Cheryl Derricotte’s The Wolf & the Wheat, 2020, work on paper, edition of 6 + 1 AP, 11” x 14” each image. $1200 unframed, $1500 framed.
Derricotte’s work references Thomas Jefferson’s often quoted commentary on the peculiar institution of slavery:
"But as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."
(Jefferson discussing the Missouri question and slavery to John Holmes April 22, 1820. Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 12. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905, p. 159.)
Background:
The most famous French Ambassador in US History was Thomas Jefferson. he served in France for 5 years as the “American Minister to the Court of Versailles.” Jefferson was a firm supporter of the French Revolution in Paris and upon his return to the US, when he was appointed Secretary of State by Pres. Adams. He would go on to be Vice President and later, the third President of the United States.
Jefferson’s affection for revolution was not extended to Black people. He was born into a slave-holding family, thus inheriting his own slaves and later, slaves from his deceased wife that she brought into the marriage. Over the course of his life, he owned 600 people. In a typical year, he owned 200 people, ½ of them under the age of 16.
One of those people was Sally Hemings, the slave girl who was 14 when she went with Jefferson’s family to Paris as his daughter’s maid. When she was 15 years old and clear that she was free in France, she told Jefferson she would not return with him unless he agreed to free her unborn children. She was pregnant when she returned to Monticello and at 16 had the first of 6 children fathered by Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson often said that slavery needed to end but did not take its dissolution on at a federal level. He believed in individual plantation reform and at Monticello, he moved away from tobacco and did not seek out cotton. Rather, he planted wheat and trained many of his slaves as skilled laborers to build out his property and neighboring shops.
And, although Jefferson freed her living children as agreed, he never freed Sally Hemmings.
Cheryl Derricotte, The Wolf & The Scale, 2020, work on paper, edition of 6 + 1 AP, 11” x 14”, $400 unframed, $500 framed.
To inquire on purchasing these works, please email info@reriddle.com
Cheryl Derricotte describes her process and work:
Identities shaped by home (or homelessness); natural beauty (or disasters), memories of happiness (or loss) inspire my artwork. This results in works on glass and paper. Both materials are translucent and seemingly fragile, yet they are hearty enough to survive the passage of time between civilizations.
I make art from research. This type of inquiry also leads me not just to economic but also environmental concerns. Observations of current events, politics, and urban landscapes are my entry into these issues.
Most often I create work in series. “Ghosts/Ships” brings to life images of slaves and slave ships through the public domain collections at the British Library and the New York Public Library. “Oil and Water,” looks at communities that live in the shadow of oil: California places like Richmond, Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach. “We Buy Houses,” examines the foreclosure crisis through glass and works on paper. Last but not least, “The Blue Wall Project” (working title) maps people killed by the police using data from the Guardian UK’s “The Counted” and the Washington Post’s “Fatal Force.”
To make my work I use a variety of glass and printmaking techniques. My cold glasswork (unfired) often takes form as sculptural mixed media, involving books and found objects. Warm glass means work fired in a kiln up to approximately 1,500°F. I enjoy layering images and text onto warm glass pieces, featuring public domain historical photographs, drawings, or my own photographs. My preferred techniques include screen-printing with glass enamels or powder printing. My work on paper employs the techniques of image transfers, ink stamping and collage. Over the past few years I have been enjoying learning the craft of bookbinding. I recently exhibited my first artist book, entitled “Emily” about a runaway slave’s journey along the Ohio River.
Text is an important component of my artwork. I often say that I live under the tyranny of title. A phrase will get stuck in my head, such as “21st Century Capital” and I wrestle with it until an artwork is created. Thus, many of my pieces have titles before I ever make a schematic drawing, much less cut a piece of glass.
I am a visual storyteller. My work weaves personal and political geography to confront contemporary society’s relationship to place and equity.
Cheryl Derricotte is a visual artist and her favorite mediums are glass and paper. Originally from Washington, DC, she lives and makes art in San Francisco, CA.
She has an extensive background in the arts and community development. Cheryl holds the Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), the Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University and a B.A. in Urban Affairs from Barnard College, Columbia University.
Recent awards include the Vermont Studio Center Residency (2020/2021); Antenna Paper Machine Residency (New Orleans); San Francisco Individual Artist Commission, and the Puffin Foundation Grant, (all 2019/2020). She is also the recipient of the Hemera Foundation Tending Space Fellowship for Artists; the Rick and Val Beck Scholarship for Glass; Emerging Artist at the Museum of the African Diaspora; Gardarev Center Fellow; Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass’ Visionary Scholarship and a D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities/ National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowship Grant.
Cheryl is an active thought leader in the arts. She serves as the Secretary, (aka The Minister of Information), for Three Point Nine Art Collective, a group of Black artists who live and make art in San Francisco. She is also the Chief Mindfulness Officer of Crux, a nationwide cooperative of Black artists working at the intersection of art and technology through immersive storytelling (VR). Cheryl is the creator of the Society of Brave Artists, an interview series on Instagram highlighting contemporary political art (@societyofbraveartists). To learn more about her work.