mICHELE TEJUOLA sPINDLE: LINES OF DESCENT

Tejuola was born and raised in Detroit Michigan, the child of two Southern emigres. After graduating from the renowned Cass Technical High School (Detroit) in 1974 and the Columbus College of Art and Design (Columbus, Ohio) in 1978, she worked in retail advertising and designed catalogs as well as other collateral for department stores. Retail advertising took Tejuola to Atlanta, Georgia. There, she became intrigued by West African culture and stories and the connections she saw to her own story as a descendent of enslaved West Africans. In the 1990s, Tejuola moved to North Carolina, where she established herself as a gourd artist.

EXHIBITION DATES: March 25, 2023–April 29, 2023

FORT WORKS ART is pleased to announce artist Michele Tejuola Spindle’s first solo exhibition in the North Texas region, TEJUOLA: LINES OF DESCENT. This exhibition is a retrospective with works spanning a period of over four decades and will be an intimate display of around a dozen gourds, each one recounting personal and collective narratives.

Tejuola does not fit into any established categories within the art world. Her chosen media is American gourds and African calabashes, which are carved, and hand-painted with narratives of ancestry relating to the African and African American experience. She elevates this traditional craft above that of just an artisan into one of an artist. This is done through her intricate and sophisticated figuration coupled with design elements that together create a visual vocabulary that transforms the craft into fine art.

At the heart of her work, Tejuola is a storyteller. She does not shy away from any subject material and directly addresses issues dealing with diaspora, race, motherhood, and femininity. She explores the intersections of her identity, her ancestors, and the stories of people who could have been her predecessors. Tejuola’s commitment to the organic vessels as her medium displays her devotion to maintaining a connection with her cultural heritage, highlighting “the land and stories that inspire [her].”