Grandmother's Circle: Matriarch

 

MATRIARCH- series of artwork is very personal for me. It has challenged me to embrace my role as the Matriarch of my family. Reflecting upon my mother's place in the order, she was the first-born daughter, and I am the first-born daughter of the first-born daughter. My grandmother became the Matriarch at her birth in 1893, when my great-grandmother (Emmeline Grayson, the daughter of Josie Banks) died in childbirth. My mother was passed the crown in 1975. I was given the peak in 1980. This series of works is a continuum of Grandmother's Circle: A Tribute to Mama Crecy and Sallie Alpha. (1924)


Mama Crecy, in over the slave pot

Assemblage, collage on wood, using fabric, wallpaper, family photos, lace, washboards, glass, cotton bulbs, seeds, acrylic, mediums, and varnish. I never cease to experiment with every possible combination and play a genuine investigation approach from the beginning to the end, merging neo-photorealism and abstract forms. These new works are a window to the imaginary, a summons, and an overture to a dialogue. That dialogue is childhood memories, myths, and creating traditions. 

Lois Burks got pregnant with me in 1955, Me pregnant with TaShant, and Tarri.

In the Middle of a Cotton Field Old Johnson Rd, Lakeland GA

 

I come from a family of landowners and sharecroppers. The Burks family still owns seventy arches of farmland in Freestone County, Texas. There is only one living Uncle (of 13 Burks kids) on the farm. He is still a cowboy. We are people of the earth. One of my earliest memories of working the land was when I went to the cotton fields with my mother in Fresno, California 1959. Thomas S. Bruton and Alpha Betta Bruton were sharecroppers; they would farm themselves out to the grape fields in the Central San Joaquin Valley. In the summer of 1969, I went with them to harvest raisins in Selma, California.

 Photo Collage, 15'x 30', Acrylic on Wood 

Detail: Cotton



















Box Lid Collage, Tribute to Mama Crecy's People



 

This project, "Matriarch," is crucial to me because, in my career trajectory, I am focused on making elements of art in a non-traditional setting as an environmental installation artist and working outside of the traditional gallery setting. 

In the last decade, I have traveled nationally and internationally to create art as an artist-in-resident engaging community in the art of art-making. I've created temporary installations in City Lots, along

P.edestrian Walkways, in National Forest Preserves, on Land Trust to Conservatorships,  in Storefront as Alternative Spaces, and in Museum settings. I have also challenged collaborating artists to present temporary installations that engage in public interaction. I take these examinations and create assemblage pieces. Collaging various elements upon deconstruction of the installations.

 

Despite being wordless, the memorable image  may be considered one of the most profound commentaries of the power of the individual.