Dancing across the creative spectrum with no end in sight.....
Curator + Writer + Arts Project Consultant
Email: Cmwatts06@gmail.com
Curator + Writer + Arts Project Consultant
Email: Cmwatts06@gmail.com
Curatorial Projects
Show Me a Hero III
Shaunté Gates
On View: March - July 2022
Curated for Eaton Hotel, Washington D.C.
Artist: Shaunté Gates
https://www.shauntegates.com/
Words by Shaunte Gates:
Shaunte Gates’s “The Land Of Myth” series is a psycho-geographical interrogation into world-breaking and building and the stories that often influence our identities. Through a multi-disciplinary approach - incorporating photography, painting, found texts, collage, and family portraits. Gates’s “Land of Myth” dreamscapes are a circumnavigation of the labyrinthine social constructs of race, class, and the very real physical sites wherein people enact, inhabit and perform them. Using the architecture of the District of Columbia’s public housing projects as a starting point, the artist builds compositions in search of a feeling of rootedness with a complex series of gestures, and woven layers of history, personal history, American popular culture, and mythology.
Photography by Idreezus Studios
Artist: Shaunté Gates
https://www.shauntegates.com/
Words by Shaunte Gates:
Shaunte Gates’s “The Land Of Myth” series is a psycho-geographical interrogation into world-breaking and building and the stories that often influence our identities. Through a multi-disciplinary approach - incorporating photography, painting, found texts, collage, and family portraits. Gates’s “Land of Myth” dreamscapes are a circumnavigation of the labyrinthine social constructs of race, class, and the very real physical sites wherein people enact, inhabit and perform them. Using the architecture of the District of Columbia’s public housing projects as a starting point, the artist builds compositions in search of a feeling of rootedness with a complex series of gestures, and woven layers of history, personal history, American popular culture, and mythology.
Photography by Idreezus Studios
Harriet’s Wildest Dreams
Group Show
On View: September 2021 - March 2022
Curated for Eaton Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Artists: Dee Dwyer, Cheriss May, Kyna Kool and Nyeusi Mwezi
IG: @Deedwyerjonts; @CherissMay; @KynaKool; @Ablackstateofmindphotography
About:
Harriet’s Wildest Dreams (Photography Exhibition)
Told through the lens of four different women photographers: Dee Dwyer, Cheriss May, Kyna Uwaeme, and Nyeusi Mwezi these vignettes follow the Black woman and the many waters she wades. Seeking to normalize and exalt her multifaceted existence, this collection of images explores sensuality, devotion, gratitude, glory, home, family, and self.
The title, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, is borrowed from the D.C.-based abolitionist collective whose pilgrimage to the birthplace of their namesake [Harriet Tubman] sparked the creation of this exhibit. The caravan to Tubman’s home in Dorchester, Maryland, was a powerful reclamation of ancestral energy, organized for mothers who had lost children at the hands of police violence.
Curated from a submission of 100 images, these photos were selected and grouped in conversation with one another. They were scaled to two walls, 39 x 7ft and 6 x 7ft to create a more immersive, connective experience with the work.
Event Photography by Kirth Bobb
Artists: Dee Dwyer, Cheriss May, Kyna Kool and Nyeusi Mwezi
IG: @Deedwyerjonts; @CherissMay; @KynaKool; @Ablackstateofmindphotography
About:
Harriet’s Wildest Dreams (Photography Exhibition)
Told through the lens of four different women photographers: Dee Dwyer, Cheriss May, Kyna Uwaeme, and Nyeusi Mwezi these vignettes follow the Black woman and the many waters she wades. Seeking to normalize and exalt her multifaceted existence, this collection of images explores sensuality, devotion, gratitude, glory, home, family, and self.
The title, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, is borrowed from the D.C.-based abolitionist collective whose pilgrimage to the birthplace of their namesake [Harriet Tubman] sparked the creation of this exhibit. The caravan to Tubman’s home in Dorchester, Maryland, was a powerful reclamation of ancestral energy, organized for mothers who had lost children at the hands of police violence.
Curated from a submission of 100 images, these photos were selected and grouped in conversation with one another. They were scaled to two walls, 39 x 7ft and 6 x 7ft to create a more immersive, connective experience with the work.
Event Photography by Kirth Bobb
Homage to The Unknown
Adrienne Gaither
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) - Permanent
Commissioned and Managed for ACM, Washington D.C.
Artist: Adrienne Gaither http://www.adriennegaither.com/
About:
I commissioned artist Adrienne Gaither to create a mural for the reopening of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) after being closed for a year of exterior renovations. Using precise geometric shapes on a circular 24 x 12ft wall, the mural speaks to the museum's rich collection of community based artifacts. After researching ACM’s catalog we found inspiration in the museum’s collection of quilts. Quilting has a rich communal history and often mirrors the geometry seen in Adrienne’s work. A nod to a Reconstruction era quilt, there was no record of the maker, or any value placed on the soul’s story despite the vibrancy of their creation. In an effort to right the erasure of this person’s narrative, Adrienne created an homage to the unknown. Initially entitled “Anonymity in the wake of, she changed the title based on my written contextualization of the work.
Photography by Glen Gordon
Artist: Adrienne Gaither http://www.adriennegaither.com/
About:
I commissioned artist Adrienne Gaither to create a mural for the reopening of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) after being closed for a year of exterior renovations. Using precise geometric shapes on a circular 24 x 12ft wall, the mural speaks to the museum's rich collection of community based artifacts. After researching ACM’s catalog we found inspiration in the museum’s collection of quilts. Quilting has a rich communal history and often mirrors the geometry seen in Adrienne’s work. A nod to a Reconstruction era quilt, there was no record of the maker, or any value placed on the soul’s story despite the vibrancy of their creation. In an effort to right the erasure of this person’s narrative, Adrienne created an homage to the unknown. Initially entitled “Anonymity in the wake of, she changed the title based on my written contextualization of the work.
Photography by Glen Gordon
Creative Interludes 1
Shawn Lindsay
On View: August 2022 - August 2023
Curated for Eaton Hotel
Artist: Shawn “Painta” Lindsay
https://www.longlivepainta.com/
About Creative Interludes:
Eaton’s artist studio rooms invite you to a space of creative interlude. A moment of pause, to rest, recharge, and find inspiration through D.C.’s local arts community. The artists selected for this project hold positions at one of the city’s oldest cultural institutions in addition to maintaining and further cultivating their respective practices. Through this partnership, we create space for emerging artists to showcase their work and connect with new audiences. Living with the artwork allows for a more intimate connection with creativity. An unveiling of sorts, guests get a glimpse of a D.C. known primarily to residents and local movers of culture.
Words from Shawn about Love in Greyscale:
With the evolving times of acceptance and equality, women are starting to present and express themselves free of outside opinions. Social media platforms have aided in allowing women to be seen and heard in a multitude of ways. I use my art to document this phenomena. Most of my references come from social media or friends and acquaintances from social media. I either screenshot an image from social media or request self taken or self directed photos, so the piece is viewed how the subject wants to be seen. I never stray far from the original composition or change features of the figures in the references. Though, I sometimes replace colors, add textures, or re-imagine the atmosphere. Women are tired of being told how to feel about their bodies and I’m here to capture it.
Photography by Idreezus Studios
Artist: Shawn “Painta” Lindsay
https://www.longlivepainta.com/
About Creative Interludes:
Eaton’s artist studio rooms invite you to a space of creative interlude. A moment of pause, to rest, recharge, and find inspiration through D.C.’s local arts community. The artists selected for this project hold positions at one of the city’s oldest cultural institutions in addition to maintaining and further cultivating their respective practices. Through this partnership, we create space for emerging artists to showcase their work and connect with new audiences. Living with the artwork allows for a more intimate connection with creativity. An unveiling of sorts, guests get a glimpse of a D.C. known primarily to residents and local movers of culture.
Words from Shawn about Love in Greyscale:
With the evolving times of acceptance and equality, women are starting to present and express themselves free of outside opinions. Social media platforms have aided in allowing women to be seen and heard in a multitude of ways. I use my art to document this phenomena. Most of my references come from social media or friends and acquaintances from social media. I either screenshot an image from social media or request self taken or self directed photos, so the piece is viewed how the subject wants to be seen. I never stray far from the original composition or change features of the figures in the references. Though, I sometimes replace colors, add textures, or re-imagine the atmosphere. Women are tired of being told how to feel about their bodies and I’m here to capture it.
Photography by Idreezus Studios