Give Yourself Permission: Anissa Lewis on Social Practice, The Power of Words, & Being Right On Time
03/05/21 • 55 min
The work of Anissa Lewis dives into memory, yet is entrenched in her current community. Her photographs depict the present-day area in Covington, Kentucky, where Lewis grew up, and addresses the societal changes such as race, identity and relationships that have impacted the area over time. Images of the former residents are superimposed over images of the houses, to tell the stories of the people who made up the neighborhood decades ago. Lewis’s community-based signs address the here-and-now of citizenry, giving individual voices space to speak positively together. Lewis’s artistic work is intertwined with the community, and is constantly engaging with and responding to how the community shifts and changes over time.
In this episode, she describes her shift from a more traditional art background to finding and embracing social practice art. Anissa R. Lewis, community and teaching artist, was born and raised in Covington, KY by way of Philadelphia, PA—where she relocated after receiving her MFA from Yale School of Art. Lewis’ deep belief in community, identity and voice led her to many projects and collaborations including: an arts-based women empowerment classes for a Philadelphia County prison drug and alcohol abuse unit; a rites of passage program for black and brown teenage girls; student driven mural projects aimed to address civic engagement, neighborhood relationships and identity, and others.
Lewis’ work focuses on the power of place in her hometown neighborhood for which she has received a Creative Community Grant from the Center for Great Neighborhoods. Her photo-based prints, love letter yard signs and maps seek to reconcile her memories of childhood with the present-day neighborhood's changing social fabric, identity and the architecture of homes still present and those lost.
“While walking down a street in my hometown, many of my childhood friends’ homes are either boarded up or gone and now exist as open lots. The change of the neighborhood does not stop at physical structures, but includes race, age, socioeconomics, a community’s identity/culture, its aspirations and relationships. At the end of my walk down the street and memory lane, I realized that the neighborhood where I grew up no longer exists. New stories lay atop mine. This is nothing new in and of itself. I accept my insider/outsider perspective created by my relationship to a place that lives in a time past rather than what is physically present now.
In my photo-based prints, I seek to reconcile past and current my thoughts and experiences regarding these separate yet overlapping places about my childhood neighborhood. I do this by taking childhood photos and transposing them atop current houses in the neighborhood. As such, I am attempting to have a conversation about: What are the new stories alive and here now? Who is telling these new stories? In what ways do they differ from mine? What, if anything, remains from years ago that resonates with what now exists? Or, are stories and experiences parallel to the point where one longtime resident said, “I feel like a stranger in my own neighborhood." -AL
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
-Discovering things you thought weren’t for you but now are for you.
-Where you are born and where you find community
-Being Different-all valid and important to celebrate
FInding support and the importance in that
-When a one year sabbatical turns into a more substantial stay.
-Working for a non-profit about conflict resolution
-Discovering an interest in mixed-media
-The early 2000s was not as community based in terms of art practice
-Wanting to give back
-Navigating becoming a social practice artist
-”Do not need to split myself and do this art or that art.”
-Being civically engaged
-Believing in the power or words
-Neo Soul
-You are always right on time
-Dare to be clear and dare to be deliberate in your work
-Inappropriate comparisons
Thank you to our sponsor Sunlight Tax! Tax and money specifically for artists! https://www.sunlighttax.com/
Artist Shoutouts:
Blade of Grass https://abladeofgrass.org/
House full of Women
Amy Sherald http://www.amysherald.com/
Mary Clare Rietz http://maryclarerietz.com/
LINKS:
I Like Your Work Links:
The work of Anissa Lewis dives into memory, yet is entrenched in her current community. Her photographs depict the present-day area in Covington, Kentucky, where Lewis grew up, and addresses the societal changes such as race, identity and relationships that have impacted the area over time. Images of the former residents are superimposed over images of the houses, to tell the stories of the people who made up the neighborhood decades ago. Lewis’s community-based signs address the here-and-now of citizenry, giving individual voices space to speak positively together. Lewis’s artistic work is intertwined with the community, and is constantly engaging with and responding to how the community shifts and changes over time.
In this episode, she describes her shift from a more traditional art background to finding and embracing social practice art. Anissa R. Lewis, community and teaching artist, was born and raised in Covington, KY by way of Philadelphia, PA—where she relocated after receiving her MFA from Yale School of Art. Lewis’ deep belief in community, identity and voice led her to many projects and collaborations including: an arts-based women empowerment classes for a Philadelphia County prison drug and alcohol abuse unit; a rites of passage program for black and brown teenage girls; student driven mural projects aimed to address civic engagement, neighborhood relationships and identity, and others.
Lewis’ work focuses on the power of place in her hometown neighborhood for which she has received a Creative Community Grant from the Center for Great Neighborhoods. Her photo-based prints, love letter yard signs and maps seek to reconcile her memories of childhood with the present-day neighborhood's changing social fabric, identity and the architecture of homes still present and those lost.
“While walking down a street in my hometown, many of my childhood friends’ homes are either boarded up or gone and now exist as open lots. The change of the neighborhood does not stop at physical structures, but includes race, age, socioeconomics, a community’s identity/culture, its aspirations and relationships. At the end of my walk down the street and memory lane, I realized that the neighborhood where I grew up no longer exists. New stories lay atop mine. This is nothing new in and of itself. I accept my insider/outsider perspective created by my relationship to a place that lives in a time past rather than what is physically present now.
In my photo-based prints, I seek to reconcile past and current my thoughts and experiences regarding these separate yet overlapping places about my childhood neighborhood. I do this by taking childhood photos and transposing them atop current houses in the neighborhood. As such, I am attempting to have a conversation about: What are the new stories alive and here now? Who is telling these new stories? In what ways do they differ from mine? What, if anything, remains from years ago that resonates with what now exists? Or, are stories and experiences parallel to the point where one longtime resident said, “I feel like a stranger in my own neighborhood." -AL
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
-Discovering things you thought weren’t for you but now are for you.
-Where you are born and where you find community
-Being Different-all valid and important to celebrate
FInding support and the importance in that
-When a one year sabbatical turns into a more substantial stay.
-Working for a non-profit about conflict resolution
-Discovering an interest in mixed-media
-The early 2000s was not as community based in terms of art practice
-Wanting to give back
-Navigating becoming a social practice artist
-”Do not need to split myself and do this art or that art.”
-Being civically engaged
-Believing in the power or words
-Neo Soul
-You are always right on time
-Dare to be clear and dare to be deliberate in your work
-Inappropriate comparisons
Thank you to our sponsor Sunlight Tax! Tax and money specifically for artists! https://www.sunlighttax.com/
Artist Shoutouts:
Blade of Grass https://abladeofgrass.org/
House full of Women
Amy Sherald http://www.amysherald.com/
Mary Clare Rietz http://maryclarerietz.com/
LINKS:
I Like Your Work Links:
Previous Episode
Claiming the Time In Between-Making Every Day a Studio Day with Artist Hilary Doyle
The time in between is something we all deal with in life. The time between waking and coffee, the time between arriving in a doctor’s office and waiting to be seen, the time spent in transportation going from one point to the next. Hilary Doyle took that time and claimed it not only as studio time, but it became a jumping off point for her recent work.
Hilary Doyle is an artist, teacher, curator and gallery co-director. Doyle’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture about gender, class and psychology. She is newly represented by Taymour Grahne Gallery in london. Recent solo shows include “Metropolis” with Taymour Grahne online in august 2020, as well as “Echoing Voices” at One River School in November 2019. Her work has received press coverage in Hyperallergic, Bushwick Daily, and New American Paintings Blog.
Doyle is faculty at Rhode Island School of Design. She has taught for the last 8 years at various schools including Purchase College and a three year appointment with Brown University.
Doyle founded and co-directs NYC Crit Club with co-director Catherine Haggarty which was just included in observer magazines Arts Power 50: Change makers in the art world. She is also a gallery Co-Director and curator at Transmitter gallery in Brooklyn.
Doyle received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She has an upcoming group show with Taymour Grahne Projects Contemporary Domesticity and Solo Show there in 2022. She also has an upcoming group show “The Symobolists: Les Fleurs du mal (the flowers of Evil)” at Hesse Flatow in Chelsea in February.
“Worcester, MA, where I grew up is one of many downtrodden, post-industrial cities across the US, filled with dilapidated factory buildings, joblessness, and overgrown yards. In cities everywhere people travel through similarly distressed spaces daily: the streets and subways full of zoned-out people caught up in the daily grind, staring with purple rings under their glassy eyes. This work examines contemporary working-class life. Focusing on the conditions in which people live helps us examine the rituals, psychology and emotions of daily life.
The work starts with mundane moments observed while commuting or while at home: a man staring at his phone while laying in bed or a woman balances on a yoga ball holding a baby. From these moments I make sketches, videos, iPhone drawings, or sculptural models to inform drawings and paintings. I experiment to discover relevant marks for each subject: a quick mark for the view out a window of a speeding bus, or a slick mark for tiles on the wall of a subway station.
Strangers, although unknown to us, are always leaving evidence about themselves as we catch a glimpse of them. People reveal their disposition in their folded arms, baby carts, laughing eyes, tightly clutched bags, or work uniforms. These clues spark imaginary narratives about peoples lives in each work. To examine fragments of people's lives, brings attention to the joys and struggles of ourselves and others.
Since the pandemic the work has become more imaginative and symbolic - using paintings within paintings to talk about the subjects within them. In our new surreal pandemic era fiction has become reality.”- HD
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
-Claiming “in between time” as your studio time
-Tips on Monotype Printmaking
-Printing at home
-Not wasting materials by planning ahead
-Using digital mediums
-Guerra
-Consider everyday a studio day
-Make art at any moment
-Working while breastfeeding
-Try not to go a single day without being creative, even if it’s just thinking
-Becoming more inventive
-Becoming more fearless after becoming a mother
-NYC Crit Club
-Transmitter Gallery
-”Stack your life”
-Having a routine
Artist Shout Outs:
Thank you to friends who do text critiques with me over the years
Catherine Haggarty, Claudia Bitran, Francisco Moreno and Meredith Iszlai.
LINKS:
Represented by Taymour Grahne Projects in London
Recent solo shows include “Metropolis” with Taymour Grahne online in august 2020, as well as “Echoing Voices” at One River School in November 2019.
She has an upcoming group show with Taymour Grahne Projects Contemporary Domesticity and Solo Show there in 2022. She also has an upcoming group show “The Symobolists: Les Fleurs du mal (the flowers of Evil)” at Hesse Flatow in Chelsea in February.
Next Episode
Taking the Leap to Become a Full-Time Artist with Erika Lee Sears
How do you take the leap from working full-time to becoming a full-time artist? Erika Lee Sears did just that when she felt unfulfilled by her day job. In this episode, Erika shares how she planned her exit, how she got her work out there by applying to everything which led to her work being featured in Portlandia and on the cover of Lana Del Ray’s recent album and book of poetry.
Erika Lee Sears is an oil painter from Portland, OR. As a self-taught artist who has painted all her life, Erika took the leap to retire from her profession in the banking industry to pursue her artistic endeavors full-time. She has gone on to be wildly successful in her social media endeavors striking up a following on Instagram of over 239 thousand followers. Erika is dedicated to making every day and shares insight into her studio practice, inspiration and how she balances her creative work with the business side of being an artist. Erika has a passion for capturing nature and elements in her immediate surroundings from fruits, food, and moments captured alone such as her bathtub series.
“You can always try something and see if it works for you and if it doesn’t, you are no worse for the wear”- Erika Lee Sears
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
-Take six months to plan your exit from your day job
-How she stays creative as a parent
-Be creative everyday
-The importance to having kids who know their mom is a business woman.
-Apply to everything
-The importance of networking
-Show up for your art
-Social media and connecting with people who love what you do
-Licensing your work
-Multiple streams of income as an artist
-Be authentic with your journey
-Allowing yourself to try something new
-How Erika deals with too many ideas
-Organization as an artist
ARTIST SHOUTOUTS:
https://www.gailbakerartmaker.com/
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/erikaleesears/
I Like Your Work Links:
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/i-like-your-work-conversations-with-artists-58351/give-yourself-permission-anissa-lewis-on-social-practice-the-power-of-12236626"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to give yourself permission: anissa lewis on social practice, the power of words, & being right on time on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy