This series creates a visual history of the United States using historical archives as the basis for painted images. The archives are attached to the back of each painting.
(Verso) Sources: The Bible, Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;” https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-3/
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Electronic Edition (Philadelphia: Prichard and Hall, 1788) 147-8, https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/jefferson/jefferson.html
“[Jefferson responding the question “Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state . . .?” His negative answer (Jefferson did not believe that African slaves could be incorporated into American society), included the following: “—To these objections, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral. The first difference which strikes us is that of colour. Whether the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane between the skin and scarfskin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it proceeds from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is it not the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races? Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every passion by greater or less suffusions of colour in the one, preferable to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the countenances, that immoveable veil of black which covers all the emotions of the other race? Add to these, flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form, their own judgment in favour of the whites, declared by their preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference of the Oranootan for the black women over those of his own species. The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man?” pp147-8
This painting depicts an enslaved person named Sandy, for whom there exist exactly three archival references, none of which are images.
The first comes from Thomas Jefferson’s financial records pertaining to his dealings with the Jefferson Family. It reads:
“To hire for Sandy from my father's death 1757 to Dec. 31, 1762 5 ½years @ £18"
The second comes from a 1769 advertisement, and reads as follows:
“Run away from the subscriber in Albemarle, a Mulatto slave, called Sandy, about 35 years of age, his stature is rather low, inclining to corpulence, and his complexion light; he is a shoemaker by trade, in which he uses his left hand, principally, can do course, carpenters [sic], work, and is something of a horse jockey; he is greatly addicted to drink, and when drunk is insolent and disorderly, in his conversation, he swears much, and in his behavior is artful and knavish. He took with him a white horse, much scarred with traces, of which it is expected, he will endeavor to dispose; he also carried his shoemakers [sic] tools, and he will probably endeavor to get employment that way. Whoever conveys the said slave to me, in Albemarle, she’ll have 40 s. reward, if taken up within the county, 4 l. If elsewhere within the colony, 10 l. If in any other colony. From
Thomas Jefferson.”
The third again comes from Jefferson’s own accounts, January 29, 1773:
"To negro Sandy sold to Colo[nel] Charles Lewis £100."
To recap: Jefferson rented Sandy out after inheriting him from his father for the consideration of £18, after which, presumably, the slave was returned to work for him. Then, Sandy escaped with a white horse, and later Jefferson apprehended and sold him.
Painting in Focus: A Tradition as Old as the USA (Crispus Attucks)
Taylor Spence, oil on canvas, 36 x 48,” 2023
Historical Source: Hodgson, John, (1770) The Trial of William Wemms, James Hartegan, William M'Cauley, Hugh White, Matthew Killroy, William Warren, John Carrol, and Hugh Montgomery, for the Murder of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Patrick Carr, Boston, J. Fleeming, 4, 13, 26, 27, 28, 31, 41, 47, 61, 101, 103, 114, 153, 163, 176.
Page 4: “William Warren, with the leaden bullets as aforesaid, out of the said hand gun then and there by force of the said gunpowder, so shot off and discharged as aforesaid, did then and there, feloniously, wilfully [sic], and of his malice aforethought strike, penetrate, and wound the said Crispus Attucks in and upon the right breast, a little below the right pap of him the said Crispus and in and upon the left breast, a little below the left pap of him the said Crispus thereby giving to him the said Crispus, with one of the bullets aforesaid, so shot off and discharged as aforesaid, in and upon the right breast, a little below the right pap of him the said Crispus one mortal wound of the depth of six inches, and of the width of one inch ; and also thereby giving to him the said Crispus with the other bullet aforesaid, so shot off and discharged by the said William Warren as aforesaid, in and upon the left breast, a little below the left pap of him the said Crispus, one other mortal wound, of the depth of six inches, and of the width of one inch, of which said mortal wounds, the said Crispus then and there instantly died.”
Page 13: “Did you see a molatto among those persons who surrounded the soldiers?”
Page 26: “Towards Stone’s tavern, I imagine he presented towards the Molatto.”
Page 27: “No, I saw a number going up Cornhill, and the Molatto fellow headed them.”
Page 28: “Which way was the Molatto with his party going when you saw them?”
Page 31: “Yes, about twelve or fifteen feet from him, and about five feet apart, one was the Molatto, the other I did not know.”
Page 31: “Did the Molatto say anything before the gun went off?”
Page 31: “The Molatto was leaning over a long stick he had, resting his breast upon it.”
Page 41: “Yes, 1 saw the Molatto, and crossed to Quaker-lane and there stepped over two more.”
“Where did the Molatto man lay?” “By the gutter on the south side of it.”
Page 47: “When the Molatto was dead, I went up and met Dr. Gardener and Mr. Brindley. asked them to come and see the Molatto, and as we stooped to take up the man, the soldiers presented their arms again, as if they had been going to fire,”
Page 61: “He stooped to see if the Molatto was dead.”
Page 101: “I went up to the foot of Jenkin’s lane, and there I saw a tall Molatto fellow, the same that was killed, he had two clubs in his hand, and he said, here take one of them, I did so.”
Page 103: “I was look'ng over the Mulatto's shoulder :”
Page 114: “I thought, and still think, it was the Molatto who was shot.”
Page 153: “You must place yourselves in the situation of [the soldiers] . . . knowing that the prejudices of the world about you, were against you . . that many of these people were thoughtless and inconsiderate, old and young, sailors and landmen, negroes and molattos. . .”
Page 163: “Supposing in this case, the Molatto man was the person who made the assault, suppose he was concerned in the unlawful assembly [?]. . .”
Page 176: “[I] saw the Molatto seven or eight minutes before the firing, at the head of twenty or thirty sailors in Cornhill and he had a large cordwood stick.”
oil on canvas, 24 x 30”, 2022
I worked on these paintings while living on the Fort Washakie homeland in Wyoming.
These works emerged out of my fresco work. They are acrylic on sheet rock. I was trying to get the driest surface possible.
This triptych, part of the movable frescoes series that began in 1999, refers to a trip I took looking for John Biggers' murals in the American South.
This painting occupied much of my year, challenging me in the level of detail and also of marrying the scale between the very precise painting on the ground and the towering shimmer of the spires.
After 9-11 this painting broke in two.
I made Radio Tower, my seventh fresco project, as part of the World Views Studio Program. I was in residence on the 91st Floor of World Trade Center One for six months making this project.
These tapestries continued the fabric works I started in graduate school. Only these sought to achieve the dryness of fresco using acrylic and a matte additive.
I made these works on paper for the first show at Bellwether Gallery in Brooklyn.
This is the first fresco I painted, in Serre di Rapolano, Tuscany.
Chartres Street, watercolor on paper, 11 x 15", 1990
