02/01/21

AMES, Iowa —Artist T.J. Dedeaux-Norris, an assistant professor of painting and drawing at the University of Iowa, will address how art practice relates to different personas in a virtual lecture hosted by the Iowa State University College of Design.

Event details

Dedeaux-Norris will present “The Estate of Tameka Jenean Norris” from noon–1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, over Zoom. They will discuss their recently deceased persona, Tameka Jenean Norris, and the artist’s work and journey through academia and artistic representation. Register in advance to attend this free online event, part of the Spring 2021 College of Design Lecture Series.

The lecture will draw from Dedeaux-Norris’ solo exhibition, “T.J. Dedeaux-Norris Presents the Estate of Tameka Jenean Norris,” which closed Jan. 31 at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.

About the speaker

Dedeaux-Norris’ work centers on issues of identity, race, sexuality, class and gender. Their mediums include painting, videography, photography, music performance, installation art, project art and others. Using these outlets for their work, Dedeaux-Norris explores the impacts of manipulation, particularly for women, people of color and queer communities.

In their art practice, Dedeaux-Norris adopts different personas, including Black academic artist Tameka Jenean Norris. The distinction between artist and persona is frequently blurred in the resulting artworks, which are simultaneously autobiographic and dramatized. Dedeaux-Norris used the exhibition to establish an artist’s estate and retrospective celebrating the life and death of Tameka Jenean, who discovered her consciousness and interests in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In a virtual presentation for the Figge, Dedeaux-Norris said of the persona, “Tameka needed to be freed up from a type of responsibility. As a Black artist, there is a ‘responsibility’ to talk about or confront certain things. That level of responsibility was something she wanted to push up against.”

Dedeaux-Norris received a $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant in 2016. They have completed several artist residencies, including at the MacDowell Colony and OxBow School of Art, and exhibited their work nationally and internationally. They hold a bachelor of art from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master of fine arts in painting and printmaking from Yale University.

Contacts

Rachel Connell, College of Design Lectures & Exhibitions Committee, raconn@iastate.edu
Meg Grice, Design Communications, mgrice@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, hsauer@iastate.edu

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