For the last year and a half, I’ve been quietly collaborating with artists and naturalists at the Kroening Nature Center at North Mississippi Regional Park-the only nature center in Minneapolis proper. Learning about and experimenting with plant materials like cottonwood seed, dogbane, and willow have all been critical to my journey here. I’ve been lucky to have a number of herbalists answer my invitation to lead public walks. And I am grateful to be collaborating with artists Teneka Graves and Heid Erdrich on wayfinding signs for this park along the river.
This Tuesday 4/14 5:30-7:30 @kroeningnaturecenter I’m joining the Art Water Ecology Network for their regular networking event bringing all those interested in this crossroad of fields. Thanks to @sarahjnassif for the invitation to share a little bit about my residency experience at this event. Together we will connect, play, and make cordage from dogbane harvested at the park.
Interested in connecting with folks at this event? Register to attend at the link on my profile.
So grateful to these very talented local herbalists Emily Pearson Ryan of Lowland Plant Medicine and Tanaǧidaŋ To Wiŋ (Tara Perron) aka @bluehummingbirdwomanllc for agreeing to lead plant walks at #northmississippiregionalpark this July!
Come learn about our weedy plant medicine and the history of this land. Sign up now! There are only 15 spots :)
More walks coming this August with @natural_me_apothecary and hal sansone…
Cottonwood paper and River oats from down the Mississippi River. My first handmade paper while sailing to the Gulf and camping along the river banks with students, teachers, artists.
Come to Olin-Rice Science Center @macalestercollege this Thursday 2/13 5-6:30 to see the entire series.
Wishing everyone peace and connection now.
Join me Friday 6/14 at 5pm for a walk thru of ndɔmi dɔmi.
Last 2 weeks to view my solo @dreamsong.art !
Lunch at the Swamp, 2024
Swamp, Dovalema, Well, Uncle Dauda’s farm, Baoma, Dɔmagbiami, and acrylic on linen. 30 x 45 in.
Installation view of Williams, Spilled Palm, and Daily Palm
Finally lifting my head from the cave/studio, and feeling nervous and excited to share work that highlights the strong bonds between family, neighbors, and land despite all the hardships. While the soil and images come from the village of Mɔndema in the Gorama MƐnde chiefdom and its environs, I hope we can feel the thru lines between there and here—corrupt extractive economies, food insecurities, and the will and love of the people to live. From soil, back to soil we are all in this together across the world.
Come thru and say hi!
Dreamsong is pleased to present ndɔmi dɔmi, my first solo exhibition with the gallery. Named for the homophonic MƐnde words for ‘floor’ and ‘story,’ the exhibition’s paintings depict the daily life of residents in Mɔndema, a village in Sierra Leone that I lived in for seven weeks. Of Liberian ancestry, my time in West Africa allowed me to learn about and participate in local approaches to farming and cooking. The relationship between agriculture, sustainability, and community is central to my practice, and I returned from Sierra Leone with local soils from a local diamond and gold mine, preschool, swamp, my host’s farm, well, and construction site. Using these soils as raw pigments, I produced a body of work constructed from the very land that feeds and sustains life there.
Hope to see you there!
Opening Reception May 3, 6-8pm
@dreamsong.art
on view thru June 15
Williams, 2024. Swamp, Dovalema, Well, Baoma, Dɔmagbiami, and acrylic on cotton. 8 x 10 in.
For several months I’ve really enjoyed the rich variety of color and luminosity these soils and sands from Sierra Leone have gifted me. Still feeling grateful for the chance to visit and all the people who hosted me. From darkest to lightest, soils come from Mondema swamp, preschool, well, farm, Sewa river mine, and Vengema. Come see them for yourself this May @dreamsong.art
Sailing down the Mississippi River with students, looking back on this sunny day as the group tries their best to stay dry, healthy, and in grateful spirits for all the river has to teach while in chemical corridor and the rain interrupts a long drought.
#augsburgriversemester
Photo courtesy Noa Shapiro-Tamir
So thrilled to be included in this show all about soil @dreamsong.art part of the Wakpa Arts Triennial! Hope to see some of you this Thursday at the opening 6-8.
