Stephen Watson

SEPTEMBER 19 - OCTOBER 14, 2015

Multidisciplinary artist Stephen Watson used 30 spices to create giant spice “paintings” in the style of Tibetan floor mandalas or Navajo sand paintings. In addition to his installation in the Meadows, Watson created a “spice trail” across campus, visually connecting the museum with the entire campus, and allowing more individuals to come across and interact with the artist during the work’s installation. In a weeklong residency, Watson, assisted by Professor Bruce Allen’s art students, produced a meticulous spice trail in over a dozen buildings, including the Turner Art Center, Magale Library, Marjorie Lyons Playhouse, the Gold Dome, and others.

PRESS RELEASE

Watson’s art is deeply rooted in his Christian faith. He began to make spice installations while completing his MFA at the University of Alabama as a way “to serve and be accountable to the two communities to which [he] belongs: The Christian community and the visual arts community.” Seeking a complex sensory metaphor that went beyond traditional materials and symbols, Watson started creating installations at his church to illustrate each week’s sermons. To recall the anointing of feet and biblical passages about fragrant offerings, Watson created a spice threshold that congregants crossed while leaving the service, literally showing their path into the world. 

Painting with spices is both visually and aromatically engaging. All of the spice paintings are impermanent: they are installed on-site and destroyed after exhibition. Watson views them as markers of being: “temporary evidence that I was here and there, and intentional, physical reminders of the unseen things I leave behind.” 

This exhibition and artist’s residency are generously underwritten by the Attaway Professorships in Civic Culture Program.