Joyce J. Scott

born Baltimore, Maryland, 1948

BiographyRenowned as the “Queen of Beadwork,” Joyce J. Scott’s exuberant beaded sculptural forms and neckpieces are provocative and confrontational, addressing contentious political and social issues such as gender, race, and class struggle. Born and raised in Baltimore, Joyce is a descendant of African-Americans, Native Americans, and Scots. Three generations of storytellers, quilters, basket makers, and wood, metal, and clay workers inspire her artwork.

Her earliest art lessons were received at home as she watched her mother, the renowned fiber artist, Elizabeth Talford Scott, create quilts using unconventional embroidery and appliqué techniques. Deeply rooted in her ethnic and family heritage, Scott’s work comments on issues affecting contemporary society in an effort to elicit awareness and response. The eloquent artist states, “It’s important to me to use art in a manner that incites people to look and then carry something home – even it it’s subliminal – that might make a change in them.”

Selected collections include the Museum of Art and Design, New York; The Baltimore Museum of Art; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.; the Renwck Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; The Studio Museum, Harlem, New York; and the Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio.

[bio from Mobilia Gallery website accessed 10/30/2012]

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