Joyce J. Scott
Photo by Christina Hicks, © National Academy of Design
2019 VISIONARY AWARD RECIPIENT
Joyce J. Scott is the 2019 recipient of the Smithsonian Visionary Award, honored for her work in jewelry. Scott is an African-American artist best known for her depictions of racially and politically charged subjects, crafted from bead work. Scott’s works are influenced by a variety of cultures, including Native American and African.
“I believe in messing with stereotypes. It’s important for me to use art in a manner that incites people to look and then carry something home—even if it’s subliminal.”
Scott’s works are held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.