Artist Statement I am inspired by historical images that depict the struggle and triumph of African American women. As I think about myself as an artist, and a woman of color, I am reminded of the rich visual heritage of my culture. However, I am perplexed with the representations in the media of hair and skin care, and social issues of urban black women. The negative, idealized, and stereotypical images are not a true representation of each individual African American woman. My response to these images incorporates a study of self-characterization, personal experiences, racial distortions, and black female iconography. In my prints, I portray a combination of traditional and contemporary African symbols and contemporary images of African American women. The printmaking process allows me to layer in images and symbols that reveal a connection of past and present imagery. The ability to layer and produce multiple prints allows me to develop a series of works with a variety of cultural symbols and messages.

Art is more than just a bridge to (or a reflection of) the natural world; it is a natural force in itself. The author is a strong advocate of "artist's prints," prints which are conceived and printed by the artist. She believes that there is a natural sequence of actions and thoughts which cannot be approximated by the substitution of an artist/printer collaboration unless the artist is truly involved with the printer or assistant in every step of the decision-making and mark-making processes. The prints of this series are not about realistic pictorial space; they are about interior space--that of the mind and the heart. The artist is interested in creating variations on a matrix, making one-of-a-kind prints or altered prints, even impure prints. Sometimes this work is investigative, instructive, meditative, or celebratory. This work is not printmaking in accord with the common notion of prints as exact replications of a picture from another medium for the sake of general availability. Nor is it printmaking in accord with the atelier concept of an artist-created print matrix editioned with the aid of professional print craftsmen. On the contrary, the artist approaches printmaking as a form of experimentation and ritual, seeing the cosmic in the microcosmic. She says, "I strive to create unique prints which cannot reasonably be duplicated in other media by other people--or even at another time by me. I try to give meaning and definition to inchoate perceptions using art as visual metaphor."

archives@tulane.edu / In the last few years, through civil unrest, prior and during the Covid-19 global pandemic, “after the death of George Floyd in late May (2020), more than 130 Confederate statues and tributes to divisive historical figures have come down in a flurry of protests, acts of vandalism and government decrees” (Ortiz). Masses of people surrounding one body, pulling in attempts to dethrone these lifeless, yet lifelike statues, are juxtaposed with the efforts to recover bodies from collapsed buildings; this is the origin story of my art show, TOMORROW. / 1 / Kelwin Coleman

In 1987, to avoid working with hazardous traditional materials, I began to research with the aim of developing safer and more environmentally friendly printmaking systems for artists. I studied the history of innovation to identify principles; analysed theory and practice; identified risks; selected criteria; researched classical, traditional and new methodologies; revised classification and terminology; identified gaps in the projected systems; developed water-based materials for acrylic-resist etching, screenprinting and autographic positives; created new systems for water-based screenprinting, etching, collagraphy and other intaglio methods; tested these through teaching artists and co-publishing with high-profile artists; revised teaching and learning; documented the research; and wrote and illustrated two pedagogic books to disseminate the research. The results of the research have been the creation of coherent printmaking systems designed for artists; the manufacture by Lascaux of eighteen new water-based materials for printmaking; the exhibition of works made using the systems; and the publication by Thames & Hudson of the books. These definitive books explain why there was a need for change; how the systems are as user and environmentally friendly as is currently possible; how the principles remain true to classical and traditional theory; how to use the new systems; and how effective and versatile the systems are; and they also demonstrate the many creative possibilities. The research has made a significant contribution to knowledge and has been influential in the worldwide move towards the modernisation of printmaking. The systems and terminology such as acrylic-resist etching (ARE) and photocollagraphy are increasingly used in art colleges and print studios. The research continues to be disseminated and validated through the international availability of new products; the creating, exhibition and purchase (for major collections) of prints made using the systems; and by documentation online, in artists’ catalogues, and in my books and those written by other authors.

The Richmond Printmaking Workshop (RPW) was in operation from 1978 to 1991 during a nationwide print revival. From the 1960s through the 1990s, hundreds of new printmaking workshops and cooperatives sprung up across the country. This newfound popularity in the medium led to a boom in the print market and resulted in widespread experimentation of the medium. The RPW, founded by artists Nancy David and Gail McKennis, began in response to these trends and demonstrates how the print resurgence operated on a local level. Like many other small printmaking workshops of the period, it provided printmaking equipment to artists and promoted the print medium through classes, lectures, and membership in a Print Club. The locally-oriented workshop was a place for artists to meet, work on art, and form a supportive printmaking community. The RPW provided artists with opportunities to create portfolios, mount exhibitions, and experiment with new printmaking techniques. The various programs sponsored by the RPW were meant to engage both the professional printmakers and amateur artists of Richmond. An extensive print collection was formed from the various activities of the organization. A portion of the collection was eventually donated to the University of Richmond Museum in 2001. This collection of 253 prints spans the duration of the RPW’s existence and demonstrates the wide variety of prints created at the workshop and the diverse programs they organized. Although the workshop closed in the early 1990s, the RPW’s significant influence on the artists involved, the Richmond art scene, and generations of printmakers to follow is evident. This thesis provides an institutional history of the organization to give context to the print collection and provide a sense of how the nationwide print revival operated on a local level.

I am a painter and a printmaker. My imagery consists of houses, barns, birds, trees, hands, and gloves. On the surface these items represent home, nature, and female identity. On another level they symbolize an inner world of dreams, wishes, and losses. My paintings contain aspects of collage, they combine paint, paper, and low relief. I paint layers of transparent and opaque images and colors in order to achieve a dreamy and ethereal effect. In printmaking, I combine my imagery in layers by printing small plates and stencils next to and on top of one another until a dense, multifaceted image is achieved.

In my paintings and prints, I create to understand my experiences. I make layered, repetitive marks and gestures that consist of spherical masses, orbits, and cellular forms. The shapes represent aspects of reproduction and symbolize my thoughts and ideas about procreation. In making pieces, I employ a mathematical system that describes growth patterns found in nature. I use this system as a way of echoing natural structures, as well as a way of focusing my attention. I create multiple small pieces and present them in large, gridded formats. These pieces are abstracted narratives of my thoughts and feelings.

Femininity, in its normative socially driven state, is not a natural trait but a ghost that bears its past incarnations. I am interested in gender as a haunting social apparatus. Gender roles and representations have shifted throughout history, yet remain firmly attached to their antecedents. My creative research focuses on femininity as set forth in religion, social practices, and cultural phenomena and how these forces intersect at the present moment to create a complicated relationship of gender identity and expectations.

This is not the creation of a self-contained world rooted in its own interior logic; this is the re-creation of a world through remembering, recording, and reformatting, embedded in a larger system. Ultimately this world investigates humanity's obsessive quest to study, capture, and categorize every living thing. When we get close enough to study each other, we obliterate what we are trying to understand. The forms in my work are cartographic - maps of a place and time but in an experiential rather than a literal sense. As I trace the depictions of the natural world from 17th century botanical engravings to my mother's floral couch circa 1990, I uncover hidden desires embedded in the everyday objects around us. It is deeply rooted in suburban and familial relationships - the desire to surround the home with images of "nature", while nature remains something wild, outside us, beyond the lawns, a counterpoint to humanity. The perception of this distance from the natural world is what allows for our romance and fascination with it, therefore fueling debates over "nature" or "nurture". Rather than create sublime images that reinforce a spellbound vision of nature's dominance over man, or by contrast to create a critique of man's command over nature, I am delving into domestic, artificial, and kitsch representations with equal measures of sentimentality and criticism.

Consumerism and Death are both very political and ever present in our lives. Violence and death are seemingly on the rise, coinciding with the use of media as a distraction. It seems as though every time there is a catastrophic event, the president takes to social media to pick fights or make outlandish claims to distract the people from what is truly happening. Consumption of physical goods is another fixation heightened by the media and celebrities. For the average human, keeping up with social trends is the thing to do, and there is such a quick turn around with what item is considered “hot”. This way of living leads to mass production, leading to mass consumption, ending with mass waste. This societal residue of consumption is pushing us ever closer to mass extinction and we can’t seem to kick our wasteful habits. All of my work for my MFA show will be like encountering an ooey-gooey shiny glitter coated acid bomb. The viewers will be drawn in with the sweet scent of sugary treats and hypnotized by the bright sun-shiny colors, only to realize they’ve been distracted and an acidic tinge lingers in the air. The dark rippling undertones start to reveal themselves to the audience and suddenly we realize that it's not all fun and games. Behind the bright colors are dark truths ready to spew some truth juice into your blissed out mindset.