ALPHA BRUTON
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
Describing the artistic vision of my work:
MATRIARCH- is a very personal project for me. It has challenged me to embrace my role as the Matriarch of my family. Reflecting upon my mother’s place in the order, she was the first-born daughter, and I am the first-born daughter of the first-born daughter. My grandmother became the Matriarch at her birth in 1893, when my great-grandmother (Emmeline Grayson, the daughter of Josie Banks) died in childbirth. My mother was passed the crown in 1972, and I was given the crown in 1980.
This series of works is a continuum of Grandmother’s Circle: A Tribute to Mama Crecy and Sallie Alpha.
Assemblage, collage on wood, fabric, wallpaper, family photos, lace, washboards, glass, cotton bulbs, seeds, acrylic, mediums, and varnish. I never cease to experiment with every possible combination and play a genuine investigation approach from the beginning to the end, merging neo-photorealism and abstract forms. These new works are a window to the imaginary, a summons, and an overture to a dialogue. That dialogue is childhood memories, myths, and creating traditions.
In 2013, I began creating environmental installations that simulate ceremonial purification circles, in which objects and images are selected to “serve as cultural mirrors and the sites in which they are situated serve as part of a broader cultural commentary.” I examined cultural signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. I believe that objects in the public sphere serve to communicate and reinforce certain cultural narratives, hierarchies, and social mythologies.
This project is essential to my career trajectory because I am focused on making elements of art in a non-traditional setting as an environmental installation artist and working outside the traditional gallery setting. In the last decade, I have traveled nationally and internationally to create art as an artist-in-resident, engaging communities in the art of art making in empty lots, national forest preserves, on land held in conservators, in alternative galleries, and in museum settings. I have also challenged collaborating artists to present a temporary installation that engages public interaction. Taking those examinations and creating assemblages from various elements during the deconstruction of the installations,
Bruton, is a lifelong learner, while raising three children as a single parent, she attended CSU- Fresno, and CSU- Sacramento, completed her studies in Art Education with an emphasis in Studio Art, and the Teachers Credential Program in 1990. Upon moving to Chicago, she completed her Masters of Art in Administration Program at the School of the Art Institute in May 2001. Formal training in studio art, art education, dance production, theater arts, and art gallery management gives Bruton the foundation to manage art education programs. She is an artist, art consultant, and chief curator for the Phantom Gallery Chicago Network.
