Ada Pinkston


Ada Pinkston is a Baltimore-based artist, educator, and cultural organizer. She explores the intersection of imagined histories and sociopolitical realities on our bodies using performance, digital media, and mixed-media sculptures and installations. Her ongoing project, Landmarked, investigates new ways of activating the empty spaces left by the 48 Confederate monuments that have been removed. The project considers how we reframe public space to be more equitable and inclusive of all histories through civic engagement, the voices of people of color, and historical memories that are often overlooked by dominant cultural narratives found in public school textbooks. Each day this week her news curation will present a new focus on an individual set of stories.

Ada Pinkston is a multimedia artist, educator, and organizer living and working in Baltimore, Maryland. Born in New York, her artistic research interest spans the social sciences, global colonial histories, American Studies, and community art practices. Her work has been featured at a variety of spaces including The Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, LACMA, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Walters Art Museum, The Peale Museum, Transmodern Performance Festival, P.S.1, The New Museum, Light City Baltimore and the streets of Berlin, Baltimore, Orlando, Washington DC, and New York. She has presented lectures on public space at The French Embassy, NYU, UCLA and The National Gallery of Art. She is also an alumnus of the Monument Lab+Goethe Institute Transnational Fellowship. Her most recent work can be found in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

“Very honored to have been asked to participate in the artist news network. As we live in a world of multiplicities, there is never Only One of anything. That said, every day, there will be a new series/concept of focus.” – Ada Pinkston

Day 1 – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)
Day 2 – Strange Creatures in the universe
Day 3 – Moments of Black liberation
Day 4 – Controversial Public Art
Day 5 – Repair / Reparations
Day 6 – The Earth is going to Win (stories from the environment)
Day 7 – Looking up at the Ceiling and then seeing the sky (stories from outerspace)

Articles


Jan 30, 2023

Jeannette Ehlers: Archives in the Tongue: A Litany of Freedoms

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Jeannette Ehlers
We’re Magic. We’re Real #3 (These Walls), 2021
Performance, Archives in the Tongue: A Litany of Freedoms

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Published by The Brooklyn Rail

Sep 1, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

Denmark’s First Public Monument to a Black Woman Celebrates a 19th-Century Freedom Fighter

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

La Vaughn Belle & Jeannette Ehlers
I Am Queen Mary, 2018
Located outside the Vestindisk Pakhus (West Indian Warehouse) on the waterfront in Copenhagen, Denmark

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Published by Hyperallergic

Apr 2, 2018

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public sculpture by La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers, “I Am Queen Mary”artwork 'I Am Queen Mary' by La Vaughn Belle & Jeannette Ehlers


Jan 30, 2023

East Oakland Latina artist Favianna Rodríguez brings hope through her art

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Favianna Rodriguez
Markham Elementary Mural, 2022
Paint on asphalt
Located at Markham Elementary School, Oakland, CA

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Published by CBS

Sep 21, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

Faith Ringgold on capturing the complexity of the American experience: “It takes courage to be free”

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Faith Ringgold
Groovin’ High, 2014
Located near the High Line in New York City

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Published by Wallpaper

Nov 25, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

The Power of Place and Emerging Voices

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Betye Saar
Biddy Mason Park by Betye Saar, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and The Power of Place

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Published by PBS SoCal

May 23, 2014

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Jan 30, 2023

How Elizabeth Catlett Lifted Up Black Women Through Art

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Elizabeth Catlett
Invisible Man, 2003
Bronze
15 ft. tall
Located in Riverside Park, New York, United States

‘How Elizabeth Catlett Lifted Up Black Women Through Art’
Sept. 2022
Published by Smithsonian Magazine

‘Nearly 70 Years Later, ‘Invisible Man’ Is Still Inspiring Visual Artists’
June 11, 2021
Published by New York Times

‘Invisible Man Revealed!: Public Art by Elizabeth Catlett’
Published by Studio Museum of Harlem

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Published by Smithsonian Magazine

Sep 1, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, sculptor who depicted the Black experience

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
Emancipation, 1913 (cast 1999)
Bronze and granite
Located in Harriet Tubman Park in Boston, United States

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Published by Boston Globe

Feb 24, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

The Private World of the Public Artist Maya Lin

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Maya Lin
Ghost Forest, 2021
Madison Square Park Conservancy, New York

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Published by Smithsonian Magazine

Dec 22, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

‘I was traumatised at its demolition’ – Rachel Whiteread on making House

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Rachel Whiteread
House, 1993
Cast concrete
30 x 14 x 50 ft.

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Published by The Guardian

Jul 18, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

The Monumental Success of Simone Leigh

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

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Published by New Yorker

Mar 21, 2022

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Jan 30, 2023

New York City Picks Artist to Replace Monument That Honored Doctor Who Experimented on Slaves, After Another Proposal Is Withdrawn

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Vinnie Bagwell
Victory Beyond Sims, 2021
Monument proposal

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Published by ARTnews

Oct 8, 2019

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Jan 30, 2023

It was screaming for a female’: Shahzia Sikander on creating a statue of a woman for a Manhattan courthouse

Today’s focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Shahzia Sikander
Havah…to breathe, air, life
Co-commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy and Public Art of the University of Houston System
madisonsquarpark.org

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Published by The Art Newspaper

Jan 13, 2023

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Jan 30, 2023

Karyn Olivier – The Battle Is Joined

Today’s Focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Karyn Olivier
The Battle is Joined, 2017
Acrylic mirror, wood, screws, and adhesive

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Published by Monument Lab

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Jan 30, 2023

Reimagining Lady Liberty’s Torch to Meet This Moment

Today’s Focus – Women artists who make public art (sometimes)

Abigail DeVille
Light of Freedom, 2020
Welded steel, cabling, reclaimed rusted metal school bell, blue-painted mannequin arms, gold-painted metal scaffolding, and wood planks.
156 x 96 x 96 in. 

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Published by New York Times

Oct 23, 2020

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