Artist Interview: 8 Questions with Ebony G. Patterson

As part of our Arts Funders Forum interview series, we spoke with artist Ebony G. Patterson about the role of the arts in the 21st century and the impact of funding on her practice. 

Photo credit courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery.

Tell us about your practice.

I describe myself as a painter. My work employs a range of material to explore ideas around visibility and invisibility. It is an attempt at examining ideas around social hierarchy in post-colonial space around class, death, memorialization and the employment of dress as a tool of power.

In your view, what impact do the arts have on society?

Well, what impact does math and science have? There are multiple ways of thinking and the arts present in its multiplicities other ways to think. Art allows for space and possibility to alter and imagine futures and shake up our present to challenge where we stand and where we want to be.

As an artist, how do you approach financing new and upcoming projects?

My work primarily has been self-funded through my salary as a former professor, art sales through my supportive gallery, or from savings and pay-day loans. I lived and worked on the latter for several years. Recently, I have been very fortunate to have received a number of notable fellowships and grants, as well as collaborating with Kickstarter (2018). All of this has helped to stretch the boundaries of my practice. People believing in your practice and what you are trying to do is incredibly moving and extremely encouraging. 

Do you see challenges in the current arts funding environment? If so, what are they?

Yes, there are challenges for sure. I think there needs to be increased funding opportunities for artists all around, but I think especially for artists who are considered to be in their mid or late career (whatever this means), there is a kind of meagerness here in support. Somehow if you have “emerged,” support is no longer needed. These categories of course are problematic, but I think it is an even greater problem to somehow ignore the efforts of artists who continue to sustain, continue to challenge and continue to teach a generation of artists and yet provide so little support for these artists as if somehow they have disappeared. This needs to be checked and corrected! I also think there needs to be even greater funding opportunities for persons of color, artists who are immigrants but may not be citizens or resident card holders, LGBTQI and women. I think these groups have long been marginalized within the US art community. And this is not because we have not been here, we always have! We have just been ignored largely. And I think that as institutions seek to correct these narratives in exhibitions, funding opportunities to support these communities must also increase to help correct the erasure of these bodies. We are all here, we always have and we always will

You were a United States Artist 2018 Fellow and have been the recipient of a number of grants, including the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation 2017 biennial grant and the Stone DeGuire Fellowship (2018). How has this funding furthered your practice?

 It affected my practice significantly as the funding from these opportunities allowed me to get rid of any debt I had. The United States Artist is unrestricted, and they encouraged us to address this and not only to think about art projects. After all, debt does hamper your possibilities going forward. Having received these allowed me to explore other paths I had been interested in pushing in my practice. For example, with the Stone & DeGuire Fellowship from my alma mater at Sam Fox College of Art and Design, of Washington University in St. Louis, I have been using this funding to explore a range new monumental collages, which continues my exploration of gardens as a metaphor for post-colonial space. I have also used some of this funding to explore further research for a much a larger project, to build an actual garden using real plants that have poisonous and wound-healing properties with other sculptural forms. During my residency this year at The Momentary with the Crystal Bridges Art Museum, I planted a test-site garden with over 70 plants in their North Forest. This garden is meant to be one that is unattended, and it is a metaphor for survival. But the biggest thing that has affected my practice because of these fellowships and grants was that after teaching at the University of Kentucky for 11 years, I decided to leave my tenured position as an Associate Professor in Painting and Mixed Media. These grants gave me the courage to take this necessary leap. I was told no one leaves tenure but I had to teach my students the ultimate lesson about, investing in self and practice and leaping in faith in these things, claiming the journey you want and knowing that is ok to be happy.

How can we better advocate for arts and cultural institutions in modern society?

I think as a society we have to understand that varied ways of thinking is what leads to ‘advancements.’ It is the role of art institutions to constantly challenge the so-called expectations, to help push us forward and to disrupt the status quo by constantly seeking to challenge comfortable positions. If we are not asking, then nothing changes and if nothing is changing, it means we are not growing, and if we are not growing…we are dead.

How can the cultural sector best engage the next generation of young donors? 

I think the cultural sector has to first realize that the next generation of donors may come from anywhere. Therefore, it must engage communities it has largely left out of this conversation. I think once you instill a sense of ownership in these communities, they will take care of it because its theirs. So the sector has to ask itself some really tough truths about this before even thinking about ‘donors’ it must first think about ‘owners.’

How can platforms like the Arts Funders Forum best serve artists? 

The first thing to do is to share more opportunities available to artists. There seems to be so many but sometimes this information is hard to source. I also think sharing information on financial management can be really helpful. At a convening for the United States Artist Fellows in 2018, they made sure to share this kind of information and so does the Joan Mitchell Foundation for its fellows. But I think this information should be made available to all, not just a select few. I found this information so incredibly helpful and I am still learning but I also try to share what I have learned with others! It makes a difference for the years ahead. As young artists, we are given so little guidance on where this is concerned and it’s important because it could make such a huge difference in one’s survival.

What legacy do you hope to leave?

That I was here…and I tried.