Charis Ammon, Jamal Cyrus, Jana Vander Lee: From the Studio II

From the Studio II brings together new works in fiber from three artists, Charis Ammon, who works primarily in painting, Jamal Cyrus, who, as part of his practice, has been producing works in denim since 2019, and Jana Vander Lee, who works exclusively in fiber. In her paintings, Charis Ammon has long been interested in the ever-changing, patch like quality of the concrete city surface, and she has taken those ideas in a new direction in Inheritance II, layering the domestic-here in the form of reused clothing-with imagery of the city street. Ammon has said of her Inheritance quilts that we inherit our cities just as we inherit our families, and our love for both inheritances naturally comes with complications and ultimately, acceptance. Jana Vander Lee presents three new tapestries, including two in the tradition of her 1970s Theo Moorman works (the famed British artist-weaver), and one large, ethereal work titled Long Before Dawn. Long Before Dawn evokes a nighttime sky filled with stars, and it is informed by her earlier Banner series, which are in conversation with liturgical banners. Finally, Jamal Cyrus continues his work in denim with imagery taken from redacted FBI documents. Funeral Shroud for the Dead Lecturer is taken from an FBI memorandum in the file of literary and political figure Amiri Baraka. Culture Ops in Blue is part of a series of works that address different periods in Black sound and musical production in America; this work focuses on the popularization of the Black American Spiritual, a musical tradition that  appeared in the mid-19th century.