Visual artist and Spelman College art instructor Jessica Scott-Felder, C’2005, presented her latest project titled, “Nkonsonkonson,” a 48-foot long charcoal drawing, at Flux Night 2015, an outdoor art experience comprised of photography, installation, video and performance art, on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m.
Born, raised and educated in Atlanta, Scott-Felder has been drawing on the walls of her home since the age of two. After winning several statewide contests like the Georgia Dogwood Festival, she decided to pursue a career as an artist immediately after high school. As a result of her creativity and skill, her award-winning mixed-media work was featured in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in fine art with a concentration in art education from Spelman in 2005.
She also studied experimental drawing and cyanotype printmaking at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy while completing her Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing, painting and printmaking at Georgia State University.
Scott-Felder utilizes found objects, drawings and photographs to transform spaces into psychological realms that are suggestive of maternal figures and ancestral and social narratives. Her work addresses issues in identity, heritage, culture and society’s ever-evolving connection to the past through use of these devices.
The Inspiration Behind Scott-Felder's Passage of Sankofa & Nkonsonkonson (a two-part installation)
During the mid 1960s, the students of Spelman College played an integral role in the Civil Rights Movement by organizing and participating in the sit-ins throughout Atlanta. Inspired by this history, Passages of Sankofa utilizes the singers from the Spelman College Glee Club to perform Part One of this artwork. Students from Scott-Felder's directed studies drawing course will participate as well.
Nkonsonkonson, a Ghanaian Adinkra symbol meaning unity, is the inspiration for Part Two of this artwork – a series of life-sized charcoal drawings of civil rights and community leaders standing together with arms linked in the backyard of the Martin Luther King, Jr. birth home. Local and national community leaders' faces from the Instagram campaign: #strengthinunityproject will also be integrated into this mural.
Scott-Felder will discuss her work and career on CBS 46 on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 12 p.m.
Visit
www.jessicascottfelder.com to learn more about Jessica Scott-Felder.