Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

 

Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe

 

Untitled (Woman in Hat with Trees)


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Object Details


Artist/Maker

Nellie Mae Rowe

Date

1978

Medium

Crayon, colored pencil, and pen on paper

Dimensions

12 x 9 inches

Credit

Gift of Judith Alexander

Accession #

2003.197

Description

A connection to nature dominated Rowe’s childhood as her tasks on the farm were dictated by seasons and weather. She reclaimed that connection by tending to the garden of her Playhouse, which was filled with birds, flowering plants, and the pollinators they attracted. The space she made for nature to grow densely was a form of self-care that became even more meaningful against the backdrop of the rapidly gentrifying suburb she lived in, and she chronicled the beauty she cultivated in her garden in drawings like these.