Overview

Poem of Stone and Bone: The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr. in Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days documents four site-specific installations Carletta Carrington Wilson created in 2011 on the Seattle property of noted African American sculptor James W. Washington Jr. The book evolved out of Wilson's time as an artist-in-residence at the Dr. James and Janie Washington Studio and Cultural Center in the Central District of Seattle, Washington. This house, located at 1816 26th Avenue, honors the life and legacy of Washington, a celebrated African American painter and sculptor and a leading member of the Northwest School of artists. He and his wife, Janie R. Washington, lived there from 1945 to 2000 (they both died in 2000). We read of her discovery of the landscape around the house, the garden, the stones, the wood, the still unfinished stone sculptures, and, in the house itself, the slave chains, the slave galleon, and so much more. The books in the library, together with the stones in the garden and her installations in the house, created an intensely spiritual experience for those of us fortunate enough to have joined her there for the public exhibition. The installation included bones, as well as shoe soles, eggshells, photographs of Washington working, and quotes from some of his interviews.

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9781735478029

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Reviews

The book is dense. It is powerful and revelatory. I find books about the creative process that one person goes through to be inspirational for my own work. It spoke directly to my heritage as a Black man not just generally but also as a Black man in Seattle. - Willie J. Pugh, photographer Carletta Carrington Wilson's project, Poem of Stone and Bone, is a powerful testimony to the ways in which the life and work of one artist can inform and inspire another. -Anna Balint, co-editor of Take a Stand, Art Against Hate I want to thank Carletta Carrington for her generosity in opening her innermost creative process for view. It will serve as a roadmap for artists of all types who are traveling down this universal road to manifesting meaningful art. -Tim Detweiler, Former Director James and Janie Washington Foundation We readers are the fortunate travelers who have been graciously invited to explore the iconography of Mr. Washington, in fourteen stanzas and thirty-one days, to feed us for a lifetime. -Vivian Phillips, Civic Arts Leader

Author Information

Carletta Carrington Wilson is a literary and visual artist. Her poems and literary works have appeared in a number of publications, including African American Review, Calyx Journal, Make It True: Poems from Cascadia, Cimarron Review, Obsidian III, The Seattle Review, Raven Chronicles, Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century, The Journal: Book Club of Washington, Pilgrimage, Uncommon Waters: Women Write About Fishing, and Seattle Poets and Photographers: A Millennium Reflection; and online in Rattapallax: Innovative Northwest Poets and Torch. Recent poems were published in African American Review, Raven Chronicles' Last Call, and Stealing Light: A Raven Chronicles Anthology, Selected Work, 1991-1996. Her artwork has been exhibited at Wa Na Wari, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, CoCA, King Street Station, the Elisabeth C. Miller Horticultural Library, ArtXchange Gallery, the Kittredge Art Gallery, and the Collins Library at the University of Puget Sound; University of Washington's Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Denver Public Library, The Washington State Convention Center, Northwest African American Museum, Pacific Lutheran University Art Gallery, Columbia City Gallery, the Onyx Fine Arts Exhibition, and the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center Susan Noyes Platt: After many years as a tenured professor of art history, Susan is currently an independent art historian and freelance art critic and curator, based in Seattle, Washington. Her books include Modernism in the 1920s (UMI Research Press, 1985), Art and Politics in the 1930s, Modernism, Marxism, Americanism (Midmarch Arts Press, 1999), and Art and Politics Now, Cultural Activism in a Time of Crisis (Midmarch Arts Press, 2011). Her most recent book, Setting Our Hearts on Fire, Collected Writings Volume 2: Essays on Artists from 1982 to the Present, was published in March 2022. Susan's blog is at: https: //www.artandpoliticsnow.com/. Anna Balint is a London-born, Seattle-based poet, writer, editor and cultural activist of East European descent. Her many years of editorial work for Raven Chronicles Press includes Take a Stand, Art Against Hate Anthology, and Words From the Cafe, an anthology of writing by people in recovery. Her short fiction collection, Horse Thief (Curbstone Press, 2004), spans cultures and continents and was a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award. A longtime teacher of creative writing, Anna currently teaches adults in recovery from trauma, addiction, mental illness, and homelessness at Seattle's Recovery Cafe, where she founded Safe Place Writing Circle.

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