New
York: MAD Museum of Arts and Design – Joyce J.
Scott – Maryland to Murano. At
the MAD Museum of Arts and Design the exhibition, Joyce J. Scott - Maryland to
Murano, until March 15. Organized by Lowery Stokes Sims, MAD's William and
Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator, Maryland to Murano is the first exhibition that
examines 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 in Venice. It demonstrates
the interplay between these two bodies of work and reveals the range of Scott's
technique and skill as well as the complex relationship she has shaped among
adornment, content, and methodology.
Above.
One of the highlights: Buddha (Wind) – 2013 - hand-blown Murano glass processes
with beads, wire thread. Buddha (Wind) is
one of the three sculptures in the Buddha Series (2013). The multi-figural
compositions allude to the four elements-earth, fire, water, and wind. Each work
combines blown glass renderings of Buddha besieged by earthly beaded figures.
The resulting experience is as powerfully metaphysical as it is technically
astounding.
Maryland
to Murano. Artist, Joyce J. Scott has
lived, studied, and worked in Maryland all her life. Challenging perceived
dichotomies between art and craft, sophistication and naivete, politics and
adornment, she has succeeded in incorporating these elements within a vast and
varied body of work. It is through her
jewelry that she has garnered her widest audience and recognition. 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.
Maryland
to Murano. Vessel – 2006 - woven glass
beads, thread, wire, mixed media – front and back. Perhaps no other work in this exhibition
indicates the connection between Scott’s neckpieces and her sculptural work
better than this beaded vessel. The
accumulation of multiple elements and heads demonstrate her skill in
manipulating beaded technique into three-dimensional form.
Maryland
to Murano. Rain – 2014 – beads, thread.
One of her most recent pieces, Rain is a proliferation of turquoise curlicues,
tendrils, and twists, intermingled with disembodied yet active figures. Having
been detached and reworked from one of Scott's sculptural glass busts, this
piece is a prime example of the connection between her bodies of work.
Maryland
to Murano. Curator, Lowery Stokes Sims. "Joyce Scott has maneuvered within
the most traditional of materials and techniques to create a body of work of
great expressive potential," says Stokes Sims. "She has positioned
herself within the context of the art world in such a way that the viability of
her materials and the place where she creates is widely recognized and
celebrated."
Maryland
to Murano. Dance Neckpiece – 2013 –
woven glass beads.
photograph by Michael Koryta - courtesy Goya Contemporary and MAD Museum
Maryland
to Murano. Lewd #1 – 2013 – hand-blown
Murano glass processes with beads and thread. Demonstrating Scott's skillful
combination of beadwork and blown glass, Lewd #1 (2013) is a tour de force of
glassblowing techniques and salacious nuances. A beaded imp torments the glass
female figure to create a vignette rife with sexual tension.
Maryland
to Murano. Detail, Joyce’s Necklace –
ca. 1990s – thread, beads, silver, enamel, metal, horn, mixed stones, ivory,
created collected and gifted charms.
This necklace is typical of those that are custom-made by Scott. The components represent highly personal
memories of the owner, who in this case is the artist herself. Evoking assemblage and collage this
“accumulation and aggregation of elements” is described by artist Howardena
Pindell as “a distinctive characteristic of African aesthetics.”
Maryland
to Murano. Glenn Adamson. "Over the
last four decades, Scott has honed her craft and delivered striking visual
narratives through masterful technical skill, while demonstrating an ongoing
interest in collaborating with craftspeople across the globe," says Glenn
Adamson, MAD's Nanette L. Laitman Director. "Maryland to Murano indicates
the Museum's commitment to presenting jewelry as an innovative art form and to
examining how the medium is continually expanding."
Maryland
to Murano. Virgin of Guadalupe – 2009 –
woven glass beads. Virgin of Guadalupe depicts
a motley parade of devils, skeletons, and devotees alongside the Virgin Mary.
This beaded neckpiece defies compositional logic as the figures pile onto one
another.
Maryland
to Murano. Breath – 2014 – hand-blown Murano glass
process with beads and thread.