexiglas, ribbon, foam core
Structure: Two accordion books, candle, candle stand inside wooden box with sliding plexiglass lid
Edition: 10