My Work, My Vision
Statement
The oldest formal quality in my work is color. The intrigue of its psychology, history, my current focus is on decentering western color narratives and prioritizing my identity in hopes of reimagining a new color system. There are about 59 recorded color systems, a majority of which are scientifically-based. I am captivated by exploring the possibility of a color system that centers history, instead.
My work lies at the intersection of abstraction, history, materials, and color. I hope to blur the lines of narrative and formalism. Labored Bodies is a body of work that investigates colonial American History as it relates to my own identity as a black woman. This series of works that use certain materials to allude to specific historical and sociopolitical contexts, like the Transatlantic Slave Trade, through cotton duck and trade maps, the labor of the working class in America through the use of vintage textiles, and the history of painting through re-contextualization of the canvas and frame. My drawing and paintings explore automatic drawing, asemic and semic through gestural marks and structures, while the fabric works rely on materials to navigate conceptual ideas related to labor, textile history and the body. Symbols like hands, cotton, and map markers allow the work to move around landscape and figuration.
Both studio work and public art provides the opportunity to reclaim space and encourage and nurture conversations in communities. While my murals hold the essence of my previous painting styles, they also center color. A piece that has become the keystone for my work, is a mural within the
F U Shine series. This mural is located at the very place a woman was once enslaved by colonist Samuel Maverick. Her record of existence in America is bound by a journal entry of John Jossyeln, during a visit to Samuel Maverick on what was considered Noddle's Island, present day East Boston and Boston Logan Airport. Outside of the Historical Society, there are few acknowledgements of this black woman, this mural is an attempt to reclaim space and time for her.
In my studio practice I am curious to know: Can color tell us an honest history? Can color reclaim space and reveal histories? Can color be a universal language? Can color tell narratives? My current work is evolving as I bring painting, drawing, and fibers into the creation of sculptural pieces. In my ongoing exploration of color, I have thus far engaged with yellow, black and blue, fuschia, and orange. These series are an attempt to develop formal understanding of color based on the characteristics they take on in relationship to other colors.
Yellow plays on the very expectation that it often represents the sun and is joyous, not overbearing in its function to caution us. I wanted to reconsider yellow as overbearing when it represents heat, smog, and the inability to breathe on a miserably hot day, one that maybe my ancestors didn't have the privilege of skipping.
Black and Blue is a body of work that examines chromatic darks as a way to represent bruising on dark skin. This work hopes to align itself with artists and historians who explore the literal use of these colors as they relate to visibility and invisibility of people and histories.
Fuchsine is the original name for colors described as purplish red, reddish purple, purplish pink or mauvish crimson, often referred to magenta or fuchsia. It is an extra-spectral color, meaning that it is not found in the visible spectrum of light. Rather, it is physiologically and psychologically perceived as the mixture of red and violet/blue light, with the absence of green. Fuschia is a plant native to Dominica and has now become one of the most utilized plants for America home decor. F U Shine is a play on the word Fuchsine. F U Shine is a reclamation of space using the power of healing through art and making.
Orange represents my personal memoir. Utilizing objects to represent gestures and patterns that are found in my two dimensional work, my orange series embodies nostalgia with objects that represent my childhood. Orange has the ability to dominate and force other colors to strain the eye. I am interested in the power dynamics that orange has over other colors and am attentive to the moments orange becomes submissive.
Biography
Destiny Palmer currently is working at Thayer Academy and most recently was an Assistant Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Palmer is trained as a painter but her work explores the intersections of painting, history and color, allowing it to blur the lines of painting, sculpture and installation. Palmer has participated in exhibitions at Antenna Gallery, The Colored Girls Museum, Automat Collective, Ely Center for the Arts, Vandermoot Gallery, Landmark College. Palmer has hosted workshops at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. Most recently Palmer was invited to speak on her relationship to Hans Hofmann at the Peabody Essex Museum.
Palmer explores and investigates what it means to be an artist, educator and advocate for the arts. She has worked with various communities to create public art projects ranging from traditional murals to community engaged/lead mural to digitally created murals. Palmer has worked with MIT, Lifewtr, Saxby’s and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Some of her murals can be found at the Gallivan Community Center in Mattapan, Kendall Square Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Creating art in public realms has been a focus for Destiny. “I love being able to work with a community to reclaim space. It is extremely important that communities consistently see themselves within their own neighborhood and have ownership of it. Many of these communities are undergoing immense change or are at the bottom of their cities priority list.” Destiny Palmer had the privilege to collaborate and envision a new Codman Square Park as their finalist artist. Palmer was the finalist and collaborating with Doug Kornfield on his revisioning of Gertrude Howes Park. Most recently Palmer is the finalist artist for the interior of Vine Street Community Center in Roxbury. Palmer received her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and Bachelors in Fine Art in Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
CV
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Education
2017 MFA, Tyler School of Art, Temple University
2010 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Massachusetts College of Art
Norfolk School of Music and Art, Yale University Norfolk, Ct
Awards
2018 St. Boltoph Foundation Award
Nellie Taft Award for Painting
Artist Opportunity Fund Fellowship, Vermont Studio
2017 Emerging Artist Award, State of Connecticut
2009 Departmental Award for Excellence, 2D Fine Arts Department
Unsung Hero Award Leadership Award
2008 Ellen Battell Fellowship
Massachusetts College of Art Painting Auction Award
2007 Artist and Craftsman Award
Professional Experience
2019- Current Middle School Art Teacher, Thayer Academy, Braintree, Ma
2017-2019 Associate Professor, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
2015-2017 Graduate Assistant, Temple Contemporary
2014- 2016 Arts and Culture Transition, Member, City of Boston
2014 Studio Practice Teacher, Massachusetts College of Art
2012- 2015 Adjunct Faculty, Visual Arts Department, Boston Arts Academy
Workshops/Guest Lectures
2017 MassArt, Art Education Dept, Boston, Ma
2014 Wonder Women of Boston, Strength and Courage Series, Boston, Ma
Polly Thayer Starr Artist Series, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Ma
2013 After Hours, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Ma
Artward Bound, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Ma
2012 Artward Bound, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Ma
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Clenched, Arnheim Gallery, Boston, Ma
Gained and Gathered, Temple Contemporary, Philadelphia, Pa
2015 Remembered Color, Mayor’s Gallery, City Hall, Boston, Ma
2013 Continuous Pt.1, TLC Arts and Science Foundation, Quincy, Ma
The Beginning: Continuous, Erick Jean Center for the Arts
2011 Solo, Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus, Chelsea, Ma
2010 Who invited red? Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma
2009 Welcome to..., Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma
Inverted Confession, Artist Foundation, Boston, Ma
Invited Conversation, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018 StreetARTISTS-Bogota to Boston, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, Ma
Matters Matter 2, Suffolk Gallery, Boston, Ma
#Sayhername, Vandernoot Gallery, Cambridge, Ma
Translant, The Front/Little Berlin, New Orleans, La
Clenched, Arnheim Gallery, Boston, Ma
Stitch and Syntax, New Art Center, Newton, Ma
2017 Urgent Care, The Colored Girls Museum, Philadelphia, Pa
Broad Stripes and Bright Stars, New Haven, Ct
Overstitch, Automat, Philadelphia, Pa
More is Contained Then What is Revealed, Art and Craft Holdings, Philadelphia, Pa
2016 Black History Matters 365, Lesley University, Cambridge, Ma
City Life, Oficia, Boston, Ma
2015 Show What You Teach, Gordon Gallery, Boston, Ma
2014 No Country for Old Men, Landmark College, Putney, Vt
2013 Junteenth Celebration, Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, Ma
Can I kick it? , Paris Street Gallery, Everett, Ma
Black by Popular Demand, Gallery 360 Northeastern University, Boston, Ma
2012 New Media/Fresh Paint II, New Art Center, Newton, Ma
Traditions Remixed, Strand Theatre, Dorchester, Ma
Sound Influence, New Haven Arts Council, New Haven, Ct
Visions, Cambridge City Hall, Cambridge, Ma
Identity, Boston City Hall, Boston, Ma
New Media/ Fresh Paint, SpringStep, Medford, Ma
2011 One Man’s Trash, Gallery at the Piano Factory, Boston, Ma
Off the Pages, Hourglass Tattoo Shop, Somerville, Ma
Ethnic Ties, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Ma
Ladies First, Hancock 309 Gallery, Dorchester, Ma
Traditions Remixed, Resnikoff Gallery, Boston, Ma
Iwa I’ Ewa, Dot to Dot Cafe, Boston, Ma
Collaboration, Piano Factory, Boston, Ma
Unmentioned, Misson Bar & Grill, Boston, Ma
2010 Emerging Artists, Transportation Building, Boston, Ma
Introducing Traditions Remixed, Dorchester, Ma
The Gene Pool, The Piano Factory Gallery, Boston, Ma
Store Show Series, Carry Out, MEME Gallery, Cambridge, Ma
Co-Lab Show, Doran Gallery, Boston, Ma
2009 Beg, Borrow, Steal, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, Ma
Paint Black on Canvas, Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, Ma
Co-Lab Show, Doran Gallery, Boston, Ma
2008 Atmosphere, Instillation Station, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma
Black Artists’ Union, Dot to Dot Cafe, Boston, Ma
Calvin Burnett Tribute, Presidents’ Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art
Roxbury Open Studios, Boston, Ma
Influence, Piano Factory Boston, Ma
777 Toy Battle, Underground Hip Hop Boston, Ma
The Greatest Day on Earth, Earth Day, Artist for Humanity, Boston, Ma
Amalgam II, Gallery at the Piano Factory Boston, Ma
The Purple Show, Si El Gallery Boston, Ma
Curatorial Projects
2015 Passion with Balance, Fort Point Artist Community Gallery, Boston,Ma
2014 A Story We Share, Commonwealth Museum, Boston, Ma
2013 My Streets, Adam Bullock, Erick Jean Center for the Arts
2012 Identity, Boston City Hall, Boston, Ma
2011 The Art Show, (Articulation) St. Mary Church, Dorchester, Ma
Ladies First,Hancock 309 Gallery, Dorchester, Ma
If...Then., Mission Bar and Grill, Boston, Ma
2008 The Influence Show, Lee Adam Beard, Piano Factory, Boston, Ma
Hide, Sarah Laws, Utrecht Art Supplies, Boston, Ma
Flight, Sarah Ressler, Utrecht Art Supplies, Boston, Ma
2007 Amalgam, Utrecht Art Supplies, Boston, Ma
Streets, Amber Pate,Utrecht Art Supplies, Boston, Ma
Everything Personal, Eddie Sweet, Utrecht Art Supplies, Boston, Ma
The Big Show, Godine Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma
Permanent Collections/ Installations
Whittier Health Center Boston, Ma
Lincoln Property Company Lincoln, Ma
Aloft Hotel Boston, Ma
Affiliated with deCordova Museum, Art Loan Program, Lincoln, Ma
Public Art
Navy Yard, Philadelphia
MIT x Cambridge Arts Center
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Gertrude Howes Park (Final Three Artists), Roxbury, Ma
Codman Square Park,(Finalist Artist) Dorchester, Ma