Textile exhibition evokes memory and resistance

The dates in this article have been edited. Due to weather, the exhibition dates and the Artist Lecture and reception have been pushed back.

The Cornell College Peter Paul Luce Gallery will present “Come Celebrate with Me …” by Illinois-based interdisciplinary artist Nicole Davis from Jan. 22 to March 31.

Davis’s work evokes personal, ancestral, and cultural memory as a form of sustenance and resistance in opposition to current societal structures that endeavor to minimize or erase her existence as a Black woman. Working with reclaimed textiles, Davis transforms them—cutting, tearing, assembling, and sewing—to create powerful artworks. These creations embody the past, present, and future, while simultaneously invoking memory, providing commentary, and containing prayers and protection from the violent power structures that dominate society.

“At this moment in time, our society has broken down in ways we never expected,” Davis says. “It is my sincerest hope that on this ‘bridge between starshine and clay,’ we rise up and materialize something beautiful. Something worthy of celebration.”

Davis is a visual artist and educator who works primarily in textile, photography, and painting. She served as a special education teacher in public school systems for 21 years before pivoting to an art career. She received an M.F.A. degree with honors from the University of Iowa in 2020. Her artwork has been shown throughout the Midwest, at the Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Koehnline Museum in Skokie, Illinois, Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the South Bend Museum of Art in South Bend, Indiana, and the Freeport Art Museum, Freeport, Illinois, among other places. She is featured in the publication New American Paintings, No. 153, and in 2020 she was selected to be an Artivism Fellow for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. 

Davis will discuss her work at an Artist Lecture on Friday, Feb. 2, at 3:30 p.m. in McWethy Hall Room 222. Following the lecture, a reception for “Come Celebrate with Me…” will take place at the gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. Both the lecture and reception are free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday–Friday 9 a.m.– 4 p.m. and Sunday 2–4 p.m.

For additional information, contact Luce Gallery Coordinator Brooks Cashbaugh (bcashbaugh@cornellcollege.edu) or visit Nicole Davis’s website.