Nuanced Veil

Artist Joyce Scott (American, Born 1948)

Date2008-2017

Dimensions30 1/2 × 60 in. (77.5 × 152.4 cm)

MediumSeed beads, wire, thread

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, by exchange

Object number

2018.36

Not on View

DescriptionNuanced Veil is a flat, multi-colored work composed of glass beads woven together in a peyote stitch to create a series of overlapping figures of various types including Mexican Day of the Dead skeletons, Japanese Buddhas, and African fertility figures.

Label TextJoyce J. Scott is celebrated for her intricate beaded sculptural forms and neckpieces, which address potent issues related to gender, race, and class. Her art challenges our perceptions and prompts difficult conversations that Scott hopes will motivate us to change for the better. For Nuanced Veil, Scott used her free-form, off-the-loom beading technique to create what she considers her masterpiece. She began thinking about the world of the Egyptian Pharaohs and cycles of life and death that appear on the walls of their royal tombs, as expressed in the skeletal forms and light-to-dark color gradation. During the nearly 10 years of working on Nuanced Veil, Scott turned to her current focus on abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman (1822–1913). Scott sees this work as a veil or shawl that both honors and reveals Tubman’s courageous life, intertwining and connecting Tubman to the regal histories of ancient Egypt. The work’s form also pays tribute to the quilting traditions in her family (particularly of her mother, Elizabeth Talford Scott, a celebrated artist herself) and the notion of stitching together lives, narratives, and legacies that should be connected.Published ReferencesSchneider, Gary, Lowery Stokes Sims, et al, Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths, Grounds For Sculpture, 2018, pp. 33, 124, 177.Exhibition HistoryBaltimore, Maryland, Goya Contemporary, Can't We All Just Get Along?, September 24 - November 7, 2014.

Hamilton, New Jersey, Grounds For Sculpture, Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths, January-March 2018.

Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Museum of Art; Seattle, WA, Seattle Art Museum, Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams, Mar. 24, 2024 - Jan. 20, 2025.