In this exploratory Mixed Media Relief class, participants will use a variety of materials to create a high relief assemblage. We will work in 3 Phases that begin chronologically and end iteratively.
Phase 1:I deation will begin with a discussion/sharing of personal objects, images for inspiration,“shopping”through my dragons hoard”of supplies, and planning.
Phase 2: Building up the surface through construction. During this phase we work on the Masonite substrate, weavings, demo with wire, aluminum, clay and Polyfill. The“HowTo”and the“Go do”stage.
Phase 3:The surface. During stage 3 we embellish our relief. This process of creation is iterative meaning we keep circling back through the phases as we work on different sections of our relief.
Bring any other materials you would like to create with and objects of personal significance to inspire you, embed in your work or use to embellish the surface.
Artist Bio
Born in Macon, Ga and raised in Jacksonville, FL, Latonya Hicks is a visual artist who lives and works in Clearwater, FL. Her recent exhibitions include the Tampa Museum of FineArts, Tampa, FL; Court House Cultural Center Gallery, Stuart, FL; CF Webber Gallery at The College of Central Florida, Ocala, FL; Tully Levine Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL and the Lighthouse Ar tCenter Gallery, Tequesta, FL. Latonya received an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and is currently th President of the Florida Art Education Association and the Secondary Visual Art Integration Coordinator responsible for guiding 6-12 art teachers in PinellasCounty.
Artist Statement
An archeologist discovering and claiming my history I draw on historical, fictional and personal references to create densely layered figurative compositions from my ‘dragon’s hoard.’ My eye is drawn to high contrast, colorful patterns that evoke the comfort of my grandmother’s kitchen while she cooked wearing mod dresses indicative of the 60s and 70s. During those years I struggled to feel welcome around my extended family. Early on my parents moved us away and my everyday life was completely counter to those summers running around with cousins. In the aftermath, Grandma’s house became a safe place where my‘blackness’was never a question. My existence and speech patterns were always ENOUGH. For years my style of dress was an act of homage to the safety she provided; scouring thrift shops and markets for objects that made me feel connected to that time/place. Her house was lost to a gang war and with it the furniture, bed coverings, polyester dresses, linoleum patterns and everything I built my early visual language on.
In much the same way that I use to‘collect’using my body as the canvas now I extrapolate from my history to invent a visual language that represents my experience-which simultaneously feels paradoxically fractured and whole. My identity was/is a collaged identity that is reflected in my work. I collect people and objects using them to tell a story I don’t quite know the end of yet.