Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams Conversation Guide

Greetings! Welcome to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams. We are glad you’re here, and that you brought young people with you.

Joyce J. Scott’s art is joyful, comedic, and hopeful, even while many works address challenges in our world, including sexual violence, gun violence, stereotypes, and racism. We created this resource so that you and the child in your care can explore these topics together and learn a bit more about what the artist has to say.

So, let’s jump in!

Warmly,
The staffs of the Baltimore Museum of Art & Seattle Art Museum

See

Encourage the members of your group to take time to look. Ask, “What do you see?” or “What do you notice?” Take turns describing the artwork. Every observation is meaningful.

Think

Ask, “What do you think about that?” or “What do you think the artist is telling us?” to build on an observation. You might also ask, “What do you see that makes you say that?”

Wonder

Ask, “What does this artwork make you wonder?”

Find Fifty Year Quilt, pictured here, hanging on Joyce J. Scott’s larger installation The Threads That Unite My Seat to Knowledge.

Fifty Year Quilt was made by her mother, Elizabeth Talford Scott. Talford Scott started this quilt when she was a teenager and finished it when she was an adult. She taught her daughter how to sew on this quilt.

What is something you have learned from a parent, grandparent, or adult in your life?

This quilt is just one piece of Joyce J. Scott’s installation, which she calls “a home or habitat for the soul.” The other quilts were made by her godmother and grandparents. Through the work, she honors the generations of makers who came before her—their struggles, survival, and quest to create a life of freedom and joy.

What makes you feel joy?

Look for Joyce’s Necklace.

Joyce J. Scott loves to make wearable art. She makes jewelry and head-to-toe looks that tell others about the wearer.

What do you wear that might tell someone something about you?

Scott made this necklace with beads, gifted and repurposed objects, and materials found and collected over time.

Why do you think she chose these objects for Joyce’s Necklace?

Objects hold memories for the artist. Find a charm shaped like arms and legs. Scott collected these milagros (miracles) while living in Mexico.

What items would you use to create a necklace?

Watch You Don’t Even Know Me and read the words out loud together.

This animation was displayed over Times Square in New York City, visited by thousands of people a day.

What do you think is the message of this short video? 

Scott often says that humans are more than “just one thing.” It’s easy to think we can tell everything about a person just by looking at them, but we can’t. It’s important to take time to get to know each other.

What’s something about you that others might not know just by looking at you?

Scott uses the N-word in the titles of a few artworks nearby. These titles are not an invitation to say the word aloud.

Look for Ancestry Doll I. There are also other dolls in this case.

What objects and materials has Scott brought together in these artworks?

In her ancestry dolls, the artist invites us to think about all the factors that make up our identities, including our families.

She says, “You cannot choose your ancestors and they can’t choose you. So all the traits—your humor, the way you look, the way you hang out, the way you interact with each other—is sometimes kind of out of your control because you could not choose who you came from and they couldn’t choose who you would be. And that’s also the strength of it because you have the parts of them that are great gifts.”

What traits do you have that remind you of someone you love?

Find Head Shot.

The title of this artwork gives it multiple meanings. Say “head. shot.” and “headshot” out loud.

What stories could this artwork be telling?

Joyce J. Scott often depicts guns in her work, examining the issues that fuel gun violence, from the widespread availability of firearms to their glorification in popular movies, television, and music.

She says, “I am worried about the next generation of kids who are comfortable with violence, who will own guns. And that comes from us… I feel a responsibility in living in a land where this is happening.”

What do you worry about?

What makes you feel better when you’re worried?

The artwork in this gallery responds to the history of lynching and anti-Black violence in the United States. Please enter with care. Consider finding a space for conversations after a period of close looking and contemplation to be mindful of others. Scott uses the N-word in the titles of a few artworks nearby. These titles are not an invitation to say the word aloud.

Look for Lynching Necklace.

Joyce J. Scott made this work while thinking about the horrific legacy of violence committed by white Americans against Black Americans.

Why do you think the artist made this artwork to be worn, and how might it feel to wear it?

Scott says wearing something like Lynching Necklace is “like wearing a newspaper on your chest. It’s inviting someone into your realm that causes them to ask you questions and you answer back.”

What do you like to share about yourself?

What questions do you like to ask to learn more about others?

Find Nuclear Nanny.

What colors do you see swirling around? Sometimes an artist uses colors and lines to express how they feel.

How might the artist have been feeling when she made this artwork?

What do you see that makes you say that?

Scott made this artwork during the Cold War (c. 1947-1991), when the threat of nuclear conflict, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies, made many people feel scared. She believes art can be used to process overwhelming feelings and connect with others.

What do you do when you’re having a big feeling and want to process your emotion?

What might you do to help a friend when they’re having a big feeling?

Find None Are Free Until All Are Free (necklace).

None Are Free Until All Are Free. What do you think the title of this artwork means?

Scott invites us to recognize that we each play a role in bettering the future of our world and protecting ourselves and those around us. We each have a voice to speak out against injustice, fight for equality and human rights, spread truth, create joy, and help one another.

What do you do to help others? What do people in your life do to help you?

Look at War Woman III.

Take turns telling a story about the figures in this sculpture.

What drawings, shapes, and objects do you see and what do you think they mean?

Like many of the artworks in this exhibition, War Woman III addresses equality. The artist says, “Women have to stand up and make choices just like men.”

What do you stand up for?