s3e26 Jennifer Mack-Watkins

Platemark s3e26's guest is Jennifer Mack-Watkins, an artist and children's book illustrator based in Savannah, GA. Her work looks at social conformities that limit us and box us in, whether beauty, relationships, body image, power, or gender roles. Her work often features young African-American children playing, celebrating their innocence and freedom, as well as imagination. Jennifer recently illustrated a children's book called You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce! and she is currently on a book tour. The process of how the book came together with two authors (Chiquita Mullins Lee and Carmella Van Vleet) and an illustrator (Mack-Watkins) is fascinating.

Episode photo by Miranda Barnes.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins (American, born 1979). Published by Jungle Press, Brooklyn. Black Boy Hope I, 2020. Color lithograph. Sheet: 29 x 21 ½ in.

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Jennifer Mack-Watkins (American, born 1979). Published by Jungle Press, Brooklyn. Black Boy Hope II, 2020. Color lithograph. Sheet: 29 x 21 ½ in.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins (American, born 1979). Published by Jungle Press, Brooklyn. Space Boy, 2022. Color lithograph. Sheet: 26 x 19 in.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins (American, born 1979). Published by Jungle Press, Brooklyn. Space Girl, 2022. Color lithograph. Sheet: 26 x 19 in.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins signing Space Girl at Jungle Press, Brooklyn.

Penland School of Craft: https://penland.org/

Jackie Winsor (Canadian, born 1941). #1 Rope, 1976. Wood and hemp. 40 1/4 × 40 × 40 in. (102.2 × 101.6 × 101.6 cm.). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins (illustrator) and Chiquita Mullins Lee and Carmella Van Vleet (authors). You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!. New York: Penguin Random House, 2023.

Title page from Jennifer Mack-Watkins (illustrator) and Chiquita Mullins Lee and Carmella Van Vleet (authors). You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!. New York: Penguin Random House, 2023.

Spread from Jennifer Mack-Watkins (illustrator) and Chiquita Mullins Lee and Carmella Van Vleet (authors). You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!. New York: Penguin Random House, 2023.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins reading to children at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, New Brunswick, NJ, 2023.

Installation view of Children of the Sun, a solo exhibition by Jennifer Mack-Watkins at Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT, 2021. Photo by Erin Jenkins.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins in the exhibition curated by Nicole Simpson at the Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2023.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins in the exhibition at Sulfur Studios, Savannah, 2023.

April Vollmer. Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Art of Mokuhanga. New York: Penguin Random House, 2015.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Chakaia Booker, and Laura Einstein at The Gallery at The Met Store.

Sun Ra’s 1974 film, Space is the Place.

Jennifer Mack-Watkins (American, born 1979). Future Undetermined, from the portfolio Continuum by Black Women of Print, 2019. Color woodblock (mokuhanga) and screenprint. Sheet: 11 x 15 (27.9 x 38.1 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Installation shot, Alternate Realities, curated by Ann Shafer at the Baltimore Museum of Art, September 21, 2014–April 12, 2015.

USEFUL LINKS

Jennifer’s website: www.jennifermwatkins.com

Jennifer’s Instagram accounts: @mack_jenniferprints and @mwatkins_jenniferillustrate

RECENT PRESS COVERAGE

Jennifer Mack-Watkins: Creating a future without limitations for children of the sun – Connect Savannah, May 2, 2023.

Inspired By Vermonter’s 1890s Poem, Artist Celebrates Positive Black Representation – VPR, April 3, 2021.

11 Must-See Black Art Exhibitions Opening This Spring – Essence, March 24, 2021.

9 Art Exhibitions Worth Masking Up for This Spring – Vogue, March 19, 2021.

Celebrating Black Children in America – The New York Times, March 8, 2021.

MORE USEFUL LINKS (those discussed in the episode)

Janson’s History of Art textbook: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31225288586&ref_=ps_ggl_11147913055&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Textbook-_-product_id=COM9780131934559USED-_-keyword=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_dv0qOr6_gIVPvvjBx0J7wGaEAQYAiABEgI-PfD_BwE

Linda Nochlin and Ann S. Harris’ book on women artists: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31346916547&searchurl=kn%3Dwomen%2Bartists%2B1550%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image2

You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675828/you-gotta-meet-mr-pierce-by-chiquita-mullins-lee-and-carmella-van-vleet-illustrated-by-jennifer-mack-watkins/

Carolyn Allport’s documentary, Elijah Pierce: Wood Carver, 1974: https://www.folkstreams.net/films/elijah-pierce

Carolyn Allport’s documentary, Elijah Pierce Sermons in Wood, 1980: https://www.folkstreams.net/films/elijah-pierce-sermons-in-wood

Barnes Foundation exhibition, Elijah Pierce’s America, September 27, 2020–January 18, 2021: https://www.barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/exhibition/elijah-pierces-america

Paper Circle residency: https://papercircle.org/resident-artists/

Black Trustee Alliance: https://blacktrusteealliance.org/

Ann’s blog post on the Baltimore Museum exhibition Alternate Realities, 2014: https://www.annshafer.com/annshaferblog/category/alternate-realities

Platemark is produced by Ann Shafer
Theme music: Michael Diamond
Audio mixing: Dan Fury, Extension Audio
PR and Marketing: Elizabeth Berger, EYB Creates