Vanessa German

Miracles and Glory Abound

Bates College Museum of Art • Lewiston, ME • bates.edu/museum • Through March 28, 2020

Vanessa German: Miracles and Glory Abound, Bates College Museum of Art. Organized by the Flint Institute of Arts, Figge Art Museum, and Bates College Museum of Art. Photographs by Luc Demers.

In addition to being a clever appropriation—and neutering—of the acronym MAGA, the title of Vanessa German’s show reflects its spirit: miracles and glory do abound. As a selfdescribed “citizen artist,” the Pittsburgh-based sculptor collects objects and then organizes them into elaborate and brilliant multi-media installations. Her assemblages are a wonder to behold by dint of their sheer profusion but also the art and craft of their construction.

Part of the engagement of German’s work lies in recognizing, often with a start and a smile, what she has incorporated: fake flowers, sneakers, Everlast boxing gloves, bird cages, dolls, car and house keys, African figurines, and such vintage household products as Climalene, “for whiter washes.” Some items are found, others store-bought. They are part of her richly layered vision of history and culture.

In the center of the Bates Museum show is the title piece, Miracles and Glory Abound, German’s remarkable recreation of Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851). In her version, all the figures in the 17-foot-long boat are black and female. The piece is like a parade, bringing to mind those marching bands in the TV series Treme with their Alonzo Wilson-designed headdresses.

German placed several discreet sculptures in her vessel, including LaQuisha Washington Crosses the Day Aware (2018). The mother of our country stands in a red cape near the front of the boat holding a black baby doll in her arms, her hat a gilded potted plant. Like Robert Colescott’s equally disruptive George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware (1975), German’s dynamic panoply “asks us to acknowledge our complicity in the continuation of American mythmaking,” writes Holly Bass in the exhibition catalogue.

Another figure on board the boat, The Greater (2016), from the Bates College Museum’s collection, consists of a small black woman balanced on two stacked chairs, a mirror in one hand, a boot in the other, wearing a patchwork skirt and an alarm clock neckpiece, her head sprouting several ceramic works, including a white rooster. She gets her name from the grater she wears on her chest like armor.

Miracles and Glory Abound started at the Flint (Michigan) Institute of Arts, traveled to the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, IA, and has its final stop at Bates. Along the way German has added to the installation. The current iteration is the most complex.

The installation simulates a park setting, with grassy islands of AstroTurf, trees climbing the walls, an assortment of sculptural displays, and even a waterfall, which was added to the show the day of the opening. To deepen the immersive quality, a mix of children’s voices, Sam Cooke singing “A Change Is Gonna Come” and archival audio clips play in the background. One wall features a time-lapse video projection of a view of Pittsburgh where German runs ARThouse, a community center for children, in the Homewood neighborhood.

German is also a formidable performance artist. While in residence at Bates, she put on an hour-long presentation of dancing and singing in the Olin Arts Center concert hall. During the show she recruited students from the audience to join her in improvised skits. A video of the performance is available on the museum’s website.

The narrator of the profile of German featured in the PBS series The State of the Art calls the artist a “multi-disciplinary force” and says that her work is “about love, the power of art, challenging stereotypes and issues confronting African-American communities.” That force and that power are on full display in Lewiston.