The edge of, and shadows cast by, sculpture ‘Acid Rain’ (2001) & a photogravure in the series ‘Founding Warrior Quest (II 24C)’ (2010).

The edge of, and shadows cast by, sculpture ‘Acid Rain’ (2001) & a photogravure in the series ‘Founding Warrior Quest (II 24C)’ (2010).

The edge of, and shadows cast by, sculpture ‘Acid Rain’ (2001) & a photogravure in the series ‘Founding Warrior Quest (II 24C)’ (2010). This one scared me senseless for a second bc I was pretty familiar with the photogravure at the point and I was like I’d bet everything to say she was looking left not right. Then the penny dropped & of course bc it a negative… her pupils look white and the whites of her eyes dark & bc she’s looking to the side … etc etc etc

I was so beyond excited to see Chakaia Booker’s sculptural walls (my own goofy made up term) & photogravures that I knew I had to try bringing them even closer, to touch each other across space & time & whatever else. 3 remixes. #BlackSculptors #AbstractArt #AbstractPhotography #MobilePhotography

A photogravure by Chakaia Booker, a figure wearing a turban, heavy duty gloves, holds a large piece of wood and looks over her shoulder into unseen distance.

CHAKAIA Booker ‘Acid Rain’ 2001, spirals of black rubber, looser at the bottom, tangle all along the edges, a series of half circles jammed together interrupt, in the middle part, short pieces stick out while other pieces are coiled in on themselves.

Y’all. For reals. I got to see THREE of Chakaia Booker’s monumental pieces today, plus her series of photogravures ‘Founding Warrior Quest (II 24C)’ Another amazing of the #BlackSculptors I covered in Feb! 3 in one week!! Here’s a sample

OLIVER LEE JACKSON, Untitled II, 2024. A figure- head, arms, torso, top of legs, cut out of steel and panted with a mauve purple, heart red and gold, other embellishments (ovaries? testicles? intestines) and pegs in gold.

Elizabeth Catlett’s Glory (1981) - neck and face cast in bronze with black patina.

On a recent trip to Iowa City, I visited Stanley Art Museum & I was so excited to see these two pieces, by #BlackSculptors I’ve recently learned more about- OLIVER LEE JACKSON & ELIZABETH CATLETT. (I might’ve cried at ‘Glory’ because it’s so sublimely gorgeous.) Both are/were Iowa MFA alums.

MURJONI MERRIWEATHER poses next to one of her sculptures, she is bald and wears large hoop earrings.

MURJONI MERRIWEATHER and one of her praised sculptures, she wears a bucket hat and glasses and gazes seriously out at the viewer.

Finally, photos of MURJONI MERRIWEATHER, the artist behind the art! 4/4
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

MURJONI MERRIWEATHER, Lettie and Myles, 2020.

Installation view of SEED, 2024. MURJONI MERRIWEATHER.

Throughout her work, MURJONI MERRIWEATHER highlights Black joy, self-care, and love. Centering these within Black bodies is as revolutionary today as it was during the Harlem Renaissance. 3/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

MURJONI MERRIWEATHER, SeeMe, 2018.

With her ‘Grillz’ series, MURJONI MERRIWEATHER addresses the pride of the Black community in their teeth jewelry (grills), even when it’s only accepted by larger yt society when adopted by non-Black people as ‘fashion’ Look deeper, she asks 2/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

MURJONI MERRIWEATHER, Ambrose, 2020.

MURJONI MERRIWEATHER, Shinin’, 2016.

It seems fitting to close out #BlackHistoryMonth with MURJONI MERRIWEATHER, whose ‘sculpted beings’ celebrate Bkack bodies & culture. Demolishing stereotypes, elevating love for the Black people that are embodied in her work. 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists

CHAKAIA BOOKER stands in front of one of her monumental sculptures outdoors, she wears one of her customary fabric headdresses, wearable sculpture.

CHAKAIA BOOKER lays out fabric, holding scissors in one hand, her fabric turban is bright reds and black.

Finally, some photos of CHAKAIA BOOKER, the artist behind the art! 3/3
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

CHAKAIA BOOKER, Acid Rain, 2001.

CHAKAIA BOOKER, Untitled, 1996.

Forty years of working with discarded/recycled tires as her medium and CHAKAIA BOOKER is continuing to find increasing levels of creativity. Meditations in environmental issues, cultural histories, & industrialization.
2/n

#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

CHAKAIA BOOKER, Deja vú, 2016.

CHAKAIA BOOKER, Raw Attraction, 2001.

There’s a beautiful creative tension in the work of CHAKAIA BOOKER: btw the natural & the manufactured, btw the discarded & the valued. 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

Oliver Lee Jackson at 3/4 profile, looking off the the left, he had a goatee & wears a white woolen cap.

Smiling, OLIVER LEE JACKSON seems to be talking g with his hands, he wears wire-rimmed glasses and a black cap, standing next to one of his paintings.

Finally, some photos of OLIVER LEE JACKSON, the artist behind the art!
3/3
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

Oliver Lee Jackson, Head No. 5, 1988, Wood, mixed media, 14 1/4 in. x 20 3/4 in. x 10 1/2 in.

Oliver Lee Jackson, Untitled Mixed Media Sculpture, 1987, Wood, mixed media, 80 1/2 in. x 15 in. x 25 in.

Oliver Lee Jackson, Striding Figure (Abstract Figurative Sculpture), 2004.

OLIVER LEE JACKSON is supremely skilled in his use of color, of mixed media techniques in his sculpture. Eye-catching, they invite us in to experience the piece more fully, to sense the emotions, the ideas each piece conveys. 2/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

OLIVER LEE JACKSON, Untitled II, 2024.

OLIVER LEE JACKSON, Untitled IV, 2024.

OLIVER LEE JACKSON is both painter and sculptor. Either way, his practice is abstract but….but then, figures seem to emerge from that abstraction in powerful ways. 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

Installation view of Number 235T, 2023, by LEONARDO DREW.

Installation view of Number 411, 2024, LEONARDO DREW.

The number of elements that LEONARDO DREW uses in his sculptures & elements is truly astounding - controlled chaos, but also a collection for the curious of curiosities. 3/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

LEONARDO DREW, Number 217, 2019.

LEONARDO DREW, Number 162, 2012.

While it might seem that his sculptures are made solely of found objects, LEONARDO DREW intentionally further ages, oxidizes, burns his materials in his meditations on industrialization and history. 2/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

TYREE GUYTON looks out at viewe, he has a goatee and he wears a ball cap & plaid shirt.

TYREE GUYTON sits on a bench in a gallery in front of his painting. He wears a watch so, blue round glasses, a grey hoodie and smiles at the viewer.

Some photos of TYREE GUYTON, the artist behind the art! 2/2
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

LEONARDO DREW, Number 360, 2023. Wood, paint, and sand, installation view.

LEONARDO DREW. Number 182, 2016.

LEONARDO DREW’s own words: “abstractionist. I’m also a walking political figure as a Black man. I am political because of who I am, what I am, and what I look like; and I have the audacity in these times to say that I’m an abstractionist” 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

TYREE GUYTON, Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?’ installation view (2025).

TYREE GUYTON, A sculpture created from recycled material at the Heidelberg Project.

TYREE GUYTON is an urban environmental artist as well as a painter, installation artist. He blurs the line btw mundane objects and art, using discarded objects to create his works. 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

A barefoot MILDRED THOMPSON sits in a chair in the corner of a room, looking clear-eyed at the viewer.

MILDRED THOMPSON gazes at the viewer, framed by her arms and hand to one side and below, wrist partially covering her mouth.

Finally, some photos of MILDRED THOMPSON, the artist behind the art! 3/3
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

MILDRED THOMPSON, Wood Picture, c. 1967.

MILDRED THOMPSON, Wood Picture, c. 1965.

MILDRED THOMPSON, Untitled (from the Credo series), 1993.

MILDRED THOMPSON, Untitled (from the Vespers series), c. 1990s.

Her sculptural work is immediately recognizable: early on MILDRED THOMPSON made wooden collages. Her later work features elongated, even spindly wooden forms, like it is stretching itself up to understand the sky & stars. 2/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

MILDRED THOMPDON, Wood Picture, c. 1965.

MILDRED THOMPSON, Untitled (from the Vespers series), c. Mid-1990s.

In her painting, collage, prints, and sculptures, MILDRED THOMPSON sought to create connections, to understand relationships across the universe. 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

HELEN RAMSARAN wearers a denim shirt and smiles out at the viewer.

Wear glass and in front of one of her sculptures that features a human profile, HELEN RAMSARAN smiles.

Finally, photos of HELEN RAMSARAN, the artist behind the art! 4/4
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

HELEN RAMSARAN, The Nightmare, 2024.

Even when the piece is abstract, fantastical & unresl, HELEN RAMSARAN’s work retains some memory of botanical life, some echo of the natural world. 3/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

HELEN RAMSARAN, A Protected Place, 1995.

HELEN RAMSARAN, The Seat of Power, 1996.

The architecture of ancient African civilizations, as well as those of Mesoamerica, have inspired HELEN RAMSARAN’s delicate bronze sculptures. Ritual and history are both imbued in these works. 2/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

HELEN RAMSARAN, Smashed and Broken (2024). Inspired by the death of George Floyd.

HELEN EVANS RAMSARAN, Seeds of Struggle No. 6 (2024). This series of works, Seeds of Struggle, inspired by the death of Black children due to gun violence.

HELEN RAMSARAN works not in figures, often botanical or ritualistic/spiritual, but nevertheless references the Black American experience. Racial violence & gun violence were the focus of a recent exhibition. 🧵 1/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

SELMA BURKE in a formal black dress & pearls stands next to one of her sculpted heads, gazing slightly beyond the viewer to the left.

SELMA BURKE in profile in front of the profile of FDR she did. She wears round glasses and is looking off to the side.

Finally some photos of SELMA BURKE, the artist behind the art! 4/4
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

SELMA BURKE, bronze relief portrait of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1945.

SELMA BURKE shown carving the bas relief of FDR.

The dime with head of FDR side by side with SELMA BURKE’s bas relief of the president. The dime’s design is attributed to engraver John Sinnock but it seems rather clear that he based it almost entirely on BURKE’s work.

One of the works SELMA BURKE is most known for is the bas relief of FDR. She won a contest to make it and then had FDR to sit for her, both unprecedented. Many believe this it was used to design the face on the dime, altho it is not credited. 3/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

SELMA BURKE, Together, 1975.

SELMA BURKE, Untitled (Family Group), c. 1950.

Familial love & unity was a common theme for SELMA BURKE, something that becomes ever more profound considering the not too distant past practice of tearing apart families of enslaved Black people. 2/n
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

Selma Burke, Untitled (Woman and Child), ca. 1950, painted red oak.

SELMA BURKE, Mary McLeod Bethune, 1946. Bronze.

A member of the Harlem Renaissance, SELMA BURKE was committed to portraying her Black subjects with dignity and grace. That this is a common theme for her fellow Black representational artist reveals the depth of racism within art. 🧵 1/n

#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth

BEULAH ECTON WOODARD with sculpting materials and a mask she seems to be working on.

Finally, a photo of BEULAH ECTON WOODARD, the artist behind the art. If her art is scarce, photographs of her are even more so! 4/4
#BlackSculptors #BlackArtists
#BlackHistoryMonth