Ebony G. Patterson: …while the dew is still on the roses…

Ebony G. Patterson
…while the dew is still on the roses…

June 21, 2019 – January 5, 2020
North Building, 2nd Floor

Ebony G. Patterson . . . while the dew is still on the roses . . . presents the work of Kingston-born artist Ebony G. Patterson (b. 1981). The most significant presentation of the artist’s work to date, the project includes examples of the artist’s work produced over the last five years, embedded within a new installation environment that references a night garden.

Known for her drawings, tapestries, videos, sculptures and installations that involve surfaces layered with flowers, glitter, lace and beads, Patterson’s works investigate forms of embellishment as they relate to youth culture within disenfranchised communities. Her neo-baroque works address violence, masculinity, “bling,” visibility and invisibility within the post-colonial context of her native Jamaica and within black youth culture globally. This exhibition focuses on the role that gardens have played in her practice, referenced as spaces of both beauty and burial; environments filled with fleeting aesthetics and mourning.

This survey of the artist’s recent work is situated within a visually dense environment designed to recall an overgrown, decadent “night garden.” This site-specific installation—replete with twilight-colored cloth wallpaper, vegetal growths sprouting from the walls and silk leaves, flowers, and vines falling from the ceiling and framing paintings—augments sixteen of the artist’s large-scale works that include videos, drawings, and tapestries, six of which were created for this exhibition.

Ebony G. Patterson . . . while the dew is still on the roses . . . is organized by the Pérez Art Museum Miami Chief Curator Tobias Ostrander. The Speed Art Museum’s presentation will be augmented by several additional artworks that will be shown for the first time in a museum context.

Public Programs at the Speed Art Museum presented in association with …while the dew is still on the roses… include:

• Thursday, June 20, 5:30 – 7 pm: Patron Circle Exhibition Opening Preview Reception | RESERVE
• Thursday, June 20, 7 – 9 pm: Speed Member Exhibition Preview Opening | RESERVE
• Friday, June 21, 5 – 10 pm: Celebrate the public opening of the exhibition at the Speed’s monthly party, After Hours at the Speed, with speakers Ebony G. Patterson, PAMM Curator Tobias Ostrander, Speed Curator of Contemporary Art Miranda Lash, and local poet and activist Hannah Drake. Join us for live music, gallery tours, and a special performance from rapper Jecorey “1200” Arthur, as well as other programming exploring themes related to the exhibition! FREE for members.
• Sunday, July 14, 2 – 3:30 pm: React! Art as the Spark to Necessary Conversation and Galvanizing Community | LEARN MORE | Full Audio
  • Part of a series of conversations with artists and activists, hosted by Idris Goodwin
• Sunday, August 18, 2 – 3:30 pm: Represent! The Black Body on Page, Wall and Stage | LEARN MORE
  • Part of a series of conversations with artists and activists, hosted by Idris Goodwin
• Sunday, November 24, 2 – 3:30 pm: Revitalize! Black Women Artists of Louisville | LEARN MORE
  • Part of a series of conversations with artists and activists, hosted by Idris Goodwin
• Sunday, January 5, 2 – 3:30 pm: Teen Poetry Workshop with Lance Newman | LEARN MORE

About Ebony G. Patterson

Ebony G. Patterson (b. 1981 in Kingston, Jamaica; lives and works in Kingston and Chicago, IL) received her BFA from Edna Manley College, Kingston, Jamaica (2004) and MFA from Sam Fox College of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University, St. Louis, MO (2006). Patterson has had solo exhibitions and projects at many US institutions including The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY (2016); Atlanta Center for Contemporary Art, GA (2016); and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2016). Dead Treez, Patterson’s large-scale solo show, originated at the Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (2015) and traveled to Museum of Art and Design, NY (2015); Boston University Art Galleries, MA (2016); and UB Art Galleries, University at Buffalo, NY (2017). Her work was included in the 32nd São Paulo Bienal: Live Uncertainty (2016); the 12th Havana Biennial: Between the Idea and the Experience, Cuba (2015); Prospect.3: Notes for Now, New Orleans (2014), and the Jamaica Biennial 2014, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston.  She was a 2017 Artist-in-Residence at the Rauschenberg Foundation, a 2015 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Art Grant, and her work is included in a number of public collections, including The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Museum of Art and Design, NY; Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC; Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; 21c Museum Hotels; and the National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston. Patterson served on the Artistic Director’s Council for Prospect.4, New Orleans (2017), and presented solo exhibitions at Pérez Art Museum, Miami and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago in 2018. From 2007 to 2018 Patterson taught as an associate professor of painting at the University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies in Lexington, Kentucky.

Contemporary exhibition support at the Speed Art Museum is provided by:
Augusta and Gill Holland
Emily Bingham and Stephen Reily
Exhibition season support provided by:
Dav Fam Art Fund
Cary Brown and Steven E. Epstein
Paul and Deborah Chellgren
Debra and Ronald Murphy
Eleanor Bingham Miller