How would you describe your artistic voice?

What a question!

As a senior, we have to do a lot of research about artists, contemporary and historical. A lot of contemporary artists are pushing to be socially aware artists and that is in line with where I want to go. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people older than me, like my older brother, who say, “don’t pigeonhole yourself as a Black artist who makes Black art,” which is definitely not necessarily what I want to do. My fear is to restrict myself, but moving forward, post-grad, I want to live as a socially aware artist because I do want to continue making art that is contemporarily important. I want to be aware of what is happening around me, rather than just doing still-lifes. Not to shit on still-lifes! But…

You mentioned that you have to do a lot of research into artists. What artists have inspired you?

Oh my gosh… the awful thing is that I am so bad with names. A lot of civil rights artists have drawn my attention. I enjoy a lot of fiber artists like Tina Williams Brewer and Amber Robles-Gordon. A lot of them are contemporary, because obviously the canon is white men, and I don’t really find them very interesting. Others are Hank Willis Thomas, a mixed media artist, and for photographers, Todd Gray, Zanele Muholi, and John E. Dowell. 

What does your studio/workspace look like right now? Do you work a lot in French?

I’ve actually been working a lot in my Senior Studio space. I’m very fortunate to have a pretty big press, so I’ve been doing proofs and things like that in there. Now I’m working larger, the biggest piece I’m making now is 32 inches wide, and the large press in French is 36 inches wide, so I’m going to have to move there. But I’ve been mostly working out of my space in Roger Williams.

 What types of things do you have in your studio other than the printing press?

I have a lot of yarn! There’s beads everywhere. Every single time I leave the studio I have to sweep. I mean, generally the only things that I’m working on at this moment are the embroidery works and the prints, but moving forward I’m going to be hanging on frames for my prints, and doing some other things. But, yeah, I like to leave a mess.

What made you decide to include embroidery?

Historically, embroidery places a large role in slavery and Black history. I’ve always been very intrigued by it. I’ve always wanted to include it in my final projects at the end of each year, but have never had the time or resources to do so. The nice thing about this work right now, especially conceptually, is that what everything is, and the concepts and motifs behind the work, doesn’t necessarily hit you across the head. The subject matter is very subdued, versus what I used to do, which was very visually stimulating. Embroidery helps me with that. It’s very abstract.

Other than switching majors, how far do you think you’ve come since you were a freshman?

I’ve done a pretty full 180. At the beginning of my time at NHIA, I felt the limits of where my art could go. Then, as time went on, I started expanding on where I wanted to take my art. I started to push myself more. That’s the biggest change. I’ve pushed myself past what I thought I could do. It’s pretty liberating. 

 Where do you want your career to go after you graduate?

I’m looking to work in higher education, in an office of Diversity and Inclusion. They’re the initiatives that I find most interesting and that I’m most passionate about. My worry about doing art after school, is that I’ll kind of lose the passion for creating and as a creative. It’s definitely something I’ll do on the side. I’ve learned how to make money the past four years, how to market myself and how to sell myself, so I don’t feel like I’ve wasted anything. But that’s kind of the trajectory I’m setting for myself right now.

How do you feel the community here has impacted you? From peers to faculty and staff.

It’s been a lot. 50% of my time here was at a different school, at NHIA. We merged my Junior year. There were a lot of changes that I saw happen. A lot of great changes, a lot of awful changes. As far as the community goes, I appreciated the fact that Manchester campus itself wasn’t necessarily affected as much by the merge. The community stayed the same in most aspects. I just think, as a minority student, it was difficult. As far as I know, I’m the only Black senior graduating this May. So, you know, you feel that. It’s hard to not feel that. That’s kind of where my passion for Diversity and Inclusion comes from, which is one of the great things that has come from this merger. We didn’t have an office of Diversity and Inclusion before the merge with NEC. So, there’s good and bad.

What advice would you have for underclassmen?

Realize that you’re paying for this experience, and you’re going to get out of it what you choose to get out of it. If you’re okay just sitting idly by and letting things happen to other students or letting things happen to your facilities or letting things happen to whatever else, then that is fine. But if that is something you’re not okay with, then you need to speak up. Because sadly, the truth of higher education is that they’re going to listen to a group of students before they listen to their employees. I would just say: speak up.