Elizabeth Talford Scott’s (1916-2011) quilts and wall hangings have been exhibited at many Baltimore venues, at Florida A&M University, New York’s Studio Museum of Harlem, The Museum of American Folk Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1998, a retrospective of her work entitled “Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott” opened at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and traveled to the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, DC; New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA; and Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC.
This fall, the Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) students from MICA will build on the legacy of the original retrospective. EDS students are partnering with the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the Estate of Elizabeth Talford Scott at Goya Contemporary to create an exhibition guest-curated by MICA Curator-in-Residence Emeritus George Ciscle to present her work at multiple venues.
According to the press release, the exhibition will be on view beginning at the BMA from November 12, 2023 through April 28, 2024, and borrow the same name as the original retrospective, “Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott,” and will “feature 20 stunning works by the artist that bridge the gap between fine art and craft.”
EDS students will lead the organization of the Elilzabeth Talford Scott Community Celebration, “expanding the recognition of Talford Scott’s oeuvre with presentations of her work at eight other institutions that have a significant history with the artist and/or EDS: Cryor Art Gallery at Coppin State University, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Center for History and Culture, MICA, James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University, The Peale, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, and the Walters Art Museum.” These presentations will be on display at these institutions concurrently from February through May 2024. EDS Students from all four universities (MICA, Johns Hopkins University, Coppin State University, and Morgan State University) are expected to be involved in curating the exhibits.
George Ciscle is thrilled to be working with both the students and the institutions involved to help amplify Elizabeth Talford Scott’s stories and art.
“Elizabeth Talford Scott’s textiles are more than quilts; they are prayer pillows, healing shawls, and family diaries—artistic creations that incorporate her personal symbolism with motifs of Africa and the Deep South,” said Ciscle. “I am delighted that the BMA and MICA are working collectively to give Talford Scott’s life story and works the time and attention they warrant and command, as well as expanding what inclusion in the arts might look like as a sustained commitment.”
Scott came from generations of creative craftspeople deeply skilled in artistry “through the deprivations of slavery and its aftermath in sharecropping, migration, and segregated city life on their quest for a life of freedom.” She viewed art-making as the path for humans to “break free of limiting social categories, evolving new ways of communicating, and nurturing dreams.”
Asma Naeem is the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. She finds it moving to be involved in the creation of the celebration dedicated to Scott.
“It is deeply meaningful to expand upon the BMA’s mission of artistic excellence and social equity with this important collaborative project, which revolves around a method and process of working in the community with students at four colleges and these wonderful institutions across Baltimore to co-create an experience that will bring greater recognition to the work of Elizabeth Talford Scott,” said Naeem. “We are looking forward to sharing her extraordinary textiles and the rich stories embedded in each with our visitors and encourage everyone to discover more of her work in February at every venue.”
