New Bunker Hill Show 'Pieces' a Dream Together

Ekua Holmes is a magnificent artist. "Pieces of a Dream," currently at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery, is a solo retrospective of her art in collage.

A Roxbury native and graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Holmes started making art when she was a child.

"I was an only child and one of nine grandchildren," Holmes said. "My grandmother gave me a pair of scissors and the junk mail. I started cutting out shapes, making other things from what was there."

Not surprisingly, Holmes became a collage artist.

We talked the other night about her show and her development as an artist. Her exhibit is running now through March 25 at Bunker Hill. Holmes will be on hand to discuss her work during a special presentation this Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the A-300 lounge. If you go, bring donation of art supplies to help benefit Haitian artist.

An interview with the artist

 Q: Why did you choose collage?
A: When my mom died at 60, I took two years off to explore my art making.  Collage, which means "to paste," became my way to tell the story. I could take discarded pieces and patterns and make new creations. Over time, as I continued to create, I became comfortable calling myself an artist.

Q: What does it mean to be an artist?
A: It means my primary purpose in life is to bring expression through visual arts.  Some do it through dance or music or some other form. Mine is visual.

Q: Some of your figurative pieces seem photographic. Do you use photographs?
A.  Sometimes I do. I used one as a model for "Sufficient Grace." This was a woman I saw in a coffee shop and I took her photograph. But I didn’t get her name.

Q: That’s such a beautiful work. The intention in the face, the artistry with which you have "clothed" her, using strips of colored paper to create her beautiful wardrobe. 
A: That’s how she looked.

Q: You also use newspaper print as part of your collage material. It’s unusual and quite captivating. How did you get interested in that? 
A: Using newspaper "time stamps" the piece in a very specific way. These works are made in response to these times we are living and I think newspapers really accomplish that.

Q: They also offer some wit. In the piece "Time Out," the gentleman, in full relaxed mode, reads a newspaper while sitting on the stair.  When you look closely you can read what he’s reading: Nothing great is created in an instant. That made me smile.
A: That shows too  the power of collage. That piece of newspaper was discarded and then turned into a new, different use. It became part of a new creation. I think it shows, too, the suspension of time that I often felt as a child.

Q:  How long does it take to finish a piece?
A: I sometimes have 20 pieces going at the same time. If I work consistently on one, I can finish it in two months. 

Q: Many of your collages are filled with symbols. Where do they come from?
A: I have woken in the middle of the night and made a collage. I have found that some of the symbols repeat.

Q: What motivates you to remain an artist?
A: There's just a lot of things I'd like to talk about before I leave the planet. When my mother died so young I just knew I couldn’t waste any time.

Q: Do you teach? On your web-site a collage class is mentioned.
A: Occasionally I might offer a workshop at my studio. Last year I was a teaching artist at Dorchester Academy. Although I do other things to make a living the studio is where I can breathe pure oxygen.

Q: Your work is hopeful, yet somehow mournful.
A: Yes. "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" is a mournful piece. But it’s hopeful too.

Q: Do you aspire to bring hope to others?
A: It’s not exactly hope. Let me give you an example. In the country of Ghana, the sankofa is the symbol of a bird which is moving forward but looking back. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present.  I haven’t forgotten that childhood is magical. I believe we all come here with gifts.  The question is: Are we going to use them?

For more info on Holmes' work, visit her web site: www.ekuaholmes.com.