Three Voices, Three Visions: The Life and Legacy of James W. Washington Jr

Join us for a multi-voiced exploration of the life and legacy of renowned sculptor James W. Washington Jr., guided by the book Poem of Stone & Bone: The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr. in Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days. Through the perspectives of three insightful writers, we’ll reflect on Washington’s artistry, activism, and lasting impact.

Susan Noyes Platt will read from her essay, James W. Washington Jr.: Painter, Activist, Sculptor. Carletta Carrington Wilson will present her artist talk The House Stands Firm: The Creation of Poem of Stone & Bone, detailing the development of four installations on Washington’s property. In James Washington House & Carletta Carrington Wilson's Poem of Stone & Bone, Anna Bálint shares her personal journey through the artist’s garden and studio, offering reflections as both witness and viewer.

A Q&A with the presenters will be moderated by Jenna d'Anna, BIMA's Education & Community Engagement Lead. Reception to follow.

Guest name:

Anna Balint, Susan Noyes Platt, & Carletta Carrington Wilson

Guest bios:

Anna Bálint is a London-born, Seattle-based poet, writer, editor, and cultural activist of East European descent. Her many years of editorial work for Raven Chronicles Press include the Take a Stand, Art Against Hate Anthology, which won the 2021 Washington State Book Award for poetry, and Words From the Café, an anthology of writing by people in recovery. Her short fiction collection, Horse Thief (Curbstone Press, 2004), spans cultures and continents and was a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award. A longtime teacher of creative writing, Anna currently teaches adults in recovery from trauma, addiction, mental illness, and homelessness at Seattle's Recovery Café, where she founded Safe Place Writing Circle.

Susan Noyes Platt, PhD, is a freelance art historian and art critic based in Seattle. Her most recent book is Around the World in 25 Years: Provocative Art from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas: Collected Writings (Ingram 2025). After many years as a tenured professor of art history, Susan Noyes Platt is an independent art historian and freelance art critic and curator, based in Seattle, Washington. Her books include Modernism in the 1920s (UMI Research Press, 1985), Art and Politics in the 1930s, Modernism, Marxism, Americanism (Midmarch Arts Press, 1999), and Art and Politics Now, Cultural Activism in a Time of Crisis (Midmarch Arts Press, 2011), Setting Our Hearts on Fire, Collected Writings Volume 2: Essays on Artists from 1982 to the Present (2022).

Through poetry, artist books, installations, and mixed-media works, Carletta Carrington Wilson discovers answers to questions she did not know to ask. This artist finds each artistic endeavor to be an act of excavation and a revelation. Her work, described as "decorative with a message," has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and libraries in the Seattle area and beyond. Her poems continue to appear in local and national publications. Carletta Carrington Wilson created Poem of Stone & Bone, a work of memory, on the property of James W. Washington Jr. in 2011. Four installations revived key aspects of the sculptor's artistic lineage, melding geography, spirituality, nature, and intellect. The culminating event led visitors on a journey across the Washington landscape and into his studio after the artist's month-long residency. Raven Chronicles Press published, in 2023, Poem of Stone & Bone: The Iconography of James. W. Washington Jr. in Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days. The book documents Wilson's series of site-specific installations created on the property of the noted sculptor. Journal entries chart her journey and visceral responses to objects found on the grounds, in the house, and studio of the artist. The artist engaged with objects, land, and literature to create a nuanced perspective on the life and work of James W. Washington Jr.

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