SISTAHS
Curated by Marita Dingus
May 9 - July 18, 2024
Photo: Artists at Opening Reception
SISTAHS celebrates Black women making art from a diverse pallet of materials, from paper, fabric, and paint to cast offs otherwise destined for landfills. Their art is rooted in traditional African and African American techniques and cultural touchstones. The art they produce is a combination of Black storytelling and appreciation of Black beauty.
SISTAHS is an exhibit of four Pacific Northwest artists of African descent. Brenetta Ward is a fabric artist, third-generation quilter, and oral historian. Jite Agbro is known for her colorful figurative artwork featuring layered patterns, sharp contrast, and fabric and paper collage. Debra Harris-Branham conjures the energy of her storytelling into artistic imagery. Marita Dingus is an environmental feminist and mixed-media sculptor focused on using recoverable materials.
The exhibition was on view from May 9 – July 18, 2024.
Programming
Bits and Bobs
Brenetta Ward and Debra Harris-Branham led a bits and bobs workshop on June 27, 2024, from 2:00-4:00PM. Working with reused, recycled, and found materials to guide others in creating their own artworks.
Brenetta's work uses an array of mixed media elements upon a variety of cloth, Cowrie shells, beads, printed fabric, mud cloth, and other embellishments. Debra’s mixed media pieces are, fantastically, all over the map. From melted plastic, fabric scrolls, and metal assemblages, Debra put her years of experience taking multitudes of art classes to use!
Artist Talk
Postmark welcomed nationally recognized Auburn artist and guest curator Marita Dingus for a talk about Postmark's show: SISTAHS. Joined by artists Brenetta Ward and Debra Harris-Branham. June 27, 2024 5:30-6:30PM.
A major thematic element for SISTAHS is figurative presence; people, history, and black culture. Debra’s pieces have occurrences of portraiture among elements of aged paper, fabric, and rustic items. Brenetta’s quilts include fabric-printed photographs, imagery of ancestry, black-and-white film shots of cowboys and cowgirls. Marita creates almost entirely figurative work, creating pieces that speak on how slaves were discarded, just like the materials she uses in her work. Jite Agbro, collages together paper and fabric scraps to create her larger-than life encaustic assemblages.
Closing Reception
SISTAHS, all about Black storytelling and Black beauty. In Marita’s curator statement, she explains that SISTAHS celebrates Black women making art from a diverse palette of materials, from paper, fabric, and paint to cast offs otherwise destined for landfills. Their art is rooted in traditional African and African American techniques and cultural touchstones. Postmark celebrated the show one last time on Thursday, July 18, 2024.