Virtual discussions of our exhibitions are one of many new ways of learning about art while staying home. On February 4, the museum live-streamed a virtual discussion of the exhibition “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey,”(opens in new tab) hosted by curator Shawnya Harris with speakers including Laurel Garber, Park Family Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Diane Edison, professor of drawing and painting at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art; and Phoebe Wolfskill, associate professor in the departments of American studies and African American and African Diaspora studies at Indiana University.
The event focused on an overview of Amos’ influences, beginning with her roots in Atlanta, Georgia. Wolfskill explained how Amos used family photography as well as photographs she inherited from her godfather, George Shivery, to reframe the subjects those photographs contained. Amos reframed her subjects to push back against stereotypes of the poor Black individual prevalent in the post-Depression rural South.
Wolfskill also analyzed the use of laser print to create a distance effect in Amos’ work, reflecting the ways in which people are distant from their own memories. This creation of an artificial veil reflects the ways in which memories naturally work. Amos’ playfulness with history showed Amos searching to insert herself into the larger tapestry of history.
Amos’ art was deeply influenced by the abstractionist movement she was exposed to in London, while studying abroad, and she worked to implement it into her etching. Garber explained the influence of abstraction on Amos and how the artist attempted to carry its theories into traditional media.
Another major influence on Amos was her migration to New York. This move would impart major changes both socially and artistically. Not only was New York where she met her husband and had a 60-year-long career, but it was also the city that allowed her to use her skills in other fields while she was slowly developing relationships with galleries. Harris explained that while Amos was in New York, she worked as a weaver under Dorothy Liebes. She noted that Liebes hired Amos not because of her experience in weaving, but because of the beauty of her etchings. While in New York, Amos joined the Black artists’ organization Spiral, which served as a nexus for Amos to meet new people and establish connections with other artists.
Around this time, Amos also began to question the ways in which she identified herself through her art. She questioned the social tensions surrounding her identity as an African American mixed-race feminist woman. Garber pointed out that Amos visually represented these complex, overlapping identities through her use of bold color and tones as well as movement. She also often deliberately inserted herself into her art through self-portraits.
Amos was known for using textiles and collage in her work. Her incorporation of traditionally feminine craft allowed her to present bodies in motion. Wolfskill talked about how Amos presented these bodies as trying to find new spaces or new beginnings.
Edison, a noted portraitist and self-portraitist, said that Amos’ legacy is founded in her ability to act as a storyteller and an educator. Amos’ art offers a dynamic critique of social issues and identity, attempting to create a unique presence in art that deserves to be recognized.
The virtual discussion is currently available on the Georgia Museum of Art’s YouTube(opens in new tab) and Vimeo(opens in new tab) channels. “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey” is currently on view at the Georgia Museum until April 25 before traveling to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute from June 19 to September 12, 2021, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art from October 11, 2021, to January 2, 2022.
Authored by:
Emma Emery
