Interlacing West African weaving, European tapestry and Southern quilting, Brackens creates figurative narratives and cosmographic abstractions that merge commemoration, allegory and lived experience

Diedrick Brackens (born 1989) constructs intricately woven textiles that speak to the complexities of Black and queer identity in the United States. He foregrounds the loaded associations of cotton, which is enmeshed in the history of the transatlantic slave trade, and inscribes his weavings with symbolic materials and figures that probe the tangled threads of American history.
For darling divined, Brackens presents a selection of new and recent weavings. Their titles draw from poetry and literature by writers such as Essex Hemphill, a poet and activist known for openly addressing race, sexuality, the rise of HIV/AIDS and other issues affecting the queer African American community. This work was inspired by Hemphill’s poems, particularly “The Father, Son and Unholy Ghosts,” which speaks to the intricacies of familial relationships and the radical gesture of birthing one’s own identity. Brackens’ large-scale tapestries portray moments of intimacy between coupled beings, whether they be animals, lovers, relatives or friends.

Elizabeth Heuer, Ph.D., Principle Author 

Jonathan Stuhlman Ph.D., Editor

This book was published on the occasion of the touring exhibition, American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection, organized by the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, and The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, in association with The Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation. 

September 10-December 24, 2022

"Spanning over 250 years of American art history, the DeMell Jacobsen Collection of American Art celebrates the accomplishments of American artists from past to present. This publication covers the breadth of the collection, exploring the wide range of subjects addressed by American artists over the country's history - ranging from portraiture, landscape, and still life to genre scenes and modernist abstraction, as well as masterful sculptures in marble, bronze, aluminum, steel, and corrugated cardboard. 

Assembling an art collection of this scope is an ambitious undertaking. Indeed, private collections of American art are generally tightly focused on an individual collector's interest in a specific region, theme, genre, era, or medium. In contrast, this collection was designed to provide a broad - yet in-depth - understanding of America's rich heritage, which has evolved as our knowledge of American art has become more nuanced and complex. Forged through persistent vision and strategic continuity, the collection strives to be a pocked museum of American art. The goal is not to define American art, but rather to acknowledge and celebrate the extraordinary diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that comprise America's cultural history, growth, and transformation. 

This catalogue provides the first opportunity to bring together many of the most important works of art from the collection and to showcase them comprehensively for the public. This fully illustrated publication serves as a visual journey through the collection's extensive holdings, featuring essays covering more than 200 objects, with contributions by scholars of American art from across the country. While brief, these essays strive to present an insightful analysis of each work of art, ranging from new research and perspectives on works by well-known artists to the introduction of contributions by lesser-known artists that merit closer attention by art historians in the future. As an educational resource, the catalogue aims to inspire new conversations, perspectives, and research among the next generation of scholars of American art history." 

- Excerpt from the Introduction by Elizabeth Heuer, Ph.D.

 Foragers, by Summer Wheat, is currently on view at Mint Museum Uptown. This is Wheat's largest project to date (2020) with a monumental 96-panel "stained glass" installation which fills the four story windows in the Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium. This installation, which celebrates traditions of women craft-makers and providers throughout history, electrifies the large atrium space and is a "piece that is animated, that is kinetic, and not static" Mint Museum Chief Curator & Curator of contemporary Art, Jennifer Sudul Edwards, PhD says. 

This puzzle commemorates Wheat's monumental work and makes the perfect gift or coffee table addition! 

1,000 Pieces

19" x 26" finished puzzle size

10" x 8" x 2.25" box size