Brandywine Workshop and Archives
Presented at Highpoint Center for Printmaking
Flowing Abstraction: Contemporary African Diaspora Printmaking
Highpoint Center for Printmaking is pleased to announce our forthcoming exhibition, Flowing Abstraction, works created by Brandywine Workshop and Archives, opening January 26, 7 - 9 pm. Flowing Abstraction: Contemporary African Diaspora Printmaking highlights the creative process and the flow of artistic ideas and knowledge as revealed in 24 abstract fine-art prints by eight artists of varied African, Caribbean, and African-American heritages and nationalities.
And join us Saturday, January 27, from 12 -1 pm, as Highpoint hosts a free public curator conversation with Michele Parchment, Brandywine Executive Director, and Taylor Jasper, Walker Art Center Assistant Curator of Visual Arts.
Flowing Abstraction will be on display at Highpoint Center for Printmaking from January 26 - March 2, 2024. Exhibiting Artists: El Anatsui, Enise Carr, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Sam Gilliam, Tim McFarlane, Julie Mehretu, Kebedech Tekleab, Tyler Yvette Wilson
Public Opening Reception: January 26, 7-9 pm
Exhibition Dates: January 26 - March 2, 2024
Curator Conversation: January 27, 12 - 1 pm
Brandywine Workshops
“Flow is a state of being associated with creativity and enhanced performance,” explains Klare Scarborough, Ph.D., a curator, educator, author, and arts administrator who contributed to the exhibition catalog’s essay. “Flow enters the creative process in moments when action and awareness merge, when artists become completely absorbed in their tasks, and their sense of time slips away. Working within a turbulent political and social climate, including a global pandemic, these artists actively sought opportunities to expand their artistic practices through experimentation, learning, and collaboration.”
Tyler Yvette Wilson | Born 1992 | American/African American heritage | After a Time, 2023 | Color woodcut | 21 5/8 x 29 ¼ inches | Published by Brandywine Workshop and Archives | Printed by Alexis Nutini, Dos Tres Press
Abstraction is currently understood to involve the translation of lived experience through embodied practices. The artists featured in Flowing Abstraction, while sharing African Diasporic heritage, represent a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and they are diverse in their artistic interests and goals. Their influences include music, dance, literature, philosophy, architecture, history, politics, current events, social injustices, personal stories, ancestral heritage, and the environment. They work primarily in artistic mediums other than printmaking, such as painting, sculpture, collage, photography, performance, and installation. While their artworks presented in Flowing Abstraction are considered non-representational, they emerge as passionate responses to their phenomenological experiences of the world.
Curator: Flowing Abstraction: Contemporary African Diaspora Printmaking was organized by Brandywine Workshop and Archives with assistance from Klare Scarborough, PhD.
Adama Delphine Fawundu | Born 1971 | Sierra Leonean and American/Mende, Bubi, Sierra Leonean, Equatorial Guinean heritage | Ancestral Songs III, 2023 | Color woodcut | 28 ½ x 22 ½ inches | Published by Brandywine Workshop and Archives | Printed by Alexis Nutini, Dos Tres Press
About Brandywine Workshop and Archives
Founded in 1972, Brandywine Workshop andArchives (BWA) is a diversity-driven, nonprofit cultural institution that produces and shares art to connect, inspire, and build bridges among global communities. At BWA, creative expression is fostered through collaboration and processes that employ conventional as well as emerging technologies. BWA offers a Visiting Artist-in-Residence Program, changing exhibitions in The Printed Image Gallery and Glass Gallery, traveling exhibitions, and publishes exhibition catalogs and a Teacher Guide for Cross-Curricular and Cross-Cultural Learning.