Joyce J. Scott
Firestone Lecture in Contemporary Art
7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019
Francis Auditorium, MBU main campus
Free and open to the public
This year’s Firestone lecturer uses beauty to convey powerful statements about social injustice and discrimination on the basis of race, class, and gender. An artist working across many media, Joyce J. Scott is especially known for her beadwork in sculpture and jewelry. She is also a 2016 MacArthur “genius” award winner.
A lifelong resident of Baltimore, Scott works on a wide scale that ranges from elaborate, oversized neck-pieces to figurative sculptures to large-scale installations. She has adapted the traditional beading technique of Peyote stitch — a method of free form or off-loom weaving — to create incredible patterns and 3-D forms. She has also combined her beadwork with blown-glass sculpture, working in collaboration with glass artists on Murano Island in Venice, Italy.
Featured image credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
She received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and MFA from the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She also received training from her mother, Elizabeth T. Scott, an internationally recognized fiber artist.
Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions at museums including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design, the Fuller Craft Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also has pieces in the public collections of numerous national and international museums.
The Susan Paul Firestone Lecture Series in Contemporary Art is made possible by the generosity of donors in honor of the creative work and professional accomplishments of Susan Paul Firestone ’68.