A Reflection of Life and the Struggles We
FaceA look inside the artwork and life of
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
About the Artist • Detroit-bred
• Studied drawing and painting at Jackson State University
• Illustration, then Art Education
• Now teaches elementary, middle, and high school students
• Currently lives in Silver Spring, MD with her family where she is earning her painting MFA at Howard University
Influences and Inspiration
• Gustav Klimt (arrangement of painting, use of color, pattern, and gold leaf)
• Kerry James Marshall (African American popular culture)
Heart of the Artwork
• Subject matter solely women
• Based off of the complex lives of those women most close to her
Wings Not Meant to Fly
•Some of the media she uses:
• Acrylic
• ink
• graphite
• gold leaf
• rhinestones
• collaged paper
It Could Be a Sad Story
Honoring Artwork
• The women in her paintings-meant to represent her family and their struggles
• Life in the ghetto
• Family’s drug addictions
• Murder
Significance of the OwlA reference to Edwards’ aunt, who was murdered several years ago.
Owl imagery inspired by Medusa myth
“Medusa’s forces were symbolized by the female figure positioned in holy postures and gestures of empowerment,” explains Edwards. Noticing that sometimes birds were nestled among the serpents that formed Medusa’s hair, Edwards began putting birds in her own subjects’ hair and exploring the archetype in relationship to the women’s stories in her paintings.”
(excerpt taken from an IRAAA article written about Edwards in
2013)