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Joyce J. Scott

Swimmer

c.1976

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Joyce J. Scott

Swimmer

c.1976

Physical Qualities Yarn, fabric, leather, buttons, 64 × 20 × 6 in. (162.6 × 50.8 × 15.2 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Amy Eva Raehse and David Tomasko, Baltimore; and Art Fund established with exchange funds from gifts of Dr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Berman, Equitable Bank, N.A., Geoffrey Gates, Sandra O. Moose, National Endowment for the Arts, Lawrence Rubin, Philip M. Stern, and Alan J. Zakon
Object Number 2022.72
“Water symbolizes crossing, going from one destination to the other and what you cross over to get here.” -- Joyce J. Scott Swimmer is a rare surviving example of Scott’s 1970s soft sculptures. Made of crocheted yarn, button eyes, and a found leather glove, this stylized figure imagines a Black woman partially underwater, limbs turned in the act of swimming. Scott brought together contrasting textures—fibrous yarn and supple leather—to embody Blackness with depth and dimensionality.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by partial gift / partial purchase, 2022; Amy Eva Raehse & David C. Tomasko, by purchase; The Artist Legacy Project LLC; Mrs. Kettles, Bayside, ME; Ken Kahn, Hartford, CT; the artist
Goya Contemporary, "Reality, Times Two: Joyce J. Scott & Elizabeth Talford Scott," May 10, 2019 to July 16, 2019.

Catharina Manchanda and Cecilia Wichmann, with Leslie Rose, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams", March 24, 2024 to July 14, 2024; Seattle Art Museum, October 17, 2024 to January 19, 2025.
Reality, Times Two: Joyce J. Scott & Elizabeth Talford Scott. Baltimore: Goya Contemporary, 2019.
Manchanda, Catharina, Cecilia Wichmann, eds. Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in my Dreams. Seattle Art Museum; Baltimore Museum of Art, 2024, plate no. 2, pg. 38-39.

Artist

Joyce J. Scott

born Baltimore, MD 1948

Meet Joyce J. Scott

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