Artists in a First-of-Its-Kind Connecticut Exhibition Embrace Craft Traditions

Kern Samuel and Felandus Thames, who both work in West Haven, honor the historically marginalized craft legacies of Black artists—especially Black women artists—by incorporating quilting into their work. Mississippi native Thames creates vibrant pixelated portraits woven from hair beads and wire that recall the patchwork construction of quilts, while adding traditional colorful patterns into his compositions. Samuel, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, hand-dyed canvas pieces and stitched them into two 20-foot-long patchwork panels for Bars and Blocks (Janky Hankies), a piece that references the legacy of the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers of Alabama. 

Sudan-born, Hamden-based multidisciplinary artist Azza El Siddique embraces material exploration to examine ideas of time, impermanence, and transformation. In Begin in smoke, End in ashes Pt. II, five bisque-fired ceramic vases—cast from used plaster molds that reference creation-myth iconography—stand in various states of decay with fractured rims, collapsed walls, and streaks of rust across their pale surfaces. After casting, El Siddique exposed the clay to slow drips of water and rust, resulting in vessels that carry evidence of the forces of change.

Smith-Stewart sees a thread in the way these artists approach materials without concern for old hierarchies. “They’re thinking more about ideas or about experiences that they want to convey and picking materials or methods to highlight that,” she says. “They’re using whatever materials are around them that have resonance.”