Spotlight by Joyce J. Scott
Exhibition
/
04 Oct 2016
-
31 Jan 2017
Published: 07.10.2016
verizon.net
Renowned as the “Queen of Beadwork,” Joyce J. Scott’s exuberant beaded sculptural forms and neckpieces are provocative and confrontational, addressing contentious political and social issues such as gender, race, and class struggle. Born and raised in Baltimore, Joyce is a descendant of African-Americans, Native Americans, and Scots. Three generations of storytellers, quilters, basket makers, and wood, metal, and clay workers inspire her artwork.
Artist list
Joyce J. Scott
Her earliest art lessons were received at home as she watched her mother, the renowned fiber artist, Elizabeth Talford Scott, create quilts using unconventional embroidery and appliqué techniques. Deeply rooted in her ethnic and family heritage, Scott’s work comments on issues affecting contemporary society in an effort to elicit awareness and response. The eloquent artist states, “It’s important to me to use art in a manner that incites people to look and then carry something home - even it it’s subliminal - that might make a change in them.
Fearless, a force to be reckoned with, and as beautiful inside as out, Joyce J. Scott touches the soul and conscience of the viewer with her powerful imagery. A legend in Baltimore, Joyce is an historian, printmaker, weaver, sculptor, performance artist, vocalist and educator. She is perhaps best known for her work in jewelry, beadwork, and glass. Combining a heterogeneous mix of media (glass beads, African sculptures and masks, found objects), she creates powerful sculptural commentaries, rich in color, texture, popular culture, pathos and her own ancestry. / Lynn Ward, City Paper’s Best of Baltimore votes Joyce J. Scott: Best Artist
The rich social import of Scott’s work is matched by its visual richness. Scott describes her beadwork as a cross between sculpture and painting. The artist treats the beads like the dabs of paint in a Pointillist canvas, but unlike paint (a medium Scott has tried), glass beads have the advantage of being translucent and can both capture and reflect light. Scott’s virtuoso weaving technique - a method similar to crochet called the peyote stitch, which she learned from a Cree Indian - allows great fluidity of form, resulting in protruding hollow forms and undulating effects. Scott is always seeking greater technical challenges; her work has grown increasingly more daring and dazzling in its visual richness and range of subject matter. / Susan Grant Lewin, “One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today
Fearless, a force to be reckoned with, and as beautiful inside as out, Joyce J. Scott touches the soul and conscience of the viewer with her powerful imagery. A legend in Baltimore, Joyce is an historian, printmaker, weaver, sculptor, performance artist, vocalist and educator. She is perhaps best known for her work in jewelry, beadwork, and glass. Combining a heterogeneous mix of media (glass beads, African sculptures and masks, found objects), she creates powerful sculptural commentaries, rich in color, texture, popular culture, pathos and her own ancestry. / Lynn Ward, City Paper’s Best of Baltimore votes Joyce J. Scott: Best Artist
The rich social import of Scott’s work is matched by its visual richness. Scott describes her beadwork as a cross between sculpture and painting. The artist treats the beads like the dabs of paint in a Pointillist canvas, but unlike paint (a medium Scott has tried), glass beads have the advantage of being translucent and can both capture and reflect light. Scott’s virtuoso weaving technique - a method similar to crochet called the peyote stitch, which she learned from a Cree Indian - allows great fluidity of form, resulting in protruding hollow forms and undulating effects. Scott is always seeking greater technical challenges; her work has grown increasingly more daring and dazzling in its visual richness and range of subject matter. / Susan Grant Lewin, “One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today
newsletter
Get the latest information about the international Jewellery Scene sent directly to your mailbox every week. View previous issues
-
Materia prima, design as transformation
15May2027 - 27Feb2028
Pforzheim Jewellery Museum
Pforzheim, Germany -
The Void as an Affinity
25Nov2026 - 29Dec2026
Hannah Gallery
Barcelona, Spain -
Feathers, Frost and Fantastic Creatures
25Nov2026 - 30Dec2026
Galerie Handwerk
Munich, Germany -
Slow Matter during New York Jewelry Week 2026
18Nov2026 - 22Nov2026
Fou Gallery NY
New York, United States -
Crown Jewels as a Metaphor during New York Jewelry Week 2026
17Nov2026 - 22Nov2026
On the Fringe NYC
New York, United States -
Hand to Form. An Art To Wear Exhibition during New York Jewelry Week 2026
16Nov2026 - 22Nov2026
Turkish House
New York, United States -
Between Heaven and Hell by Sofia Björkman
14Nov2026 - 05Dec2026
Four Gallery
Umeå, Sweden -
Tincal lab Challenge 2026. Jewelry and Identity
14Nov2026 - 31Dec2026
Tincal lab
Porto, Portugal -
Laboratorium with Kim Buck
13Nov2026 - 09May2027
Design Museum Danmark
Copenhagen, Denmark -
WeerWerk by Ria Lins and Els Vansteelandt
12Nov2026 - 14Nov2026
Els Vansteelandt Contemporary Jewellery & objets d'art
Brussels, Belgium -
VONMO 5th Contemporary Jewelry Exhibition 2026: Seeding
09Nov2026 - 20Nov2026
Hengtong International Creative Park
Beijing, China -
Preziosa Young 2026 in Asolo
07Nov2026 - 29Nov2026
Thereza Pedrosa Gallery
Asolo, Italy -
Arnoldsche Weekend Art Gallery #19
06Nov2026 - 08Nov2026
Galerie AK2
Stuttgart, Germany -
Delicate Creatures by Märta Mattsson and Sona Kobanova
06Nov2026 - 06Dec2026
Atelier Martina Dempf in der Remise
Berlin, Germany -
Craft Now!
01Nov2026 - 11Apr2027
CODA Museum
Apeldoorn, Netherlands
