The Woman vs Artist
I’ve been friends with artist Stacey K. Jordan for almost forty years, and a fan of her work since high school. For years I have urged her to show her work. She would tell me no time and time again. So when she called to tell me she had booked her first gallery show, I screamed. Literally screamed.
How did this happen?
“I met a woman in the Arts Center. (Pomona, CA). I went to a party, and a friend mentioned that I was an artist. She asked if she could see my work. It went from there.”
Why now? What changed?
“It took me awhile to figure out who I was. I’ve always expressed who I thought I was, but it wasn’t in a confident way. Like the way I see things internally. I was always editing myself. In terms of what to put down on paper. I guess during Covid it was a necessity to do a brain dump. “ I understood what she meant when she said this. As soon as the words rolled off her tongue I knew in that very moment, Stacey K. Jordan had arrived! Stacey K. Jordan is ready!
I am excited for people to see her work. I now get to share her gifts and talents with the world! The pieces that were selected show glimpses of African American life and reminders of the shadows of African American history. What mediums are you working with? “All mixed medium. I do not like canvas, I have an aversion to canvas. I don’t know what that is about. The main process I work with is collage.”
Sunday Night BBQ
Inspired by an actual postcard from a lynching. “I’ve always been fixated on the white man in the front of this postcard. He wrote on the postcard- “This is a bbq we had Sunday night. I’m the man under the cross.” “For years I would try to find the cross. Then I realized the young man that had been lynched and burned WAS the cross. The depictions of the lynchings are horrible. But I always thought the most horrible thing in those pictures, were the white people sitting back like they were going to a bbq.”
What are your plans for your art this year?
What are your plans for your art this year? Do you want to show it more? “I definitely want to show it more. I have a new series in the works. It’s based on my transition being a female black American. Things in the past that I’ve looked back on. When I first discovered Hate Crimes are happening to other minorities too.”
When you’re not working or creating art, what do you like to do Stacey J?
” I like to make furniture out of found stuff, spend time with my animals. I like to do other types of artwork, design work.” While she is saying this I’m literally admiring her desk. She made out of a door, pieces of cabinets, and other found stuff- and it IS amazing!
Stacey resides in Los Angeles, CA. You can see Stacey K. Jordan’s artwork in person and virtually at The DA Center For The Arts until January 29 2022. https://www.dacenter.org/
View more of Stacey K. Jordan’s artwork on her website: https://www.staceyjordan.art/
Interested in more art? http://reneholiday.com/wood-carvings-by-billy-bungo/