I’m grateful for the time I spent painting the past several weeks. It’s allowed me to currently have artwork hanging at both the Attleboro Arts Museum and True Grit Art Gallery for another month. Now, I’m working on some large format pieces. I’ve enjoyed being in flow for days at a time. I acquired the ability to consciously enter an artmaking flow state in college while studying under the late Nelson Stevens, a local hero, a national treasure, and my all time favorite teacher.
He provided a window through which I could experience the world differently from what I had seen until I entered his classroom. His teaching, which I encountered first hand, his personal art, and his AfriCOBRA murals have had a significant influence on me as an artist. I have been sharing his life’s work with my own students for as long as I’ve been teaching. When you walked into his classes, you walked into a world curated to nurture raw creativity. I never wanted them to end. He played jazz and Otis Redding on repeat. As a result I have tons on my own art making playlists. For me, those songs foster the ideal studio state of mind. He said very little in class, but when he did, he spoke wisdom. I can still see the cement-lined studio classroom, and even recall certain feedback he gave about my art during crits. (This was back in 1994-95!) He encouraged us to take risks and turn our perspective 45 degrees. That helped me to stop staying safe with my work, to avoid seeing it as precious, and to really experiment and follow ideas without the fear of possibly ruining a piece.
There’s a printout of his painting, “Towards Identity”, I display through the clear case of my laptop with its title, his name, and “painted by Ms. Vache’s favorite teacher” typed below. When I’m working on my open laptop, it faces my students in class and my colleagues in meetings. I welcome questions about it and the opportunity to share his story.
I loved seeing the exhibition of his legacy last year at the Springfield Museums and was delightfully surprised to see one of his pieces at the RISD Museum this summer; however, this week I got to see him in action and hear his voice in a video. His Instagram account, now managed by his daughter, had posted that New England Public Media released a video titled “Legacies: Stories of Black History in the 413”. The number 413 is a reference to the area code for Western Massachusetts. His story is the second of three in the series and begins at the 9:44 minute mark. (The other two stories are of the history of a Black family’s local lineage and of a Black church’s vibrant community that fell victim to redlining. If you’ve got 28 minutes, I recommend watching all three segments, especially if you are local to Massachusetts.)
I am forever grateful to have been a student of Nelson Stevens. Who is the person that left an indelible mark on you?
Until next time,
joç
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