Adrienne Brown: Black Girlhood in the American South
Mississippi based painter Adrienne Brown explores the humanity of Blackness, with a focus on Black girlhood, in her work. From living in the Virgin Islands, to now residing with her family in the American South, Adrienne’s personal paintings give us a glimpse into her daily life.
Tell me about your background and where your creative journey began.
I have been drawing my entire life. I've always been that kid. My grandmother used to keep her paper grocery bags and crayons for me to draw. As I got older, my mother saw that art was something that was going to be a huge part of my life. She volunteered at a Black art gallery and enrolled me in every after school and weekend class that they had. She wanted to make sure that I saw artists that looked like me. I drew and painted all through school. After high school, I spent a year at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Art school, as it turns out, is ridiculously expensive, so I returned home to St. Louis and worked as an after school art teacher. Eventually, life took me to the Virgin Islands where I had the opportunity to really focus on my art and develop my identity as a painter. I lived there for nine years, got married, had a few kids and we all relocated to Mississippi where I continue to work today.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
My work tends to focus on the humanity of blackness, particularly black girlhood. My daughters, and their experiences growing up in the American south, are almost exclusively my focus.
What led you to focus on portrait painting?
I've been focusing solely on portrait work since I was a teenager. Human beings are the most varied subject there is and I love capturing all of the quirks, moods and attitudes.
How have your paintings shifted and evolved over time?
I started painting in a very loose, freeform way. I used a lot of different mediums and experimented with surfaces and collage. As I've gotten older, my focus is centered more on oil painting. I am still learning new things about working with oil everyday. Right now, I am working on creating light with paint. Despite my love of portraiture, I really admire landscape artists' ability to paint light. I am taking inspiration from grand landscapes and translating that into the lighting in my portraits. It has been a learning process.
What does a typical day in the studio look like for you, and how has your art practice grown or changed?
2021 is bringing about a change in my studio practice. My plan for this year is to paint a 5x7 portrait everyday for the rest of the year. This means that I wake up a little earlier, have a cup of tea and spend two to three hours in my studio each morning. Once the painting is complete, I begin my school day with my two youngest daughters (we have homeschooled for years). Once the school day is done, I start afternoon errands (taking one of the teenagers to work, shopping, post office runs, bank, etc). Typically my husband takes care of dinner so that I can get back into the studio in the evening to work on commissions, paper dolls orders for the small business that I run, answer emails, etc. I no longer thrive well on lack of sleep, so I usually shut down around 11pm. Fortunately, my kids are all older now and are pretty self sufficient, so they can handle themselves pretty well while I work.
Which experiences have impacted your work as an artist?
Motherhood has had a huge impact on my work. Not only has it affected my subject matter, but it also shapes the type of work that I have been able to create. When my kids were all little, oil painting just wasn't practical, so my focus was on drawing. I did a lot of pen and ink and colored pencil work. Those drawings were easy to pack away when I needed to tend to children.
How has Instagram impacted your art career?
I've basically built my career outside of Mississippi using Instagram. Initially I used social media as a homeschool record of sorts. It was a way to share what we were doing in school and a place where my family across the country could keep up with my children. I had a small, but loyal following of people who watched my kids grow, watched our schooling change and watched my art. Over the years, those people have shared with their friends, bought work and come to shows.
What are your future goals and aspirations?
One of my main goals for this year is to complete the painting a day project. I am also in the VERY early stages of converting our detached garage into a studio space. I currently work in a small room off of my kitchen. I hope to use the new space for small, periodic exhibitions of emerging black artists from the south.
Follow Adrienne on Instagram: @adriennemeschelle