Joyce J. Scott
Cobalt Rain
2010
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Joyce J. Scott
Cobalt Rain
2010
Physical Qualities
Glass beads, metal, clay, fiber, wood, 45 1/2 x 11 x 8 1/2 in. (115.6 x 27.9 x 21.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Alice and Franklin Cooley Fund; and partial gift of Goya Contemporary, Baltimore
Object Number
2014.11
“Water also represents tears. Tears don’t always come from sadness. They may come from joy. Strain. They could be immediate and have nothing at all to do with anything except they had to pop out of your eyes at that time—your brain said ‘you can relieve yourself now.’ I believe they’re this wellspring. We’re connected to the tides and everything else.”
Water appears as a sacred and essential substance, as well as a shapeshifter. In Cobalt Rain, cascading beads evoke sheets of precipitation.The deep blue figure seems to contemplate and personify these liquid states of change. Across many world religions, blue signifies divinity, prayer, plenitude, and the unknowable depths of the universe.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by partial gift / partial purchase, 2014; Goya Contemporary, Baltimore
Amy Raehse, Goya Contemporary, Baltimore, "Joyce J. Scott: On Kilter, " September 12 - November 10, 2012.
Kristen Hileman, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Contemporary Wing rotation, June 2014 - May 2016.
Lowery Stokes Sims and Patterson Sims, "Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths," Grounds for Sculpture, October 20, 2017 – April 1, 2018.
Cecilia Wichmann, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Hitching Their Dreams to Untamed Stars: Joyce J. Scott & Elizabeth Talford Scott," May 15 - December 1, 2019.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams", March 24, 2024 - July 14, 2024; Seattle Art Museum, October 17, 2024 - January 19, 2025.
Kristen Hileman, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Contemporary Wing rotation, June 2014 - May 2016.
Lowery Stokes Sims and Patterson Sims, "Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths," Grounds for Sculpture, October 20, 2017 – April 1, 2018.
Cecilia Wichmann, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Hitching Their Dreams to Untamed Stars: Joyce J. Scott & Elizabeth Talford Scott," May 15 - December 1, 2019.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams", March 24, 2024 - July 14, 2024; Seattle Art Museum, October 17, 2024 - January 19, 2025.
Joyce J. Scott, "On Kilter," Baltimore: Goya Contemporary, 2012 , ill. p. 11.
Sims, Lowery Stokes and Patterson Sims. Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths. Hamilton, NJ: Grounds for Sculpture, 2018.
Manchanda, Catharina, and Cecilia Wichmann, eds. Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in my Dreams. Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum; Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 2024, plate 103, page 142.