ARTIST STATEMENT

The Glyphs are the result of three decades of investigation.  Originally, they appeared as a visual component on sculptures, site-specific wall murals and furniture designs. They have evolved into a visual vocabulary investigation of societal structures via matriarchal and matrilineal structures in ancient, contemporary and an Afro-futuristic world. During my James Weldon Johnson inaugural fellowship residency on the Bard College at Simon’s Rock campus, I continued that evolution which began during a previous residency at The Vermont Studio Center . It was at that residency that it was revealed to me that, ‘this is where I live’, as more than one of the Visiting Master Artist proclaimed. It was there they first appeared in color, rather than just metallic inks and as a stand alone rather than in a decorative role. Fortunately, the James Weldon Johnson followed soon after while I was in the slipstream of discovery. It was there that I began to envision them as part of a multi-media performance work and as a foundational graphic language that offered a window into another culture-a mythological matriarchal culture where there were no words for concepts like “war” or “poverty”.  Instead, the closest approximation of a religion I s “THE ARTS” that include tenants associated with: Birth, Fantasy, Visions, Dreams,Laughter Seeking Balance and more. A codex is in development that illuminated this fictional society’s backstory and constructs their language in more detail by assigning specific definitions to each. I am exploring means to play them as music and am envisioning their peoples, environments, rituals, laws, governmental structure, attire and art forms.