Currently showing at the Seattle Art Museum, Joyce J. Scott’s exhibit, “Walk a Mile in My Dreams,” is a vast and sprawling expression of the artist’s journey through themes, mediums, and life. It displays a variety of pieces that challenge the viewer and includes interactive sections that bridge the gap between artist and spectator.

Much of Scott’s work is fueled by her undying belief that art is a powerful force and one that is omnipresent in our lives. The varied and stylistically diverse nature of her art is an ode to her heritage and influences, which is part of the reason that she believes that art is so integral to us all—it is a reflection of the people that create and perceive it, and takes into account our pasts, presents and futures.

Much of this can be seen in the centerpiece of the exhibit. As you walk in, you are greeted with an altar of sorts—a collection of childhood items, books, Buddhist sculptures, African imagery, Dia de Los Muertos heads and much more—surrounded by quilts (which Scott likens to the stories and fables that we pass down) and beadwork. It is an intimate depiction of her personhood; the perfect vehicle to introduce an exhibit that catalogs the great majority of the artist’s life.

The multimedia nature of Scott’s work is incredibly important. Referring to her creativity as her ‘inheritance,’ her artist mother and artisan family members passed down to her many skills and disciplines, and she picked up many more in the travels that followed her early life. The exhibit features her weaving, beadwork, jewelry, music, performance art, glasswork, basketry, quilting, theatrical work and many more. 

To many viewers, like Melissa Blount, the magnitude of Scott’s work is one of the most captivating aspects.

“It’s been extraordinary and overwhelming, just the breadth of work that she’s done and just the diversity of it. I didn’t know that she had performance art in her toolbox,” Blount said. “She is an incredibly brave and courageous and bold talent and just to see all of her work throughout over 50 years is pretty brilliant.”

While Scott’s work is highly representative of herself as a person, it also achieves another critical function of her artistic philosophy by working to unify people for the sake of achieving social change. Her works tackle inequality in all of its forms, utilizing humor, grave seriousness and everything in between to attack the evils of our world at their roots. However, they aren’t only critical—her works also uplift the marginalized, celebrating their strength and history, and fighting stereotypes through nuanced and sincere depictions of those that rarely see the spotlight.

Fr. Jerry Cobb, S.J., former coordinator of Seattle U’s campus art collection, stated that, “Joyce Scott’s art is beautiful on the surface and radical in its underlying meanings… Her sprawling exhibition covers quite a few gallery rooms and somehow you both lose yourself and find yourself in the midst of her art.”

The viewer’s immersion in Scott’s work is fully intentional. As part of her belief in community, she breaks down many of the barriers that traditional art upholds, inviting the viewer to participate in her art. The exhibit features an interactive weaving section where viewers can use Scott’s technique to create tapestries that get displayed within the exhibit. 

Gabriella Garcia-Greco, the interactive weaving gallery assistant, speaks to the importance of the gallery in the context of the exhibit.

“She is an excellent educator, so it’s really important to her and it is part of her values to make her the way of making art accessible to community,” Garcia-Greco said. “She designed this part of the exhibition as well, and it was very important to her that people got to experience how to make some of the things that she learned to make.”

The interactive gallery is one of the most popular parts of the exhibit, with groups of friends, families, and individual visitors gathered in community across the multiple looms, realizing Scott’s goal of connection and creation through her art. 

In addition to being interesting, non-traditional and thematically consistent with the exhibit, the interactive section thrives because it is incredibly fun. 

“I’ve seen people weave for up to an hour,” Garcia-Greco mused.

Joyce J. Scott’s exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum has lofty goals—it tries to encapsulate the huge and varied career of one of the most prolific contemporary artists, connect with a variety of viewers on complex and difficult themes, and impart an eclectic and radical philosophy about what art should be. Miraculously, it manages to do all of these things and more, finding an incredible balance between lofty high art and the deeply personal reflections of a heartfelt human being.

“Walk a Mile in My Dreams” is open at the Seattle Art Museum until Jan. 19. For more information, visit seattleartmuseum.org.