MICA Exhibition Development Seminar students to work with cultural organizations and colleges across Baltimore to celebrate Talford Scott from November 2023 through May 2024.
BALTIMORE, MD (UPDATED November 14, 2023)—Twenty-five years ago, the Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) inaugural Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) organized a landmark retrospective of Elizabeth Talford Scott’s vibrant mixed-media fiber works that brought significant recognition to the artist and modeled innovative community-centered approaches to curation and interpretation. This fall, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is partnering with MICA and the Estate of Elizabeth Talford Scott at Goya Contemporary to build upon that legacy with an exhibition guest-curated by MICA Curator-in-Residence Emeritus George Ciscle and organized by BMA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Cecilia Wichmann in dialogue with a new generation of EDS students. On view November 12, 2023, through April 28, 2024, and borrowing the same title as the original exhibition, Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott features 19 stunning works by the artist, four of which are in the BMA’s collection.
Guided by instructor Deyane Moses, EDS students are organizing “No Stone Left Unturned: The Elizabeth Talford Scott Initiative,” expanding the recognition of Talford Scott’s oeuvre with presentations of her work at eight other institutions that have a significant history with the artist and/or EDS: Cryor Art Gallery at Coppin State University, George Peabody Library of Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC), Decker Gallery at MICA, JEMLA−James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University, The Peale, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, and the Walters Art Museum. These presentations will be on view February through May 2024, with a kickoff opening event at the BMA on Sunday, February 4.
“Elizabeth Talford Scott’s textiles are more than quilts; they are prayer pillows, healing shawls, and family diaries—artistic creations that incorporate her personal symbolism with motifs of Africa and the Deep South,” said George Ciscle, guest curator and MICA Curator-in-Residence Emeritus. “I am delighted that the BMA and MICA are working collectively to give Talford Scott’s life story and works the time and attention they warrant and command, as well as expanding what inclusion in the arts might look like as a sustained commitment.”
Elizabeth Talford Scott’s creative legacy was inherited from generations of craftspeople in her family who had honed their expertise and persisted in their artistry through the deprivations of slavery and its aftermath in sharecropping, migration, and segregated city life on their quest for a life of freedom. She believed art-making can offer human beings the opportunity to break free of limiting social categories, evolving new ways of communicating and nurturing dreams. Her innovative fiber works incorporate stones, buttons, shells, bones, sequins, beads, knotted material, glass, and other unconventional objects amassed in bright, bold, and lively compositions that boast heavily layered surfaces and organic, unstructured shapes. Embedded within these lush surfaces are personal and worldly narratives and symbols that reference flowers, animals, astronomy, insects, sea creatures, monsters, dreams, superstitions, and good luck charms. Among the highlights of the BMA’s exhibition are Talford Scott’s majestic Plantation (1980), a dazzling quilt in the BMA’s collection that envisions the big dipper as a matriarchal beacon of freedom; Joyce’s Quilt (1983), a tribute to her daughter with bold blocks of color; and Grandfather’s Cabin/Noah’s Ark (1993–96), an exquisite story quilt that recalls memories of the cabin her grandfather built on Blackstock Plantation in South Carolina.
In addition to the artworks, the exhibition features several interpretive elements that expand opportunities for accessible visitors’ engagement. Visitors can pick up an accessible guide of audio transcripts and visual descriptions at both entrances of the exhibition. Archival interviews of Elizabeth Talford Scott from MICA, Maryland Public Television, and WJZ CBS News Baltimore are compiled so visitors can see and hear how she worked. Tactile elements include a 3D-printed version of Carl Clark’s photographic portrait of the artist plus a double-sided quilt sample created by MICA Quilt Group Liaison and EDS collaborator Sarah Z. Barnes. The Community Celebration Gallery, organized by EDS Student Curators Aleem Allison of Morgan State University and Maddie Hazouri of MICA, features a timeline of the artist’s life with Carl Clark’s original photograph and a resource table with slides and materials from the 1998 retrospective, books for all ages, and a scrapbook of research. A companion video by Levi Lewis produced by EDS documents the Elizabeth Talford Scott Community Celebration with information about the process and collaboration with each of the community partners. The last quilt Scott made before developing dementia, My Dreams, is accompanied by a music commission titled Floatin’ On A Thread by Bashi Rose and Adam Holofcener and an opportunity for visitors to contribute their own dreams using a raised-line drawing board.
“It is deeply meaningful to expand upon the BMA's mission of artistic excellence and social equity with this important collaborative project, which revolves around a method and process of working in the community with students at four colleges and these wonderful institutions across Baltimore to co-create an experience that will bring greater recognition to the work of Elizabeth Talford Scott,” said Asma Naeem, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “We are looking forward to sharing her extraordinary textiles and the rich stories embedded in each with our visitors and encourage everyone to discover more of her work in February at every venue.”
Major support for the BMA exhibition and community partners provided by the Bunting Family Foundation. Music commission supported by Doreen Bolger, Retired BMA Director, and Amy Raehse, Goya Contemporary Gallery, in honor of George Ciscle, an extraordinary curator and creator of MICA’s transformative Curatorial Practice program and Exhibition Development Seminar. Community Day supported by Lorraine Whittlesey & Markell Whittlesey. Printed and digital materials supported by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund. Accessibility resources supported by Robbye Apperson & Kevin Apperson.
