On June 18 in Greenwood, Mississippi, artist Desmond Lewis, 28, emptied his truck load of cakes and fireworks in front of 150 people who were at the park in preparation for a Juneteenth celebration. As a sculptor of industrial materials, Lewis knows a lot about safety, saying, “the first rule of fireworks is don’t put any body part over the explosive that you don’t want to lose.”
Lewis’s job requires him to merge varied materials including concrete, steel, wood, and rebar to create works of art including “Bout that split tho” (2021) and “America’s Forgotten” (2017), which sits on the University of Memphis campus and boasts a height of 16-feet tall, highlighting a cylinder of concrete decorated with broken links of chain made of steel. The campus represents his hometown of Memphis and is where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree.
In his sculptures, Lewis focuses on expression through details. For example, smooth surfaces remind him of how stories based on African American slavery are overlooked and twisted. Many of the attributes in his sculptures point toward his idea on an inevitable white supremacy.
Lewis’s interest in fireworks emerged in the summer of 2018 when he studied at the Skowhegan school of Painting and Sculpture, in Maine, for a selective summer arts program. During the camp, he was exposed to visuals of violence and protesting, explaining, “as a Black person, you can only hold so much in for so long.” When comparing firework explosions and violent explosions for a sculpture, he realized that rather than having a visual difference, “one’s socially acceptable, the other’s not.”
Apart from his full-time job as a lecturer at the Yale School of Art, Lewis acts as the manager of the sculpture shop at Skowhegan. However, he was concerned that under privileged communities, many of them Black, did not have access to pyrotechnics. As a result, he began working part-time for a pyrotechnics company and went on to earn his display operator’s license. He now hosts firework shows, particularly in the Southeast.
Lewis claims he “really loves” logistics, not to mention the 15-hour drive it took him to go to Greenwood all while lugging 300 pounds or fireworks. The poverty rate in Greenwood sits at just around 24 percent, causing the city council to make the decision to remove pyrotechnics from their budget.
The audience of the Juneteenth show cheered as they saw colored lights go up in the air. Many described the event as safe, enjoyable, and sensational. Lewis hopes to expand the Juneteenth shows and continue to honor the holiday.
Sources:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656879525325x810575523515728800/A%20Sculptor%20Takes%20His%20Craft%20to%20the%20Skies%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
Lewis’s job requires him to merge varied materials including concrete, steel, wood, and rebar to create works of art including “Bout that split tho” (2021) and “America’s Forgotten” (2017), which sits on the University of Memphis campus and boasts a height of 16-feet tall, highlighting a cylinder of concrete decorated with broken links of chain made of steel. The campus represents his hometown of Memphis and is where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree.
In his sculptures, Lewis focuses on expression through details. For example, smooth surfaces remind him of how stories based on African American slavery are overlooked and twisted. Many of the attributes in his sculptures point toward his idea on an inevitable white supremacy.
Lewis’s interest in fireworks emerged in the summer of 2018 when he studied at the Skowhegan school of Painting and Sculpture, in Maine, for a selective summer arts program. During the camp, he was exposed to visuals of violence and protesting, explaining, “as a Black person, you can only hold so much in for so long.” When comparing firework explosions and violent explosions for a sculpture, he realized that rather than having a visual difference, “one’s socially acceptable, the other’s not.”
Apart from his full-time job as a lecturer at the Yale School of Art, Lewis acts as the manager of the sculpture shop at Skowhegan. However, he was concerned that under privileged communities, many of them Black, did not have access to pyrotechnics. As a result, he began working part-time for a pyrotechnics company and went on to earn his display operator’s license. He now hosts firework shows, particularly in the Southeast.
Lewis claims he “really loves” logistics, not to mention the 15-hour drive it took him to go to Greenwood all while lugging 300 pounds or fireworks. The poverty rate in Greenwood sits at just around 24 percent, causing the city council to make the decision to remove pyrotechnics from their budget.
The audience of the Juneteenth show cheered as they saw colored lights go up in the air. Many described the event as safe, enjoyable, and sensational. Lewis hopes to expand the Juneteenth shows and continue to honor the holiday.
Sources:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656879525325x810575523515728800/A%20Sculptor%20Takes%20His%20Craft%20to%20the%20Skies%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
