RELIC OF MY TIME
February 8 – June 7, 2025
In “Relic of My Time,” the “relics” represent the lives of living artists, and the “time” is more or less now. The Art Enables artists have mined their possessions for small objects, tokens of meaning and memory. Keychains, jewelry, barrettes, small bottles, shells, and ribbons: all have been touched, held, kept in purses or drawers, set on desks, been forgotten and rediscovered in the tides of daily life. Though not high in monetary value, these items are imbued with meaning by those who’ve lived with them. The artists embedded many in paper clay here, singling them out as items of importance. Presented in this way, they take on the appearance of archeological artifacts unearthed from colorful ground.
These embedded objects as well as larger assemblage pieces by eight artists were undertaken after a workshop with Baltimore-based artist Schroeder Cherry. In the workshop, they explored the use of found objects, considering personal and cultural identity, and breaking the borders of the frame when composing. Each of these artists offers something intensely personal in response.
In each case, we encounter quotidian and deeply intimate items. Objects lend themselves to a prismatic landscape of meaning. Personal histories and values unfold around these items as we view them. The artist and the viewer provide the context that elevates the objects from mere things to descriptive and potent relics of our time.
All participating artists: Calvin “Sonny” Clarke, Mara Clawson, Jacqueline Coleman, Payman Jazini, Charmaine Jones, Mike Knox, Toni Lane, Helen Lewis, Raymond Lewis, Vanessa Monroe, Gillian Patterson, Eileen Schofield, Matt Schwab, and Imani Turner
Toni Lane distills decades of an accomplished career as an artist in her assemblage. An implied self-portrait with camera lenses for eyes and mouth floats over an impressive collage of press clippings covering her impact as an artist in cities around the world, as well as small mementos representing different accomplishments and eras.
Mike Knox’s self-portrait (of the artist painting a self-portrait of the artist painting a self-portrait!) is pierced at its borders by used paint brushes. The inclusion of a handicapped sign and view of the artist’s wheelchair speaks to an issue Mike frequently confronts: people underestimating his skills as an artist simply because he uses a wheelchair. In his painting, the two clearly coexist as they do in reality.
The Things I Love, 2025
colored pencil on paper, cardboard, acrylic, felt, wire, TV remote,
and metal school bus toy on wood panel with inkjet prints on paper
22 x 21.50 x 6 in
$250.00
Imani Turner pulls multiple subjects of fascination and fandom together in and around what she’s fabricated to look like a flatscreen TV. The weatherman gives a forecast on screen, with rain, hail, and a swirling hurricane floating around it. A toy school bus and hand-drawn portraits of a childhood schoolmate represent a cherished time in grade school. Printouts of her favorite celebrities and film characters are pinned to the wall around this, adding to her accumulated inspiration.
Vanessa Monroe celebrates her family and her accomplishments as a disability advocate in her piece. A cake box, sculpted reproductions of heirloom broaches, and peach preserves in a jar speak to her family history. They’re accompanied by a hand-painted reproduction of Vanessa’s favorite gospel album and original and reproduced photographs of herself - with family and at conferences at which she’s spoken.
Charmaine Jones’ piece is a memorial for her late brother. It includes a sculpted urn and photos of their family, a shrine to her deep love and loss.
In her mixed-media work, Mara Clawson shares nothing less than a symbolic representation of her life philosophy: bees and flying fish zoom around a hive in a blooming cherry blossom tree in front of a rainbow, with a shelf of stones she collected in her travels. Mara’s love of color, nature, empathy, and balance come through in this harmonious vignette.
Jacqueline Coleman’s self-portrait as a little girl conjures the spirit of her childhood. Ribbons and colorful plastic barrettes - the kind she wore in her hair as a child - encrust the borders of the painting. A colored pencil portrait of her beloved dog watches over her from atop the panel.
Payman Jazini captures a time in his youth in Tehran when he was free to cycle to and from school, passing through Freedom Square. The piece captures the Azadi Tower and the bustle of traffic of which Payman remembers being a part. Among the words written in Farsi are “Freedom”– referencing both the square and the greater concept.
Special thanks to Schroeder Cherry, who started this line of exploration for Art Enables artists with a special workshop in September of 2024. Schroeder is a native of Washington, DC, is currently a Baltimore-based artist working with puppets, paintings and mixed media assemblages. Cherry captures everyday scenes of African American life, often set in barbershops and utilizing repurposed materials.
This project was supported by a grant from HumanitiesDC as part of the 'Humanities Grant Program,' an initiative funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.