Our collaboration with artist Catherine Chinatree painting the mural of Edmonia Lewis
We’re excited to share our collaboration with artist Catherine Chinatree who is currently painting a mural of Edmonia Lewis over on New Street, Margate.
Edmonia 'Wildfire' Lewis, born 1844, was of Black American and Native American Ojibwe heritage. Her mother was a talented crafter, whose influence may have ignited her love and drive to pursue art.
Lewis travelled to Boston, where she was connected with the sculptor Edward Brackett (1818–1908). She began to train more seriously as a sculptor, and her brother paid the rent for a studio in a building shared by many other artists. Lewis began creating sculpture busts of abolitionists, a popular subject that attracted much attention to her work. Eventually, she had enough money to move to Europe, settling in Rome in 1865. Words by Art UK.
“There is nothing so beautiful as the free forest. To catch a fish when you are hungry, cut the boughs of a tree, make a fire to roast it, and eat it in the open air, is the greatest of all luxuries. I would not stay a week pent up in cities, if it were not for my passion for art.” — Edmonia Lewis, quoted in “Letter From L. Maria Child,” National Anti-Slavery Standard, 27 Feb. 1864.
Head over to New Street (around the corner from The Margate School) to see the mural in progress alongside Käthe Kollwitz (1867—1945) which was painted by our studio resident Dream Safari earlier this year.
About Catherine Chinatree ~
Catherine Chinatree is a UK based multidisciplinary visual artist, who is interested in the representational idea of shared “reality” with a focus on identity, dualism, and cultural fluidity. Catherine’s work is supported with research in Anthropology, The Rhizome theory and human behaviour.
“I am interested in the events of everyday life, our daily activities, symbolism/rituals, and the people I meet. I question the authenticity of the constructed self, through heritage, tradition and lifestyle - including complex layers of history, of movement, of people and goods and cultural displacement.”