Joyce J Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams @ Seattle Art Museum

All hail the queen of Baltimore 👑

📸: Photo by Chloe Collyer | Seattle Art Museum

📆 Thru Sunday, January 19th
⏰ Wednesday – Sunday: 10 am – 5 pm
📍 Seattle Art Museum: 1300 First Ave, Seattle

In her five-decade-long career, multidisciplinary artist Joyce J. Scott has traversed and mastered many mediums. Intricately woven clothing, colorfully beaded sculptures and tapestries, and expertly crafted necklaces are all part of Scott’s deep catalog of work. Something that’s remained steadfast throughout the Baltimore-based artist’s practice is her commitment to depicting both the richness of Black life as well as the thornier side, delving into discussions around lynching, racist stereotypes, sexual violence, and economic inequality. For her, art is a pathway to greater communal understanding.

“I believe art is one of the engines helping the earth to rotate,” Scott reflected.

Walk a Mile in My Dreams at the Seattle Art Museum is a 50-year retrospective of the 75-year-old artist’s career, featuring over 140 works of sculpture, beadwork, jewelry, textiles, artwear garments, and performance compilations. Beads are a real throughline in the exhibition—Scott masterfully uses glass beads to depict faces, bodies, waves, and webs full of life and emotion. Co-organized by the Seattle Art Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art in collaboration with Scott, Walk a Mile in My Dreams is a winding, thoughtful, and immersive journey into the world of a boundary-breaking artist.

Also on display is a new large-scale commission called “The Seat of Knowledge,” a massive work composed of ephemera from her personal life (heirloom quilts, books, and sculptures) that welcomes visitors into the exhibition and is a testament to Scott’s technical skill as an artist. For those craving a hands-on experience, make sure to check out the collaborative weaving room inside the gallery.

With three dynamic locations, Seattle Art Museum has been the center for visual arts in the Pacific Northwest since 1933.

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Seattle Art Museum

Experience a museum that is as much a part of Seattle’s landscape and personality as the rain, coffee, and mountains. With three dynamic locations, Seattle Art Museum has been the center for visual arts in the Pacific Northwest since 1933.