Join us for a virtual artist talk with Sandy Williams IV and Lisa Woolfork on Monday, October 18 at 7:30PM EST. Sandy's work is on view this month in Situated Knowledge this month at New City Arts' Welcome Gallery. Registration is required for this free, virtual event. Register here.
For Situated Knowledge at New City Arts' Welcome Gallery in October 2021, Sandy created Wax Monument VII (Free Wax 2.2). The dimensions of Wax Monument VII (Free Wax 2.2) were inspired by a Charlottesville cross burning that was recorded in local newspapers. The report is remembered thus: “A cross was burned in this neighborhood, at Cherry Avenue and Apple Street, near Ridge Street, on 15 August 1950. Three white men left the scene before they could be identified. The cross was made of burlap bags and boards. It was small at only 2 and a half feet high. Police made a routine investigation, but assistant Police Chief James E. Adams claimed that they could not determine the identity of the men or the reason for the cross burning."
The Wax Monuments are an ongoing series of objects that were created within conversations about public space. They are both performative and participatory artworks, in the sense that their malleable material (wax) and the presence of wicks makes these sculptures inherently impermanent, allowing them to quickly transform in the presence of heat. This work is open and accessible for viewers to see, touch, carve, or melt.
At this virtual artist talk on Oct 18, Sandy will introduce their work in this exhibition, which will be followed by a conversation with Lisa Woolfork and audience Q/A.
About Sandy Williams IV
Sandy Williams IV is an artist and educator currently based in Richmond, VA. Williams likes to task audiences with agency, in order to generate public and private opportunities for collaborative engagement. Currently an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Richmond. Recipient of the New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship and the VMFA Artist Fellowship. Resident at Atlantic Center for the Arts (FL), SOMA (CDMX), ACRE (Chicago). Exhibitions and performances at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, The Harnett Museum of Art at the University of Richmond, the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU, New Release (NYC), De Boer Gallery (LA), Springsteen Gallery (Baltimore), NADA House (NYC). Solo shows at Reynolds Gallery (Richmond) and Second Street Gallery (Charlottesville).
About Lisa Woolfork
Photo by Derrick J. Waller
Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English at the University of Virginia, where she specializes in African American literature and culture. The University of Illinois Press published her book Embodying American Slavery in Contemporary Culture in 2008. In addition, her work concerns televisual representations, including an article on blood mixing in HBO’s True Blood in the South Carolina Review and a chapter on All in the Family and The Jeffersons titled “Looking for Lionel” in Race-ing for Ratings: African Americans in Television, edited by Lisa Guerrero and David Leonard. In addition to courses on Fictions of Black Identity, Black Women Writers, and Contemporary African American Literature, Professor Woolfork also teaches a popular course on George R. R. Martin’s book and HBO’s television series Game of Thrones which garnered national recognition. Recently, Professor Woolfork published an article titled “Nominal Blackness” (about the rhetorical and social weight of black women’s names) as well as an essay about the role of whiteness in the 2016 film “The Free State of Jones.” In 2016, she was named part of the inaugural class of the University of Virginia College Fellows, an ambitious two-year program for faculty to revise the undergraduate curriculum by crafting a new approach to undergraduate education. As part of that initiative, Dr. Woolfork created two new courses for first year students: “Race, Racism, Colony and Nation” and “Making the Invisible Visible.” These courses address a variety of systemic inequity including racism and white supremacy. In the summer of 2017, Dr. Woolfork became a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville. This group protested against the white supremacist insurgency that had taken hold of the city. She was on the ground on August 11 and 12 in a variety of capacities including nonviolent direct action, working with the bail fund, sewing for a creative arts team, and participating in a media collective. Her essay “‘This Class of Persons:’ When UVA’s White Supremacist Past Meets Its Future” was published in a collection of essays about the terror events in Charlottesville.
Dr. Woolfork is a fourth generation sewing enthusiast. She harnessed this knowledge alongside her academic and activist training to create Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black Lives Matter. In September 2019, she launched Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. The podcast is heard in 94 countries and maintains a high rating on Apple podcasts.
Situated Knowledge is presented by The FUNd at CACF and sponsored by Lisa M. Draine.
