Art, Travel + the Creative Imagination

Photograph by Lacie Brawner

​My partner, Cleve, wrote to me once in a text:

"Well, I feel its impossible for anyone to know and appreciate fully who she is + how she matters for the spaces she occupies without being acquainted with the unique history of the communities from which she has come and which gives shape to her spiritual + social presence."

Honestly, that was his long-winded way of saying history matters. (Gotta love him.)
And it does. 

As a people, we are story and narrative all the way down to our core.  The histories we are born into, the experiences we have + the people we encounter in various ways along the way-- inform the person we are + who we will become. 

History fascinates me. There is a deep curiosity within me to know as much as I can about the various "stories" lived in this world, both past + present. I think that is why I enjoy travel so much.  Each trip offers me the privilege of reading other pages of this crazy beautiful world, + somehow feel more apart of its rhythm-- its heartbeat. ​

Over the next couple of months, I will be preparing for a dream project that includes an opportunity to live + make for a few weeks in a place that is not my home. The project demands that I "lean into" the history of other Black American artists who lived + worked in countries that were not their homes, specifically between 1945-1965. This was a time in history following WWII, when hundreds of Black American artists left a more racially oppressive US environment to pursue their artistic careers outside of this country. 
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I’ve chosen 4 artists to live with over the next 4 months--all from various artistic disciplines. I will study the life, work + writings of one artist each month; focusing on how their time as an artist in a country that was not their home impacted their creative imaginations + work.

The first artist I'll study is Edward Clark, American abstract expressionist painter.  

Ed Clark is absolutely brilliant + so much of his story set my inner muse a blaze.

I even brought a broom to create new large + small abstract paintings that will be featured at my solo pop up. By the way, that show will be at lululemon HTX Heights Local (713 Heights Blvd., Houston) on Thursday, May 31 (6:30-8:30pm). 

I will be sharing what I learn from the artists + my studio practice on my Instagram + Insta Stories. I invite you to follow along.

Here is a short documentary interview with Edward Clark, which spurred my desire to study his work. Enjoy.