Vanessa german

Last updated

vanessa german
Vanessa German (crop).jpg
vanessa german on stage
Born1976 (age 47–48)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Known for Sculpture

vanessa german [1] (born 1976) [2] is an American sculptor, painter, writer, activist, performer, and poet based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Her sculpture often includes assembled statues of female figures with their faces or heads painted black, and a wide range of attached objects, including fabric, keys, found objects, and toy weapons. [3] german is an activist, addressing problems like gun violence and prostitution. [4]

Her work is held in numerous permanent collections, including the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; and has been reviewed by Sculpture [5] and discussed in The New York Times, [6] O, The Oprah Magazine, [7] and on NPR's All Things Considered. [8] Her art has been featured in a wide range of galleries, museums and traveling exhibits, including the 2012 "African American Art 1950–present" touring exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution. [9] She was a 2015 recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Grant. [10] She was the winner of the 2018 Don Tyson Prize, a biannual $200,000 award from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. [11]

Early life

vanessa german was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin [12] and raised in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles [13] and Loveland, Ohio [5] by her mother, Sandra Keat German (1949–2014), a fiber artist, [2] quilter and costume maker. [14] She is the third of five children. [15] She moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2000 and began to perform and exhibit her work locally. [16] She describes her work as heavily influenced by her childhood in Los Angeles, where her mother encouraged the children to make their own clothes, and she was also impacted by the AIDS epidemic and drive-by shootings. [17]

Artistic career

A self-taught artist, much of german's artwork is collage and sculpted assemblages. [16] german's sculptural work frequently includes female figures that she calls "power figures" and "tar babies". [18] She creates them by decorating and painting large dolls and figures, then sculpting outward by adding a wide range of materials including objects like cowrie shells, plastic guns, feathers, bottle caps, seashells, toys, and vintage products. [16] She often uses found and donated materials from her Homewood neighborhood. [2] She discovered that her work included elements similar to the central African tradition of Nkisi nkondi, guardian statues pierced with nails and other materials. [19]

Her materials lists for artworks are often poems in themselves. They may include both the physical (e.g. cloth, paint, keys) and non-tangible materials (e.g. "the names of all the dead boys that I know," "tears"). [3] Recurring themes addressed in her work include food, birds, violence, injustice, poverty, and Black Madonna imagery. [20] [21] In her artist statement for 2016's dontsaythatshitoutloud, she describes the impact of finding two men murdered outside her house within a four-month period. [22]

Her work includes the symbolic use of color throughout. Describing beads from one work, she said "If they're red, they're holding rage and love simultaneously. If they're white – they're holding ghosts – the presence of your ancestors ...and they're also holding forgiveness and peace." [23]

Of Thee We Sing (2023) at the Lincoln Memorial in 2023 Of Thee We Sing, 2023, vanessa german on Mall.jpg
Of Thee We Sing (2023) at the Lincoln Memorial in 2023

In 2023, german was one of six artists commissioned to create a temporary installation for the National Mall in conjunction with Beyond Granite: Pulling Together , the first curated art exhibition in the Mall's history. Commissioned by the Trust for the National Mall, National Capital Planning Commission, and National Park Service, german created an assemblage sculpture of African-American singer Marian Anderson for the plaza of the Lincoln Memorial. german's sculpture Of Thee We Sing (2023) memorialized Anderson's performance in the plaza from 1939, hosted after Anderson was denied permission to perform in the segregated DAR Constitution Hall several months prior. [24]

german, like the author bell hooks, stylizes her name in all lowercase. In 2023, she told The Bergen Record that this decision was "a way I level myself without hierarchy." [1]

ARThouse and Love Front Porch

german also led the ARThouse and Love Front Porch, a community art institution, in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. [7] She started the ARThouse when she needed to start creating artworks on her front porch because her basement ceiling was too low: her large sculptural pieces had to be taken apart to be removed from the basement. After she started working on the porch, ARTHouse was born. [25] [2] Neighborhood children began gathering to watch her work. This expanded into a dedicated community art space, which moved twice before moving into its permanent location, a house purchased with donations and proceeds from her art sales, [7] dedicated in December 2015. [16] In 2012, Love Front Porch received a $4,000 grant from the Sankofa Fund of Southwest Pennsylvania, which highlights empowering grass-roots African-American community projects. [26]

german also ran the Tuesday Night Monologue Project at ARThouse, a weekly event where guest artists and members of the community could write and share works with each other. [27]

Homewood was described as "The Most Dangerous Neighborhood in America" by MSNBC journalist, Rachel Maddow. [28] german has said about Homewood, "...that doesn't happen every day. It doesn't happen every week. Most people aren't shooting each other. Most people are not running drugs. It's a very small percentage of the population who are engaging in really extreme activities." [25]

The ARThouse suffered severe damage from a fire in 2021 and was closed to the public. german fundraised to renovate the space but decided to leave Homewood herself and moved to North Carolina, describing the impact of living in a community with significant violence by saying "It became impossible to work there because I was scared so much of the time." [29]

Collections

german's work is held in the following permanent collections:

Notable exhibitions

Documentary

"Tar Baby Jane". Filmmaker Gregory Scott Williams, Jr., 2010. [16] [42]

Selected reviews

"Vanessa German." Sculpture magazine. July/ August 2012. [5]

"Cut-and-Paste Culture: The New Collage". ARTnews. December 12. 2013. [43]

"Exhibition Review: Unloaded." afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism. May 22, 2015. [44]

"i take my soul with me everywhere i go". The Georgia Review, September 13, 2016. [19]

"Review: "Africa Forecast" shows how convention inspires Black women's spirit". ArtsATL, November 11, 2016. [45]

Notable appearances

Awards

Related Research Articles

Alison Saar is a Los Angeles, California based sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist. Her artwork focuses on the African diaspora and black female identity and is influenced by African, Caribbean, and Latin American folk art and spirituality. Saar is well known for "transforming found objects to reflect themes of cultural and social identity, history, and religion."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoe Strauss</span> American photographer

Zoe Strauss is an American photographer and a nominee member of Magnum Photos. She uses Philadelphia as a primary setting and subject for her work. Curator Peter Barberie identifies her as a street photographer, like Walker Evans or Robert Frank, and has said "the woman and man on the street, yearning to be heard, are the basis of her art."

Chakaia Booker is an American sculptor known for creating monumental, abstract works for both the gallery and outdoor public spaces. Booker’s works are contained in more than 40 public collections and have been exhibited across the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Booker was included in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Art in 2001. Booker has lived and worked in New York City’s East Village since the early 1980s and maintains a production studio in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

May Wilson was an American artist and figure in the 1960s to 1990s New York City avant-garde art world. A pioneer of the feminist and mail art movement, she is best known for her Surrealist junk assemblages and her "Ridiculous Portrait" photocollages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Milne</span> Canadian American sculptor

Carol Milne is an internationally recognized Canadian American sculptor living in Seattle, Washington. She is best known for her Knitted Glass work, winning the Silver Award, in the International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa Japan 2010.

Martha Jackson Jarvis is an American artist known for her mixed-media installations that explore aspects of African, African American, and Native American spirituality, ecological concerns, and the role of women in preserving indigenous cultures. Her installations are composed using a variety of natural materials including terracotta, sand, copper, recycled stone, glass, wood and coal. Her sculptures and installations are often site-specific, designed to interact with their surroundings and create a sense of place. Her works often focus on the history and culture of African Americans in the southern United States. In her exhibition at the Corcoran, Jarvis featured over 100 big collard green leaves, numerous carp and a live Potomac catfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maren Hassinger</span> African-American artist and educator (born 1947)

Maren Hassinger is an African-American artist and educator whose career spans four decades. Hassinger uses sculpture, film, dance, performance art, and public art to explore the relationship between the natural world and industrial materials. She incorporates everyday materials in her art, like wire rope, plastic bags, branches, dirt, newspaper, garbage, leaves, and cardboard boxes. Hassinger has stated that her work “focuses on elements, or even problems—social and environmental—that we all share, and in which we all have a stake…. I want it to be a humane and humanistic statement about our future together.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polly Apfelbaum</span> American contemporary visual artist (born 1955)

Polly E. Apfelbaum is an American contemporary visual artist, who is primarily known for her colorful drawings, sculptures, and fabric floor pieces, which she refers to as "fallen paintings". She currently lives and works in New York City, New York.

Laylah Ali (born 1968) is a contemporary visual artist known for paintings in which ambiguous race relations are depicted with a graphic clarity and cartoon strip format.

Veronica Maudlyn Ryan is a Montserrat-born British sculptor. She moved to London with her parents when she was an infant and now lives between New York and Bristol. In December 2022, Ryan won the Turner Prize for her 'really poetic' work.

Zarouhie Abdalian is an American artist of Armenian descent, known for site-specific sculptures and installations.

Tina Williams Brewer is an American quilting artist, recognized for story quilts about African American history. Brewer was born in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Brewer started in interior design and pottery, but began quilting in 1986, feeling it was more compatible with motherhood. She is currently based in Pittsburgh, PA and has served on the boards of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Susan Hale Kemenyffy is an American artist who works primarily in drawing and print media. She is known for the innovative raku art she created in collaboration with her husband Steven Kemenyffy.

Peju Alatise is a Nigerian artist, poet, writer, and a fellow at the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution. Alatise received formal training as an architect at Ladoke Akintola University in Oyo State, Nigeria. She then went on to work for 20 years as a studio artist.

Alisha B. Wormsley is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer. Her work is about collective memory and the synchronicity of time, specifically through the stories of women of color. She states her work is "the future, and the past, and the present, simultaneously."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlene Rush</span> Arrtist

Arlene Rush is a New York City-based multidisciplinary artist. Initially, she created abstract metal sculptures, with her practice evolving to incorporate more conceptual work. Her current work addresses themes of gender, identity, socioeconomics, and politics, examining issues that impact the contemporary world.

Valeska Soares is a Brooklyn-based Brazilian-American sculptor and installation artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilana Harris-Babou</span> American artist

Ilana Harris-Babou is an American sculptor and installation artist. Harris-Babou was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her upbringing was discussed in an interview on the Amy Beecher Show in August 2019. She is currently assistant professor of art and the Luther Gregg Sullivan Fellow in Art at Wesleyan University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karyn Olivier</span> American artist (born 1968)

Karyn Olivier is a Philadelphia-based artist who creates public art, sculptures, installations and photography. Olivier alters familiar objects, spaces, and locations, often reinterpreting the role of monuments. Her work intersects histories and memories with present-day narratives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sana Musasama</span> American artist

Sana Musasama is an African-American ceramic and mixed-media artist based in New York City. Her artistic practice parallels her work as an educator and commitment to human rights causes especially the human trafficking of women. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards including an Anonymous Was a Woman Award in 2002, Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2013, and was a Studio Museum in Harlem Artist-in-Residence in 1983–84. Musasama is an associate adjunct professor at Hunter College.

References

  1. 1 2 Beckerman, Jim (March 21, 2023). "'Washington Crossing the Delaware,' reimagined, at Montclair Art Museum". The Record . Archived from the original on August 26, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2023. vanessa german, who styles her name all-lowercase, like bell hooks and e. e. cummings ("it is a way I level myself without hierarchy")
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rao, Mallika (October 6, 2014). "This Sculptor Is Using Trash To Inspire One Of Pittsburgh's Toughest Neighborhoods To Make Art". HuffPost. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Artist Vanessa German displays her love for Homewood in NYC". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Exhibition: Vanessa German Bitter Root – MSU Billings | MSU Billings". www.msubillings.edu. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Amy, Michael (July–August 2012). "New York: Vanessa German, Pavel Zoubok Gallery". Sculpture: 75.
  6. ↑ Rosenberg, Karen (March 6, 2014). "Booths Devoted to Women Multiply at the Art Show". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 "A Sculptor Creates a Bright Spot in a Struggling Community". Oprah.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Young Artists Find Home And Healing at Pittsburgh Art House". NPR. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  9. 1 2 Villarreal, Ignacio. "African American art since 1950 from The David C. Driskell Center on view at the Taft Museum". artdaily.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  10. 1 2 "Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Unveils 2015 Biennial Grant Awardees". Artforum. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Artist Vanessa German Needed Money to Repair Her Steps in Pittsburgh. Then She Won $200,000 From the Crystal Bridges Museum". Artnet News. December 18, 2018.
  12. ↑ Great Women artists. Phaidon Press. 2019. p. 153. ISBN   978-0714878775.
  13. ↑ "Vanessa German: Helping to Heal Traumatized Youth Through Art". Carnegie Museum of Art: Storyboard. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  14. ↑ Fredrickson, Erika. "Roots and juju". Missoula News. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  15. 1 2 "American Visionary Art Museum – Our Visionaries: Vanessa German". avam.org. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lidji, Eric (May 18, 2016). "Citizen Artist: Vanessa German". Pittsburgh Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ Fredrickson, Erika. "Roots and juju". Missoula News. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  18. 1 2 Albritton, Ann (November 2015). "Sarasota, Florida: "Re-Purposed", The Ringling Museum". Sculpture: 72.
  19. 1 2 "i take my soul with me everywhere i go". The Georgia Review. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  20. ↑ DUNNE, SUSAN. "Wadsworth Atheneum Exhibit Confronts Violence Against African-Americans". courant.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  21. ↑ Berger, David S. "Vanessa German's sculptures continue to impress in a new show". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  22. ↑ O'Driscoll, Bill. "Vanessa German shows off powerful print-based work at AIR". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  23. 1 2 Record, MARGA LINCOLN Independent. "The transformative power of art and love: 'Vanessa German: Bitter Root' opening reception is today". Helena Independent Record. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  24. ↑ Gopnik, Blake (August 17, 2023). "On Our National Mall, New Monuments Tell New Stories" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 19, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  25. 1 2 Bullock, Maggie (April 17, 2019). "The Future of Work: The 'Citizen Artist' Bringing Hope to Pittsburgh's Homewood". Shondaland.
  26. ↑ "$4,000 grant to 'Love Front Porch'". New Pittsburgh Courier. Vol. 103, no. 38 (City ed.). September 19–25, 2012. p. B3.
  27. ↑ Writer, Shahum Ajmal | Staff (April 5, 2018). "Women hone craft at Art House in Homewood".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. ↑ NewsPoliticsInfo (May 26, 2011), Rachel Maddow Goes To America's Most Dangerous Neighborhood (Part 1/2) , retrieved March 5, 2017
  29. ↑ O'Driscoll, Bill (September 22, 2022). "Pittsburgh artist vanessa german wins prestigious national award". WESA . Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  30. 1 2 3 4 "Vanessa German "i am armed. i am an army."". nyartbeat.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Works – Vanessa German – People – Heinz History Center". heinzhistorycenter.emuseum.com. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  32. ↑ "Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation – Past Exhibitions". weismanfoundation.org. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Vanessa German | Pittsburgh Biennial 2014". pittsburghbiennial.org. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Vanessa German: The Ordinary Sacred". New Pittsburgh Courier. Vol. 106, no. 6. February 11–17, 2015. p. B5. ISSN   1047-8051.
  35. ↑ "German and Human". Hartford Magazine, Hartford Courant. June 2016. p. O25.
  36. ↑ "Critic's Choice". Hartford Courant (Main ed.). May 29, 2016. p. G2.
  37. ↑ "Exhibition Spotlight: Vanessa German at the Everson Museum of Art". syracuse.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  38. ↑ "State of The Art". Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  39. ↑ "Mattress Factory: ActiveArchive". mattress.org. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  40. ↑ "Vanessa German: Miracles and Glory Abound". flintarts.org. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  41. ↑ "The Frick Pittsburgh Announces Partnership with Vanessa German" (PDF). thefrickpittsburgh.org. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  42. ↑ German, Vanessa (January 1, 2000), Tar Baby Jane , retrieved March 4, 2017
  43. ↑ "Cut-and-Paste Culture: The New Collage | ARTnews". ARTnews. December 12, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  44. ↑ "Exhibition Review Unloaded | Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism". vsw.org. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  45. ↑ "Vanessa German | ArtsATL". www.artsatl.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  46. ↑ "Root : Martha's Vineyard Playhouse". mvplayhouse.org. August 5, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  47. ↑ Norrell, Debbie (November 21, 2004). "Fashion Africana!". New Pittsburgh Courier. Vol. 95, no. 93. p. B1.
  48. ↑ "Heinz Awards - vanessa german".
  49. ↑ "2017 Art Award Winners – American Academy of Arts and Letters". artsandletters.org. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  50. ↑ "Four recognized at Urban League's Ron Brown Gala". New Pittsburgh Courier. Vol. 105, no. 51 (City ed.). December 17–23, 2014. p. B8.
  51. ↑ "Community supporters feted at leadership reception". New Pittsburgh Courier. Vol. 98, no. 10. March 7–13, 2007. p. C3. ISSN   1047-8051.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.