Oletha DeVane
Subtitle: Traces of the spirit
By: edited by Virginia M.G. Anderson
Contributors: King-Hammond, Leslie, 1944-; Sims, Lowery Stokes; Baltimore Museum of Art
Publisher: The Baltimore Museum of Art
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Baltimore, MD
Language: eng
Number of pages: 86
ISBN-13: 9780578480282
Subjects: Exhibitions; Criticism and interpretation; Interviews; Mixed media sculpture; African American artists; African American sculptors; Beadwork; American Sculpture
Description: "Projected lights, sounds, and reflective surfaces convey a sense of flowing water in Oletha DeVane's installation, Traces of the Spirit, presented inside the BMA's Spring House. The exhibition references the building's past as a dairy and place where enslaved people were forced to labor and creates an altar-like location for a selection of the artist's spirit sculptures. For these totem-like objects, DeVane (American, b. 1950) adorns hollow glass vessels with pieces from her collection of found objects such as beads, wood, mirrors, plastic figurines, sequins, fabric, and even bullet casings. These elements are applied in conjunction, at times, with small, expressive clay heads shaped by the artist, giving voice and life to the sculptures. DeVane draws upon spiritual and African diasporic traditions to reference stories, prayers, and myths. Snakes, birds, saints, and mermaids populate the dense surfaces. The resulting works evoke the possibilities of spiritual communication and transformation." --BMA website.
Notes: Published on the occasion of "Oletha DeVane: Traces of the Spirit" an exhibition presented and organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art, June 19, 2019-October 20, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Director's Foreword / Christopher Bedford; title: Artist Statement and Acknowledgments / Oletha DeVane; title: The Essence of Being Lies Within Ordinary, Useful/less Stuff, and Tangible Things / Dr. Leslie King-Hammond; title: A Calling and Response / Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims; title: In Conversation with Oletha DeVane / Dr. Virginia M.G. Anderson; title: Plates; title: Exhibition History; title: The Spirit Sculptures.