Though the open mic foundered, Sandy Spring Museum has kept me gainfully employed in various, fascinating projects – and the most fascinating by far (so far) has been their interviews with Black Doll Makers.
I definitely had Ideas about these going in – that it would be more Craft than Art (an Art School prejudice) and beyond that, I must admit I thought it was going to be more “I learned this from my mom” kinda art rather than a more formal kind of art – which is just what I guess I think about dollmaking. And yes, I’m pretty sure I’d have come to this project with the same pre-judgements if they were White Doll Makers or Asian dollmakers or Martian dollmakers. It’s probably even a greater statement on my ingrained opinions about fibre arts in general, honestly. (oh, us Core Kids had OPINIONS about the Dolphin Building!)
But almost all of these artists really identify as Artists – with a lot of the same drives that I ascribe to myself – and the one I was working on today especially, I really, really identified with how she talked about the physicality of her work. Very similar to how I talk about having been drawn from drawing to painting to sculpture to guitar. Very similar in the concept of working things out. Catharsis. Processing.
There’s a lot added to it. Race. Growing up in 50s and 60s and 70s in the south, or in Maryland, or in the cultural revolutions of urban New York. Family. Religion. The finding of self that goes into immersing yourself into an artform that has roots in your deeper cultural identity. Dollmaking especially bridges a LOT of generational gaps and forcibly connects the old with the young. Fabric arts have deep roots in African cultural heritage. Growing up in the 50s and 60s and MAKING a you that you can’t otherwise have. Making a thing for your daughter that she can’t otherwise have. Growing up in, and then out, of poverty and working towards, and into, middle-classdom….
These are AMAZING stories and I sincerely hope I’ll get to connect them with their arts eventually. Though some of the artists have brought dolls to their interviews, most have just mentioned them. I find their stories incredibly inspirational. I’m Loving this work. And it makes me WANT to work. The best work does.