Critical MAS 2020: Jurors’ Choice

“Survivalist Perspective” by Stormie Loury

Awarded Jurors’ Choice, Mayor’s Art Show 2020, Eugene, Oregon

Written by Agnese Cebere

I look at this work by Stormie Loury and cannot help but think about the current reawakening around racial injustice and violence at the hands of the police in the U.S. Although this is nothing new to African Americans, who continue living with it and teaching the youth how to survive, this nation and the world at large is once again, and perhaps more forcefully than ever, called to pay attention and interrogate the systems we live within and perpetuate unthinkingly. While the title of Stormie’s piece, Survivalist Perspective, points toward these harsh realities, her approach is to uplift and inspire. Instead of showing us Black suffering, she wants to contribute to multiplying representations of Black joy. That is what Survivalist Perspective delivers: pride, beauty, and love. Stormie summarizes her outlook as pointing to “the expansion of our minds necessary to navigate in the world while maintaining our cultural patterns — representing wisdom, cultivating strength.”

There is a warmth to the piece that comes both from the material, which is textile, and also from the rich earth tones Stormie has been very deliberate about using. The dark background absorbs my gaze and draws me closer; the overlapping circular shapes radiate outward, reinforcing each other and moving toward me and beyond. The use of earth tones is important because they signal a connection with the Earth and the outdoors which, like a true Oregonian, Stormie loves.

While the human figure created by the many fragments of fabric is of distinctly African origin, according to Stormie herself, it also has a general appeal to a shared humanity beyond notions of race. She believes all humans originated in Africa, therefore there are multiple skin tones in the face. Stormie wants to create connection, not separation and isolation. This does not mean that we are all the same, or that we should all aspire to be the same, rather we must come together through love for one another. It sounds like a simple thing but it requires diligence and self-knowledge. What are our own family histories? What are the histories of our ancestors? What are the African American histories that continue to be ignored?

A self-proclaimed Afrofuturist, Stormie is aware of the past and takes what she needs from it to create a glorious vision of the future. Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic which combines the cultural heritage of the African diaspora, contemporary diasporic art and culture, science fiction and fantasy, to create a future that centers the Black experience. Stormie’s grandmother’s sewing skills have informed her as an artist and working with textiles remains Stormie’s main form of expression. She started working in the additive way that we see in Survivalist Perspective about nine years ago, a technique that developed out of her practice of altering and restoring garments. She tells me that she grew up in a multigenerational household in Oak Park, Illinois, where her grandmother would make dresses for special occasions and hats for the ladies at church. Stormie learned how to add onto and alter already existing garments, a practice that has evolved into the kind of work she makes now, though she continues to make clothing and fashion jewelry. “We evolve through what is given to us,” Stormie says.

Though Stormie Loury has always been creative, she only recently started identifying as an artist. She works with multiple mediums and materials, but her roots are in textile and fibers. Even in her youth she was keenly aware of the power of garments, thinking of them as protective force fields. She says, “You must choose your garments wisely.” This leads me to consider Survivalist Perspective from a material viewpoint, as an immense multitude of fibers that together create beauty and strength. Felt is made by twining fibers together to form one large expanse of entangled matter — pressed, matted, condensed — so that the fibers are mixed together and become inseparable. Stormie points out that her piece “shows how African Americans maneuver the path of creative acculturation one develops in a world that denies their existence as a human, in order to survive long enough to fulfill one’s dreams and teach the next generations.”

For Stormie, each piece starts with a feeling. From there, it progresses through visualization where the overall color scheme becomes apparent. Then comes the process of cutting and layering, with a lot of sewing in between. Like many artists, Stormie is attentive to how the pieces speak back to her while she is working on them. Often they transform in the process, and sometimes they completely change from the original starting point.and sometimes they completely change from the original starting point.

Survivalist Perspective makes a connection to the African diaspora, and the piece is decisively afro-centric because at her core Stormie is African. Through her piece she asks us to look at and really see Black people in the public realm, acknowledging their presence. She believes that the dominant narrative is one of African American achievement through pain, and thinks we need another perspective that celebrates the soul and lives of Black people, as a path to Black Liberation. It is important to see aspects and attributes that are positive and generative as much as it is to reveal injustices. The point is to not just survive, but to thrive by manifesting the future in the present through positive portrayals of beauty, wisdom, and strength.

Stormie Loury has a home studio and devotes a significant amount of time to her creative projects. In the winter, she works on her art about four days a week, in the summer she is busy harvesting and tending her garden and has less time for the studio. She is committed to growing and building, both in her own life and in her art. I perceive it as her hope — shining through the strong profile in her piece Survivalist Perspective — that we will all join her in this endeavor of constructing a better world. Survival is not about the bare minimum; it is about abundance and soul. We have seen the power and value of art in the recent protests and the Movement for Black Lives, in everything from protest signs to murals and graphic design. Stormie thinks that culture and art are what sustain African Americans, and I think this is true for all of us as we strive for a better future together. As we examine our cultural habits, let’s work to create and sustain something that we can all be proud of, recognizing the debt this country owes to African Americans, and passing on creative and expressive cultures that can sustain those who come after us.  

“Survivalist Perspective” is on display in the Downtown Library window, 100 W. 10th Ave. More info at https://www.eugene-or.gov/4462/Mayors-Art-Show—Stormie-Loury

You can find more of Stormie’s work at uandisoul.com