At City Hall
Last week I got to do some art advocacy at New York City Hall by testifying before the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs on the importance of artist residencies. I spoke about how meaningful my residency at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning has been to me as a Black woman artist and how vital residencies are to career development.
With the mayor’s budget cuts looming over the fate of so many cultural programs, I hope there will be sustained funding for arts programs to support underrepresented artists like me. I’m grateful for the opportunity to advocate. Here’s my written testimony that was submitted for the public record:
Good morning. My name is Jaimee Todd and I am a multidisciplinary artist based in Sunnyside, Queens. Like many aspiring artists, I moved to New York City 20 years ago with the dream of a thriving art career. Through persistence and hard work, I managed to show my art in various non profits and cultural institutions throughout the city. In spite of these opportunities, I still felt like I needed the support that would advance my art career. I felt especially challenged as a Black woman artist because I felt like I was often competing in spaces where I didn’t feel represented or even welcomed. I knew I needed to find community among other artists who looked like me.
In 2023, I was chosen alongside four other minority artists to be a part of the ARTworks residency program through the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, or JCAL. The goal of the residency was to empower BIPOC artists with the resources and skills to navigate the complexities of the art world. For 10 months, we attended curated seminars with art professionals who shared their expertise in areas that included marketing, intellectual property, legacy planning, and contract negotiation. I was so grateful for the wealth of knowledge that our mentors shared with us because I recognized how access to the right information can really make the difference in one’s art career. This is especially important for underrepresented artists. In fact, one of my residency mentors recognized my potential and invited me to participate in the Harlem Fine Arts Show. Even though it was the first time I ever exhibited at a fine arts fair, I sold over $2000 worth of art and made valuable networking contacts.
Because JCAL recognizes that artists are the economic and cultural backbone of New York City, they consistently pay them for showcasing their artwork.The grant funding from my residency allowed me to cover numerous art expenses, which included my very first art studio. Having my own studio has been an absolute game changer in my creative development; now I can sell more work through open studio visits and expand the scale of my artwork.
Our residency recently had our opening reception for our group show entitled, Evolution. Our theme centered around our personal and creative growth as artists which we were excited to share with the surrounding communities of Jamaica. The visitors not only praised the presentation of the work, but they were so excited to see artists who looked like them showcasing their talents. (And just to plug—our show will be on view until May 3 with an artist talk taking place on April 13).
Programs like ARTWorks are now endangered by the deep and harmful budget cuts ordered by Mayor Adams to DCLA this year. They are especially harmful to communities of color who will disproportionately suffer from loss of jobs, which are critical drivers of our economy. I urge Mayor Adams to reverse the $20 million in cuts from this year, and I ask all City Council members to refuse to vote on any budget with $15.5 million in cuts for next year. ARTWorks—and I— need your support. Thank you for your time.
Evolution
This past Saturday was the opening reception of our ARTworks group show entitled Evolution. The exhibition spanned three spaces which included a living room concept featuring our older works. For me, that included my digital collage portraits from my Belle Noir and Black Superheroes series.
Photography by Anthony Artis.
We had a wonderful turnout that included our program mentors and members of the surrounding community of Jamaica, Queens.
We’ll be holding our artist talk on April 13 from 5-8 pm at JCAL to discuss our artist evolution. You can RSVP here.
Harlem Fine Arts Show
First day of the Harlem Fine Arts Fair, after setting up my booth. Photos by Lisa Wade.
I had the opportunity to show at the Harlem Fine Arts Show late last month. It was the first time running my own booth at a major art fair (in the past, I would just drop off my work with the gallery and come back to visit later). My mentor R. Lovejones had been pushing me to take the leap for a few months and I kept resisting because I was worried it would be too much work . I was preparing for my residency group show at JCAL. . I was worried about the cost (art fairs booths can easily run into the tens of thousands) but I was able to work out an affordable arrangement to exhibit.
As it turned out, I had plenty of work to exhibit and still have enough for my group exhibition in March, so I brought in 11 originals from my Searching For Proginoskes series, along with several embellished, one-of-a-kind prints. I was better prepared than I realized but I was still really nervous—I tend to anticipate something happening and trying to plan to death for that. That’s probably why I got very little sleep the night before.
The set-up went better than I could have expected, especially I had help from my fellowship director, who generously donated her time to help me arrange and hang the paintings. I was going for a minimalistic presentation to mimic the feeling of being in a gallery and to allow for the art to stand out. At the last minute, there was a booth change and I ended up with a space with a column in the middle that turned out to work pretty seamlessly. I was able to position my two big 30”x40” wood panels in between it so it still caught people’s eyes when they walked past.
Once the paintings were up, it was a full on sprint from grabbing myself something to eat to changing clothes to welcome the crowd who showed up for the exclusive Red Dot Event. I was running on five hours sleep but lots of adrenaline. It turned out being a lot of fun discussing my art with visitors and people watching. Within the first hour, I made my first sale. Three of my embellished prints went to a lovely married couple who were very excited to purchase them to enhance their living space. I was touched by their enthusiasm.
The next few days went even smoother as I got accustomed to manning my own booth and chatting with visitors and patrons. One of the most important skills you pick up when you’re working an art fair is learning how to let people approach your booth and reading how people want to interact with your work. Some visitors really want to engage and talk to you about your process and inspiration, while others want to quietly take in the work and be alone to absorb it. I think the minimalism of my space and the round-about layout (thanks to my magic column!) allowed for more privacy without feeling the need to engage with the crowds.
Because I was working my booth mostly by myself, I didn’t get a chance to meet as many other exhibiting artists as I would’ve liked; I had to sneak those moments in before the start of the fair and for a few minutes when it concluded. Still, I was able to exchange info with several other artists. From what I was able to see, the abstract work I did really contrasted with most of the other works. Much of the art had emphasized figurative, which is pretty popular at Black art fairs but several visitors to my booth commented on how much my work stood out in its uniqueness.
By the end of the fair, I met many wonderful people, sold several originals and prints and made some valuable contacts. I’m glad I let my mentor push me out of my comfort zone to try something new and expand my experience as an artist. I definitely want to do another one in the future!
Updates
I’m embarrassed to realize how long it’s been since my last post. I’ve had so many moments that I’ve meant to write about but I haven’t devoted the time to my blog as I should and relegating my content to Instagram.
Studio
My art sanctum with current works in process and completed paintings.
I finally got an art studio! In October, I took the plunge and decided to rent a dedicated art studio that happens to be within walking distance of my home. I’ve been circling the field for a while when it came to making the decision but listening to my seminar speakers during my residency convinced me that it was time to pull the trigger. If I had known how much of a shift it would create in my art-making practice, I would’ve done it so much sooner.
Having this playroom, this sanctum, as I like to call it, really makes me do the deep work of making art without the distractions of my apartment. Just the other day I spent five hours working straight and I couldn’t believe how quickly the time passed and I finished the day with such a feeling of accomplishment.
In addition to being a dedicated workspace, it’s been a wonderful base of operations to connect with other artists. I recently had my first visitor, another fellow artist, and we spent over two hours discussing our work and ways to advance our practices (I really hate using the word “career”—it feels so corporate when art-making is more of a vocation). Once I finish prepping for my residency group exhibition, I plan on hosting an open studio in the spring/summer so I can show my work in person and connect on a more deeper level with my visitors.
Collage Love
When I was a kid, I was never really patient with cutting things out and pasting them together. I used to think it wasn’t as fun as painting because using scissors and glue felt like too much work. Thank god I outgrew that and am embracing a medium I haven’t touched in over 20 years.
It started when I started cutting up some of sketches and reassembling them as small collages. My first one was called Witness (which I recently sold). After that I started going through some of my reject paintings that had tossed aside and trying to recycle discarded material instead of just pitching it. Eyes figure heavily in my recent works for a dual purpose: to witness current events as they unfold and as a way of making the viewer feeling seen. Witnesses are safeguards against denialism and erasure.
It was unexpectedly therapeutic to cut up old paintings to make room for something new; it’s a reminder of the futility of attachment and celebrate the process of creating something new out of destruction. Cutting shapes out of paper is also very calming and mediative because I’m forced to really focus on cutting along the lines that I’ve drawn and arranging and re-arranging my cut-outs into a composition. I’m enjoying the deep work of visual problem solving.
I’ve made two large-scale collages so far for my group show. The first one, A Drive of Dragons, took me over a month to create. I spent of a lot of time getting the placement right and then later incorporating bronze metallic paper to allow the multicolored wings and eyes to pop more. It was also the first time I took one of my Proginoskes’ pieces go all the way to the edge of the canvas.
A Drive of Dragons, 36”x24” paper on board.
As of this writing, I’m finishing up the second, that I’ve named Multitudes Within a Singularity. It’s smaller, 30”x30” but pushed the layering aspect of it more. I really love how using collages makes Proginoskes feel more real and voluminous and the way some of the eyes hides behind some of the wings.
Close-up of Multitudes Within a Singularity.
ARTworks Group Exhibition
Our JCAL residecy concludes with a group exhibition that kicks off on March 16th at Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning and is on display for two months. The bulk of my time has been spent making art for that show. Our theme focuses on evolution, so each of us will be showing older works along with our most recent pieces. I’m looking forward to showing the works that reflect my pivot from my digital collage work to my recent collections of paintings and collages.
Speaking of which, it’s time for me to get back to work. Looking forward to sharing more thoughts, sooner rather than later.
JCAL Fellowship: Pathways
My fellowship activity has ratcheted up in the last few weeks and I feel like I’ve been learning so much! This program continues to be a wonderful way of making connections with successful artists and learnings about the hidden quirks of the art world. I’ve loved learning is how every artist navigates their paths to success differently.
Two weeks ago, my residency program visited the artist residents at the Queens Museum of Art. The two artists we met were so generous with their time and we were grateful to experience their creativity within their studio space at the museum. The inaugural artist residency program through the Queens Museum is unique lets artist dedicate themselves to their practice in an amazing studio space for two years while earning a salary and health insurance and it asks participating artists to engage the local community. It’s definitely a program that seems more cerebral and activist-minded because of this community engagement.
Catalina Schliebener (pictured right), who hails from Chile, is currently exploring notions of gender and sexual identity, class and race through collage and painting. They are especially interested in how these notions are formed through depiction of Latin American culture as cartoons and storybook characters. Her collage work and paintings take on these fantastical figurations that are sometimes disturbing but done in Disney-like style.
The other artist that we met, Cameron Granger, is a multidisciplinary artist who celebrates familial ties and history through installation, sculpture and even movie making. I was fascinated by his research into Black American mythology and magic and its relationship to Black communities.
Guy Philoche in his studio alongside one of his paintings.
Me standing next to one of Guy’s painting of Misty Copeland.
A few days later, I visited Guy Stanley Philoche during the East Harlem Open Studios tour ahead of his visit to our fellowship cohort. A very accomplished painter from humble beginnings , Guy has been grinding on his art game for over 20 years to reach massive success: he currently sells his pieces for six figures and he has an upcoming Netflix documentary coming out on his career. His current body of work is literally about giving people their flowers; he paints grayscale portraits of people, both famous and unknown atop primitive representations of daisies (his mother’s favorite flower) as a way of celebrating them. When I asked him how he stayed motivated during those 20 years of grinding to success, he told me that he simply told himself, “Why not me?” In addition to his self belief, he diligently researched the art market, engaged in creative guerrilla marketing campaigns and continued to make the work without comparing himself to others.
What’s also inspiring about Guy is that he is adamant about paying it forward when it comes to supporting emerging artists. He purchases their works for his own private collections and showcases their work, all the while keeping in mind how hard he had to work to get noticed. While at his studio he kept emphasizing how there really is enough room for everyone to have a seat at the table. It didn’t go unnoticed that this is the second successful artist that I met during my fellowship who operated from a place of abundance.
When it comes to being a successful artist, there is no magic formula; no two paths are the same. Before I was selected to be a ARTWorks cohort, I was admittedly cynical about the feasibility of having a successful art career. I think this was because I too often encountered non-artists who were cynical and dismissive of the idea that an artist could be successful. But over these last few months I can shrug at the cynicism and say, why not? Why not me?
A Visit With Janet Henry
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting down with my mentor-artist, Janet Olivia Henry. Janet is working with each of the cohorts during the course of our ARTworks fellowship as we work towards our final group show.
I was a little nervous to have her look at my paintings. After all, she’s pretty accomplished; she’s been making art since the 60s, has shown at major museums in New York City, was a member of the ground breaking Just Above Midtown (JAM) gallery, and is currently in the process of creating work for a show in Los Angeles. But unlike my experiences with other professional artists, who sometimes seem to take pleasure in tearing down the work of other aspiring artists, Janet was warm and generous with her feedback. She also has a wonderful, irreverent sense of humor that aligns with her body of work.
One of the things that I’ve been the most self conscious about in my practice is that I often use paint markers to create the line work that is part of my signature style. I was told recently that I shouldn’t be using that because I guess it doesn’t lend actual value to my work and I should use something like oils or some other medium and that the works should be produced on my canvas instead. I’ve always felt like these factors shouldn’t stand in the way of what should be considered valuable art.
Janet affirmed that and went even further to say that as long as the materials don’t cause the art to degrade, anything can be used. She told me about the artist Noah Jemisin, who once made a stunning work using used greasy paper bags and chicken bones. Janet herself is known for making mini installation consists of dolls, lego blocks, mini-sculptures and other types of figurines. She said that sometimes artists act too precious about the materials they use—what kind of paint do you use, whether or not you stretch your own canvases—but at the end of the day, you make what feels right to you, not to a potential collector.
Another liberating piece of advice that she gave me is that art doesn’t always have to represent something or have a deep meaning. I tend to be very cerebral about my paintings but that can sometimes be very confining. Since jumping back into abstract art, I have to remind myself that it’s okay to just focus on shapes and color without it having to mean something. When I told Janet about the story behind my Searching for Proginoskes series, she was intrigued and said that it added an interesting layer to my work but even without it, the work itself is strong. She advised me was to work bigger and hold my work up in the mirror. Looking at mirror image of your work will give you more critical perspective of what needs to be cleaned up or worked on. I used to do this when I did more representational work and sometimes that mirror can give you a fright but it doesn’t lie.
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have spoken to such an accomplished artist. I feel less like an island and more connected to a creative continuum. I also feel freer to make mistakes and keep working while figuring out along the way while being as unconventional as I want to be. Meeting with her, exploring idea,s and visiting her studio energized me and reminded me the importance of building community with other artists. We really do need each other.
Thick Lines and Layers
After dabbling in digital drawings on my iPad for a few weeks, I’m back to working with ink and paper again, which always feels good. Lately I’ve been gravitating more towards a multicolored, somewhat messier feel. I think subconsciously I got inspired by the newest Spiderman movie Across the Spiderverse. I really loved the hyperkinetic colors and animation that is stacked on top of each other like actual comic books.
I took a similar approach to my latest drawings that have mostly been confined to my sketchbook. I’m making more of an effort to play more in my sketchbook instead of rushing to translate my ideas to a bigger canvas. I think having this fellowship/residency is giving me the space to take my time and experiment, which is what making art should really be about.
At first, I started out with lighter colors and gradually added darker blue lines with the intention of stopping there for the sake of aesthetic but once I added thicker blacker lines that are a more defined interpretation of Proginoskes, everything snapped into place. In the Wind in the Door, Proginoskes had the ability to make himself invisible or “dematerialize” so I like to think of these latest works as a representation of this; a gradual state of coming into visibility.
Layering and also being messy is enormously therapeutic, especially in these wild times that we live in. The crazier they get, the more I seem to cling to drawing all of these different interpretations of this particular angel, which is interesting because I’m not a religious person. When I first started on Searching For Proginoskes, I was gravitating towards a character, forgetting or perhaps not really knowing, that this is how angels “actually looked” in the bible. I just wanted to interpret this cherubim, who was a teacher and loved to count all the stars in the universe.
JCAL Fellowship: Thinking Abundantly
Yvonne setting up Get the Art Out, a game she created to generate discussion about our experiences navigating the art world as artist entrepreneurs.
Sunday was the our first official meetup of the JCAL ARTWorks fellow. Our first seminar was led by the amazing Yvonne Shortt.
“Seminar” feels like too small of a word to describe this experience. It was more about creating space to have honest conversations about what it means to be a working artist and to challenge the idea that we had to operate in scarcity.
Yvonne Shortt is a New York based artist and the founder of the Museum for Contemporary Artists. She embraces the idea of working from an abundance mindset as an artist. As she aptly pointed out in our discussion, the art world operates from a place of scarcity; artists are competing with each other for recognition, validation and patrons. Because there is this pervasive belief that there isn’t enough for everyone to go around, artists tend to be grateful for whatever scraps they can get. As a result, they undervalue their time, labor and the value of their creations. If you compound this scarcity mindset with the the all too common philosophy that artists don’t produce anything of value, it’s not surprising that artists feel undervalued and are exploited. (As someone who also went to law school, the scarcity mindset is enforced from day one which is why law school is so damn cutthroat and law students are miserable).
Yvonne wants to subvert all of that and in her discussion with us and pointed out that when we choose to think in abundance, we value ourselves more and ask for more. In practical terms, this looks like asking for financial transparency when working with non-profits and commercial gallery spaces. This also looks like artists working as a collective and sharing information; sharing information looks like having honest discussions about income (which still a very touchy subject) just as you would have honest conversations about salary with your coworkers. Having this information gives us leverage to negotiate better financial opportunities.
In the spirit of the abundance mindset, I asked Yvonne her thoughts about artists having day jobs so that they don’t have to demand that their creativity support their survival. She pointed out that without a safety net, art becomes a product and that having a day job allows for exploration and spiritual practice. In my own experience having a day job has allowed to me to say “no” to projects that don’t align with my values and it gives me the space to experiment with new approaches to creativity.
I felt so validated and energized by Yvonne’s words and I feel fortunate to connect with her in the space of our program. I’m to expanding my thoughts on the themes that were birthed from this experience.
To learn more about Yvonne and her art practice, please visit her Instagram page and the website for the Museum for Contemporary Artists.
ARTWorks Fellowship
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been selected to be one of several artists to be part of the ARTWorks Fellowship program through the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL)!
For the next year I’ll be attending curated seminars for career development and will have access to the Center’s studio space (which is a blessing given my small New York City apartment) and galleries. At the conclusion of the program, my work will be part of a group exhibition.
This fellowship is what I’ve been searching for for some time now. Since the ending of the pandemic, community feels more vital than ever and I believe is essential to growth as an artist. I also wanted to find an artistic cohort beyond the traditional, often exclusive realm of the art world. Sometimes opportunities tend to be transactional and relationships end after the exhibition winds down or art sale is finalized. What appeals to me is JCAL is committed to creating lasting relationships with BIPOC artists within a more grass roots approach. The center itself is nestled in the heart of Jamaica, Queens and serves as a cultural hub for the community.
I’ll be sharing my adventures along the way so keep an eye out for my blog posts. I can’t wait to share my journey with you!
Some Digital Fun
I’ve been playing around with digital drawings of Proginoskes on my ipad through the Procreate app. Here’s the process reel that I created along with Robert Glasper’s interpretation of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
Searching for Proginoskes
My latest collection of paintings and drawings is a tribute to the character Proginoskes from the book A Wind in the Door by Madeline L’Engle.
Proginoskes is a multi-winged, many-eyed cherubim seraph who helps the main protagonist, Meg, save her ailing brother from Mitochondritis, an illness afflicting the mitochondria of his cells. He is also a "Namer", whose role in the universe is to love and name parts of creation.
The drawings came about when I was doing some random sketching and doodling random lines and circles with a purple marker. After looking at it, I realized it reminded me of Proginoskes and that’s when the wave of inspiration hit me. For the last month or so, I’ve been obsessively drawing many depictions of this cherubim seraph, mostly in purple, which signified the surreal and supernatural.
I’ve drawn Proginoskes in different styles with the idea of how he would be depicted if he visited different civilizations at different points in time. In this way, Proginoskes belongs to everyone and is not just representative of cherubim seraphim of the Abrahamic religions.
I’m also drawn to Proginoskes because of his role in the novel. A Wind in the Door is the classic story of good versus evil within the context of a cellular illness. Meg and Proginoskes must face off against the Echthroi (which in ancient Greek means “enemies”), who are evil forces that wish to extinguish creation. As mentioned in the book’s predecessor, A Wrinkle in Time, those that fight back against this evil are the artists, teachers and creators.
Given this theme, it feels so appropriate to work on this series in these tumultuous times, where marginalized people are under constant attack, rights to bodily autonomy are being chipped away, and our climate becomes increasingly unstable. I like to think of myself as one of many artists who push back against annihilation through making life affirming art.
Nostalgia
Top left to right: Armadura, Chameleon; Bottom left to right: Boombox, Calabaza
My newest collection is a tribute to my Gen X childhood, when rainbows were omnipresent. When I was a baby, my mom decorated my room with prints of paintings by Peter Max, famous for creating vibrant multicolored paintings and my childhood bedroom in Pittsburgh was covered in rainbow colored wallpaper that literally read "rainbow" repeatedly. I had rainbow barrettes, rainbow leg warmers, rainbow suspenders, holographic rainbow stickers and a Rainbow Brite doll (whose dress I tried to put on my unsuspecting cat, Domino, who promptly shredded it to bits).
Any surprise that color factors heavily into my artwork?
The Nostalgia collection revisits those wonderful rainbow times. My goal was to create a 3-D feel to each image and layer it with thick lines or adorn the canvas with pattern work. The images don't represent any object intentionally but after creating them, I can't help but see what's reflected in the title of each work, some of which are very indicative of the 80's.
What do you see?
Polychromatic Engine, 24”x18”, ink on board.
Static, 10”x10”, ink on board.
Color Blocks
Small Color Cell Abstractions, 6x6” each. Ink, watercolor and gouche on aquaboard
6x6” each, ink, gouache, and watercolor on aqua board.
I’ve been working a new set of cellular drawings that came about pretty spontaneously. Most of the drawings up to this point have consisted with a lot of detailed patterns and line work. Over the last week or so, especially while recovering from Covid, I decided I wanted to go a little simpler and return to a looser line style that I started out with once I returned to painting and drawing.
Originally the plan was just to do black and whites, but who am I kidding? Bright color is my signature and my addiction.
As with my other cellular drawings, the style of each cell is heavily influenced by Mesoamerican art. I definitely soaked up inspiration from my recent trip to the Met and visited their Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Mayan Art exhibition.
As I read and learn more about cellular biology, I see how they are like glyphs; they convery information and tell the stories of our bodies. I’m drawn to creating them on blocks as a metaphor for how cells are the building blocks of life.
Happy 2023?
Green Yellow Organism. Ink on 5x5” aquaboard.
2023 is going to be a year of firsts! I can feel it, literally, because after nearly three years of dodging it, Covid-19 finally caught up to me.
Luckily, it’s been pretty mild, aside from a few hours last night of bad body aches. Thank god for Tylenol.
Obviously this isn’t the way I wanted to ring in the New Year but it could’ve been worse. I think I still might be in denial that I actually have Covid because I’m still holding onto my rapid test result stick as if to really confirm that it’s really the ‘Rona.
Since getting infected, I’ve been thinking even more about cellular biology. What got me through the first night was imagining by little T-cells, trained by the vaccine, going to work to clear out the infection. I imagined how I would interpret them like the rest of my cellular drawings.
That aside, I’m excited by everything that 2023 has to offer. I decided to start the new year by re-designing my website so that it’s more streamlined and easier to navigate. I’ll also be a part of an upcoming group show in NYC, that will feature my large scale Cellular Network drawings.
This will also be the year that I pursue fellowships and art residency programs so that I can make deeper connections within the art community. I gained a lot of confidence from my art show at Zuri,so I feel ready to expand my audience with new body of work.
Until then, let me go rest on this couch while I work the ‘Rona.
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