Ayanna Jolivet McCloud (born 1978) is a visual and performance artist, writer, and educator from

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She is known for her minimalist aesthetic and multimedia sound performances.

Early life and education

McCloud grew up in

. She received a BA in visual and critical studies from the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Although she trained as a painter, McCloud evolved her art practice into multimedia work combining sound, text, and performance. For over fifteen years, McCloud worked in non-profit administration at various arts organizations around the United States. She currently works as the director of education & public programs at Houston Botanic Garden.

Career

McCloud has participated in residencies and exhibitions throughout the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, including the United States,

Caribbean Islands Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands are re ...

, and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. She was a participating artist in

Project Row Houses Project Row Houses is a development in the Third Ward area of Houston, Texas. Project Row Houses includes a group of shotgun houses restored in the 1990s. Eight houses serve as studios for visiting artists. Those houses are art studios for art r ...

, Round 42: ''The One and the Many: A Self-portrait in Seven Parts'', which was organized by curator Sally Frater as a response to and reflection on the Project Row Houses mission and her time in Houston and Houston's Third Ward. For this project, McCloud created a piece titled ''Score ow to hold on to chasms and fill with matter', in which she used sound, sculpture, and text in an effort to create a meditative environment to explore trauma, hollowness, and grieving. This project was reflective of much of McCloud's work as minimal at least on the surface but full of layers if one looks beyond the surface. The project also included a workshop, ''Writing in the Margins'', hosted by McCloud. McCloud was also the founder and director of La Botanica, a collaborative arts workspace and community planning hub in Houston. In addition to creating space for artists and community to collaborate, McCloud herself has done collaborative work, including work with other artists and audience participation. In 2017, McCloud's ''Score: Field Work'' opened at Art League Houston. The installation included visual components and experimental sound scores created by women artists, along with live performances by McCloud and others. Early in her career, McCloud began playing with themes of

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

and the body, often incorporating symbols and

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

imagery from Vodou and other

diasporic A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

religions. This can be seen in her 2006 installation and performance ''Goofer Dust'' at

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

's Diaspora Vibe Gallery, in which visual elements such as chickens, earth, and ritualistic performance, along with the concept of collective dreaming and the title of the show itself (

Goofer Dust Goofer dust is a traditional hexing material and practice of the Black American tradition of Hoodoo from the Southern United States. It has roots in traditional Kongo religion. Etymology The word ''goofer'' in goofer dust has Kongo origins and ...

), reflect Vodou's aesthetics and beliefs. Inviting audience members to participate during the original performance of ''Goofer Dust'', McCloud aimed to evoke the spiritual and supernatural potential that collective dreaming is thought to possess. With this participation and the surrounding symbols, ''Goofer Dust'' explored the body's relation to space, time, nature, community, the celestial, and ultimately itself. In some of her work, McCloud uses

veve A ''veve'' (also spelled ''vèvè'' or ''vevè'') is a religious symbol commonly used in different branches of Vodun throughout the African diaspora, such as Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. The ''veve'' acts as a "beacon" for the ''loa'', a ...

s, line drawn symbols used in Vodou to invoke the Iwas (

Loa ( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerate ...

s). This can be seen in ''Damballah Study'', in which McCloud drew the symbols on a field of grass, as well as in ''Delete/Borrar/Efase'' and ''Crossroads'', where veves for specific Iwas are used to create installations. She was an advisory council member of the Mayor's Art and Cultural Plan for the City of Houston. Currently, she is director of education and public programs at the Houston Botanic Garden, creating the organization's first-ever public programs that will link plants, nature, people, and culture. McCloud was the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award funded by the city of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. In 2015, she also received a Stimulus Grant from the Idea Fund for the online launch of La Botanica with an online store and blog featuring artists and ecologists.

Work

From McCloud's CV:

Solo exhibitions/performances

*2006 - goofer dust, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Miami, Florida (performance) *2006 - one: sugar blood ( canibala series), PoPop Studios, Nassau, Bahamas (performance) *2004 - under, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, Illinois *2003 - Marks, Base Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Group exhibitions

*2020 - ''Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses'',

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual ...

, Houston, Texas *2006 - International Conceptual Video Screening, Commerce Street Warehouse, Houston, Texas *2006 - The Ephemeral and the Remaining, State University of New York, Oswego, New York *2006 - Memorias de un Mexicano: Homage to Francisco Mora, Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois *2005 - Out Castes: Crossing the line to the Model Majority: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Diaspora, Miami, Florida 2005 Complement, Art Center/ South Florida, Miami Beach, Florida *2005 - Off the Main: The Show of Contemporary African, Caribbean, and Latin American Art, Puck Building, New York *2005 - Casket Factory, Dallas, Texas *2005 - Memorias de un Mexicano: Homage to Francisco Mora, Gallery 214, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, Illinois *2004 - Memorias de un Mexicano: Homage to Francisco Mora, Max Von Isser Gallery of Art, Elgin College, Elgin, Illinois *2004 - Theft, Galeria Tinta Roja, Chicago, Illinois *2004 - function : assimilate, functionvariable, Barcelona, Spain *2003 - Turn On, Artist Relief/ Harem, Chicago, Illinois *2002 - Siragusa Gallery, Chicago, Illinois *2000 - freshmix, Community Artists Collective, Houston, Texas *1999 - Urban Girls, El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera, Buffalo, New York Some more of her projects include ''Hear Her Ear'', a series devoted to women in sound art; ''School of Latitudes,'' an artist residency, and workshops including ''Writing in the Margins'' presented at Project Row Houses and ''How to Frame Pauses, Holism, and Magical Thinking in New Arts Infrastructures'' at Art League Houston.

References

External links

UM Libraries Digital ExhibitsArt League Houston
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCloud, Ayanna 1978 births Living people 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American multimedia artists Artists from Texas African-American women artists People from Houston People from Harris County, Texas Artists from Houston 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American artists