- "The Sneak" Necklace
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Joyce Scott threads diverse influences such as Native American beadwork, African art, and Mexican weavings into her provocative compositions. By combining these elements with her personal experiences as an African American, Scott creates art full of unrelentingly political and social commentary.
In The Sneak, for example, an act of violence has taken place. Three small figures, gossiping behind the back of the central character, reach out to separate a couple. The woman lies on the ground, bleeding; the man has her blood on his hands and an angry sneer on his face. Is he a husband who heard people talk about his wife sneaking around? Or have the three sneaks acted as puppet masters in inciting the violence?
Throughout her career, Scott has engaged in the realms of jewelry, sculpture, performance art, and installation. She began using beads in her jewelry in the mid-1970s, after working with Native American and African artists at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Amazingly, her pieces have no internal armature or backing. Rather, she constructs fluid, sculptural figures using a traditional Native American peyote stitch to sew thousands of colored beads into compelling compositions.
ProvenanceThe artist; acquired by Helen Williams Drutt English; purchased by MFAH, 2002.
Exhibition History"The Aesthetic of Excess," American Craft Museum, New York, February 8–April 8, 1990.
"Not So Simple Pleasures," List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, December 8, 1990–February 3, 1991.
"Of Magic, Power & Memory: Contemporary International Jewelry," Bellevue Art Museum, Washington, April 25–May 31, 1992.
"Joyce J. Scott," Helen Drutt: Philadelphia. September 24–October 24, 1992.
"Schmuck Unserer Zeit, 1964-1993, Sammlung Helen Williams Drutt, USA," Museum Bellerive, Zürich, February 10–May 1, 1994.
"A Moveable Feast: Helen Williams Drutt Collection 1964-1994," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, November 18, 1994–January 8, 1995; Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Ostend, Belgium; June 17–September 24, 1995.
"African-American Art in the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 22–May 9, 2004.
"Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 30, 2007–January 27, 2008; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, March 14–July 6, 2008; Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, August 16, 2008–January 4, 2009; Tacoma Art Museum, Washington, June 27–September 13, 2009.
"Statements: African American Art from the Museum's Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 24–September 25, 2016.
"Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths," Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey, October 22, 2017–April 1, 2018.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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