Mickalene Thomas on Her Materials and Artistic Influences
About this video
Mickalene Thomas explains that as a student who couldn't always afford oil paint, she turned to affordable craft materials like felt, yarn, rhinestones and glitter, which also connect to the history of women making art. She encourages students to use what is in their own environment, and describes how discovering William H. Johnson showed her the importance of seeing yourself represented in museums.
You'll be able to
- explain why Mickalene Thomas began using craft materials.
- describe how her materials connect to ideas about high art, low art and women's art.
- explain why Thomas thinks representation in museums matters.
Key words
- Craft materials
- Everyday supplies like felt, yarn, glitter and rhinestones, often sold in craft stores.
- Outsider artists
- Artists working outside the official art world, often self-taught.
- Monograph
- A book about the work of a single artist.
- Representation
- Seeing people like yourself shown in art, media or public spaces.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Mickalene Thomas. I'm here at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I guess my appeal to craft materials is also another historical reference to women making art. When I was in undergrad, I couldn't always afford oil paint. Because I was in a school and still had to make work, I had to figure out ways in which to still make my art and not limit myself to I can't make my art, because I don't have oil paint or acrylic paint.
I gravitated toward non-traditional materials that were considered maybe for some a low art, but also to others a high art, if you look at outsider artists, right? I began going to Michael's craft stores, because I could afford felt, and I could afford yarn, and I could afford these little bags of rhinestones or glitter.
I could get an abundance of those versus a tube of paint. I began to acquire these materials and find meaning and ways to use them in my own work as a way of identifying myself, but also making an image. That's something that I also push forward with some of my students is not to limit yourself with what you can't do, but just try to think of what you can do and use those materials that are within your own environment to make something.
When I was living in Portland, Oregon I would go to this bookstore called 'Powell's Books.' Within the stacks of their books, I would just go up and down the aisle pulling out books on African-American artists. I remember looking at a William H. Johnson monograph and thinking at that time, "Oh, this is catalogue raisonné" and thinking how his sensibility of his line, representation of his journeys, and the people in his environment, and depicting his world, and depicting African-American lifestyles was a direct representation of who I was.
It's really important for me, as an artist, to have a representation of myself so that youth could see themselves in these particular environments like museums. When they see my work, with all the art history, whether it's from William H. Johnson, to someone like David Hockney or Matisse, that when they're standing here that they see themselves.
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