THE GREAT FRAME UP SUPPORTS AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTISTS AUGUST FEATURE: JOYCE J. SCOTT BY ANGELA JACKSON DES MOINES, IOWA – As a local custom frame retailer and art gallery, The Great Frame Up in West Des Moines enjoys supporting the visual arts. This month we introduce readers to American artist from Baltimore, Maryland – Joyce J. Scott. Joyce J. Scott (born 1948) is an African-American artist, sculptor, quilter, performance artist, installation artist, print-maker, lecturer and educator. Named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016, Scott is best known for her figurative sculptures and jewelry using free form, off-loom bead weaving techniques, similar to a peyote stitch. One piece may be constructed with thousands of glass seed or pony beads, and incorporate various other found objects and materials such as glass, quilting and leather. In 2018, she was hailed for working in a new medium — a mixture of soil, clay, straw, and cement — for a sculpture meant to disintegrate and return to the earth. Scott is influenced by a variety of diverse cultures, including Native American and African traditions, Mexican, Czech, and Russian beadwork, illustration and comic books, and pop culture. Scott is renowned for her social commentary on issues such as racism, classism, sexism, violence, and cultural stereotypes, as well as themes of spiritual healing. Her work is about how Scott sees herself in a rapidly changing world: “These works are about personal growth, personal epiphanies and how not to get stuck in the easy ways of life- about art I am fairly fearless but in everyday life I am not”.
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