Signs, Symbols, and Ways of Making
An interview with mixed-media artist Anne Bouie, by Kiki McGrath
In our most current print issue, we had the privilege to feature artist Anne Bouie’s work. Anne Bouie makes mixed-media assemblages that reference pre-conversion religious and spiritual traditions across cultures and communities. She holds a Ph.D. in Education and an M.A. in African American History from Stanford University. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, and is currently on view in the John A. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University. Our arts editor, Kiki McGrath, had an inspiring conversation with Anne about her creative process.
Earth Shield North
Silk, acrylic yarn, found driftwood, treated wild pods
28” x 22” x 10’
2023
Kiki McGrath: Hi Anne, thank you for sharing your work with us. Can you talk about the Earth Shield North Wind series and its relationship to the Understory?
Anne Bouie: This series was inspired by the notion of showing respect for the Earth and all sentient beings, and a sense of stewardship and kinship with the planet. This world view of the Earth as a living entity is shared across space and time by most indigenous peoples and is finally being acknowledged in our so-called modern era.
I suggest that shields were used in bringing communities together for celebrations and festivals. However, they also have an esoteric meaning that might be known only to a subset of people: shamans, priests and priestesses, healers and leaders. This is the ‘understory’ of the work: those responsible for the well-being of the community studied long and hard and went through their own initiations and lessons before being allowed to work with set-aside instruments. The shields were not only celebratory, but also objects for teaching the use and meaning of colors, numbers, and other symbols to the larger community.
I’ve always made sculptures and assemblages to convey the energy and information that shields represent, but recently my photographer, John Woo, suggested wearing them and transforming the wearer into the entity represented by the mask. I’ve actually made a couple with his ideas in mind; we’ll see.
KM: Many of your pieces feature botanicals. Can you discuss the process of collecting and using plant material in your studio?
AB: I have learned humility and respect for the Earth and its botanicals. The cycles of nature produce seeds and such for their own needs, not ours. As I collect pods, vines or branches, each plant teaches me about its particular energy, how and when to use it. You have to find, gather, prepare, and store botanicals before you can even begin to use them. This is practical wisdom taught from generation to generation.
You have to make sure the botanicals will not become unusable and diminish the piece. Attention to detail is important because you have to make sure that no creatures are on them, nothing will be be born and manifest, and that dandelions don’t release their seeds in your studio. Foraged botanicals require that you do this work with care and attention.
This knowledge I have learned is related to traditions and ways of indigenous people and country folk. The process is one that I flow with, not dictate. It has its own spirituality and purpose. I learned much of it while spending summers in Jackson County Florida where my mother’s people are from.
KM: Castaway or found objects are also fundamental to your work. Can you discuss how they influence your creative process?
AB: The process and energy required to use found objects and oxidized iron is quite similar to using botanicals, except that I can collect them all year round. At times I find something and know exactly how I am going to use it. At other times, an object will sit around for years and then it's just what I need. Which is why it is hard to throw things away. The work is very much a joint effort between me and the objects, the objects and the botanicals, and the piece itself. All this means that the art kind of makes itself. I start with a vision or an idea for a piece and then choose the elements that will make it work. Like most artists, it is an organic process. Sometimes the pieces just come together. Other times I have to, in the words of James Brown Jr., let it tell me what it wants. Sometimes after trying many different components, I get a “THAT’S IT” feeling, and we are then ready to put it together.
KM: Philip Kennicott wrote in the Washington Post that your art “adds what the historian cannot supply, the gaps and silences in a historical record that erased texture and details of black life.” How does your work as an historian and an artist dovetail in your practice?
AB: My historical focus is material culture as a tool of resistance to enslavement. Typically, it depicts the world as seen and experienced by those who have been labeled, described, distorted, and silenced. Things that people made and the oppositional culture that evolved as resistance to enslavement, particularly psychic and spiritual torment, in addition to physical and emotional abuse. My art references the silent stories and makes history a holistic experience for the eye, mind and heart.
The work started with the notion that there had to have been cues on the Underground Railroad: visual cues in plain sight for anyone to see. These objects included but were not limited to quilts and songs. The escapes, subterfuges, and ‘a thousand acts of resistance’ could be witnessed by the knowing eye. My work seeks to make art that lifts history off the written page and includes alternate ways of seeing the world through the eyes of the ancients, the ancestors, and those who keep the traditions of resistance, beauty, and spirit alive.
She Rises
Found wood, artist-made mortars, clay from WDC clay pits, assorted seeds, jewelry beading, metal work, and beading, oxidized found iron, hemp cord
22 x 12 x 9”
2022
Four Points
Found objects, repurposed wood from demolished houses, children's craft projects, acrylic paint, wood
14 x 12 x 2”
2016
The interview and artwork above are featured in our Autumn 2023 Understory issue. To read more, purchase your issue here: