Ayanna Jolivet McCloud facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ayanna McCloud
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| Born | 1978 (age 46–47) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | School of Art Institute of Chicago |
| Occupation | Artist |
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| Awards | Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant Idea Fund Stimulus Grant 2015 labotanica |
Ayanna Jolivet McCloud, born in 1978, is a talented artist, writer, and teacher from Houston, Texas. She creates art that often looks simple but has deep meaning. She is also known for her performances that combine sound, visuals, and different types of media.
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Early Life and Learning
McCloud grew up in Houston, Texas. She studied visual arts and critical studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. Even though she first trained as a painter, Ayanna McCloud started to create art using many different things. This included sound, written words, and live performances.
For over 15 years, McCloud worked for non-profit art groups across the United States. Today, she is the director of education and public programs at the Houston Botanic Garden. She helps create fun and educational activities for visitors there.
Ayanna McCloud's Art Career
McCloud has taken part in art programs and shows all over the Americas. This includes places in the United States, the Caribbean Islands, Central America, and South America.
Art Projects and Community Work
She was an artist in a special project called Project Row Houses. Her piece, Score [how to hold on to chasms and fill with matter], used sound, sculptures, and text. It aimed to create a calm space for people to think about difficult feelings and healing. This project showed how McCloud's art can look simple but have many deep layers of meaning. She also led a workshop called Writing in the Margins as part of this project.
McCloud also started and directed La Botanica. This was a special place in Houston where artists and the community could work together. She often works with other artists and even includes the audience in her art. In 2017, her project Score: Field Work opened at Art League Houston. This art show featured visual art and experimental sound pieces made by women artists. McCloud and others also gave live performances.
Exploring Spirituality in Art
Early in her career, McCloud began to explore themes of spirituality and the human body. She often used symbols and ritual images from Vodou and other African-based religions. You can see this in her 2006 art show and performance called Goofer Dust. This show took place at Miami's Diaspora Vibe Gallery. It included visual elements like chickens and earth, along with ritual performances. The idea of collective dreaming and the title Goofer Dust itself reflected Vodou's art and beliefs.
During the original performance of Goofer Dust, McCloud invited the audience to join in. She wanted to create a spiritual feeling that collective dreaming is believed to have. Through this audience participation and the symbols around them, Goofer Dust explored how our bodies connect to space, time, nature, community, and the stars.
In some of her art, McCloud uses veves. These are line drawings used in Vodou to call upon spirits called Iwas. For example, in Damballah Study, McCloud drew these symbols on a field of grass. She also used veves in her installations Delete/Borrar/Efase and Crossroads.
Awards and Recognition
Ayanna McCloud was a member of the advisory council for the Mayor's Art and Cultural Plan for the City of Houston. She received an Individual Artist Grant Award from the Houston Arts Alliance. In 2015, she also got a Stimulus Grant from the Idea Fund. This grant helped her launch La Botanica online, which included an online store and a blog for artists and environmentalists.
Artworks and Exhibitions
Here are some of the places where Ayanna McCloud's art has been shown:
Solo Exhibitions and Performances
- 2006 - Goofer Dust, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Miami, Florida (performance)
- 2006 - One: Sugar Blood (Canibala Series), PoPop Studios, Nassau, Bahamas (performance)
- 2004 - Under, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, Illinois
- 2003 - Marks, Base Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Group Exhibitions
- 2020 - Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas
- 2006 - International Conceptual Video Screening, Commerce Street Warehouse, Houston, Texas
- 2006 - The Ephemeral and the Remaining, State University of New York, Oswego, New York
- 2006 - Memorias de un Mexicano: Homage to Francisco Mora, Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois
- 2005 - Out Castes: Crossing the Line to the Model Majority: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Diaspora, Miami, Florida
- 2005 - Complement, Art Center/South Florida, Miami Beach, Florida
- 2005 - Off the Main: The Show of Contemporary African, Caribbean, and Latin American Art, Puck Building, New York
- 2005 - Casket Factory, Dallas, Texas
- 2005 - Memorias de un Mexicano: Homage to Francisco Mora, Gallery 214, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, Illinois
- 2004 - Memorias de un Mexicano: Homage to Francisco Mora, Max Von Isser Gallery of Art, Elgin College, Elgin, Illinois
- 2004 - Theft, Galeria Tinta Roja, Chicago, Illinois
- 2004 - Function : Assimilate, Functionvariable, Barcelona, Spain
- 2003 - Turn On, Artist Relief/Harem, Chicago, Illinois
- 2002 - Siragusa Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
- 2000 - Freshmix, Community Artists' Collective, Houston, Texas
- 1999 - Urban Girls, El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera, Buffalo, New York
Other Projects
Some of her other projects include Hear Her Ear, a series that celebrates women in sound art. She also created School of Latitudes, which is an artist residency. Her workshops include Writing in the Margins, presented at Project Row Houses, and How to Frame Pauses, Holism, and Magical Thinking in New Arts Infrastructures at Art League Houston.
