Renewal
Erin Palmore
Bio
Erin Palmore is a multidisciplinary artist from Detroit, MI, who graduated from College for Creative studies with a fine arts degree in advertising design. She has been in the advertising industry for over 9 years working as an award-winning Art Director. Although she doesn’t limit herself to any one medium, she does have a special interest in watercolor painting and photography. Her work showcases how dynamic, and nuance everyday lives of black people are. Over the years portrait photography has been her most loved medium. She loves for her subjects to feel free and relaxed, every time they step in front of her camera.
Erin is an artist who doesn’t have limitations on her creativity but always asks herself “what else can I do to better express my thoughts and feelings?”.
Project Statement
“Renewal” is about pushing beyond what I typically create, focusing on accessibility, and intentionally including an evolving relationship with God. During this project, I asked myself several questions, one being “What’s one way to show someone being renewed?”. Before the start of this project, I kept having thoughts of renewal, and baptism was the first thing that popped into my head to display that. I thought about the act of physically washing away the old you and becoming new in Christ. I then had to think of how I could bring that church experience outside of those four walls. I then started to think of all the ways to bring elements of my church experience to this project. I thought about the pews I’ve stood at while witnessing people become part of the body of Christ. I thought about the church mothers, their purses, handkerchiefs, and the candies they carried in their bags. The taste of butterscotch always lingered. Then I thought of the sounds of praise in the church, like the tambourine and the hymns. I knew if I wanted to display a baptism, those elements would fully immerse someone even if they never witnessed one themselves.
To make my work accessible, I decided to go the mixed-media route, so there will be a variation in textures for someone who may be visually impaired. I also included scripture about being baptized and renewed in braille. The added texture of hair, clothes, and the feel of water flowing gives more of the overall image for someone who may not be able to see it.
Visual Description
Mix media art created on a 24x30 canvas. The background is made up of pages from the bible, all New Testament books. The pages that line the canvas have overhang on all four sides and are slightly burned to add texture. The paper is tan in color. Layered on top of the bible books is a brown skin woman with both hands raised high. Her arms are painted on watercolor paper with purple, yellow, and brown tones. Going down both her arms are drops of water, made from hot glue and painted over with acrylic. The water drops are all a light blue color with dark blue shadows and white highlights. Her hair is an ombre of brown to blonde color and curly in texture. Her is long and it flows over the white clothing, that is hang at the bottom of the canvas. In the middle top, above the woman’s head, is the bible verse Romans 6:1-4 written in braille. The braille dots are also light blue with dark blue centers, to match the water flowing down the woman’s arms.
The art is accompanied by an installation of items to immerse you in the church/baptism experience. The installation consists of a hard wood pew with items that you would typically see in a church, like a church mother’s purse filled with candy, her gloves, handkerchief, a bible, a hymns book, and a tambourine.