Evelyn Everywoman: Ordinary Women

In Jan 2014 an artists’ installation at the Howard County Center for the Arts will explore the personae of “Ordinary Women”.

Evelyn Everywoman, a vintage manikin, isn’t famous or notorious. She is at first glance old and ordinary. However, clothed in garments fabricated from the materials and messages chosen by collaborating artists, she will reflect women’s lived lives. Her “dress form” anonymity will be complemented by the artists’ self-portraits.

The gallery will become closet-like with the art garments hanging from the ceiling. The clothing Evelyn wears will be changed periodically, and she will be placed in front of different portraits. As one looks across the gallery from any direction, faces and garments will visually realign. The changing face, body, and identity shaped by culture, society, economics and the hand of the artist, will reveal that there is no such thing as an “ordinary woman”. The narratives of women have just begun.

Diana Marta, Curator

CONGREGATE art + faith + community

“CONGREGATE” aims to help audiences investigate if there really is a disparity between contemporary artistic practices and communities of faith. “CONGREGATE” will initiate dialogue, open doorways, and create welcoming spaces, thereby contributing to a more inclusive arts district. In this project, different communities with different ideologies, relationships, and practices have an opportunity to connect and develop a better understanding of one another.

An Ardent Vestige - Mixed Media, 2013

Tiffany Jones, New Second Missionary Baptist

An expressive installation that pairs remnants of history together with photographs and sound in order to create an understanding of faith and tradition. Words of faith from New Second’s congregation hang delicately from tree branches surrounding a tree stump, which was once known as our pulpit. The voice of American poet, Maya Angelou, plays as she recites her poem, On the Pulse of Morning, a poem which reflects on the past in order to help us gain perspective of our journey ahead as a unified body of individuals, a larger community.

So what now?

The 50th anniversary for the March on Washington has come, and we have celebrated it with the first black president in office. So what now? For the past few years we have been faced with old injustices in new forms, but on a greater level affecting a generation who fails to realize what is happening around them.

So what now? Below is a video featuring Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, and an organization in Alabama called The Ordinary People Society, TOPS and what they are doing now.