JOYCE J. SCOTT
Image by Graham Coreil-Allen
Joyce J. Scott
Memorial Pool, 1999
Installation
Joyce J. Scott is a multi-media/performance artist from Baltimore, MD. She holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and a MFA from the Instituto Allende in Mexico. Scott constructs sophisticated bead sculptures incorporating glass, clay, fabrics watches, and found objects that address social topics including racism, violence, and gender inequality. Acknowledging the widely held oversimplification of black life, her work often deals with the abuse of stereotypes as well as the use of them.
Despite the inherently unequal facilities of the segregated section of Druid Hill Park, it was a sanctuary that afforded black residents of Baltimore some respite from the daily assaults of Jim Crow. On any given day patrons were assured a full sensory experience enlivened by the peals of children’s laughter, sounds of water splashing and the rhythmic thud of tennis balls being hit back and forth across the tennis court. Memorial Pool is a repository of history intended to memorialize the social experience of pool no. 2 patrons and establish the memory of local resistance to exclusionary practices of racism and discrimination.
Joyce J. Scott was commissioned by the Department of Baltimore City Recreation and Parks to create the Memorial Pool in 1999.