episode twenty | tanekeya word

Published 7 August 2019

Miranda Metcalf  Hello print friends, and welcome to the 20th episode of Pine Copper Lime (Hello, Print Friend), the internet's number one printmaking podcast. I'm your host, Miranda Metcalf. I release an episode every two weeks, and on the off weeks, I publish an article on the Pine Copper Lime website, which features images and maybe a bit more information about the artist I'm going to interview. Episode 20. It kind of feels like we just got started on this journey together last week. Watching the Pine Copper Lime (Hello, Print Friend) community grow has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever experienced. Over the past 10 months, I've gotten messages from all over the world from people saying that this little podcast produced in a spare bedroom in Sydney makes them feel more connected to the broader printmaking community. It's been incredible. I got a message from a 16 year old printmaker in India the other day who listens to the pod, and I'm not gonna lie, I might have cried a little bit. I mean, it was like a single manly tear, but it was a tear. Alright, for those of you who have not heard the big news, Pine Copper Lime is coming to SGCI 2020 in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico, and your friend Miranda is going to be hosting a live taping of the podcast during an official conference event. So stay tuned for more details, but I hope to see all of your beautiful faces there. Printmaking forever, shun the non believers, join the party. And all of this, not one bit of it could be possible without the support of our listeners through Patreon and the Pine Copper Lime (Hello, Print Friend) print gallery. So thank you all so very, very much who have already contributed your hard earned dollars or pesos or baht to keeping Pine Copper Lime in our earbuds. And if you are support curious, there are links in the show notes to both. I could not think of a better way to enter PCL's roaring 20s than with my guest this week, Tanekeya Word. She's a Milwaukee based visual artist, printmaker, and educator whose work centers around black geographies, exploring afrofuturism, black aesthetics, black hair, black identity, and black womanhood. Tanekeya is also the founder of Black Women of Print, a society where black female printmakers can share space, intergenerational knowledge, stories, and community. If that wasn't enough, Black Women of Print is also an educational resource for discovering historical black female printmakers currently overlooked in the printmaking canon. Tanekeya brings her years of experience in art institutions and the academic arts world to our conversation. It was a true joy to host her. I know you're gonna love it, so sit back, relax, and prepare to learn more than a thing or two with Tanekeya Word. Hi, Tanekeya. How's it going? 

Tanekeya Word  It's going well, just a Monday over here. 

Miranda Metcalf  That's right. I know. Thank you so much for joining me.

Tanekeya Word  Yes. Thanks for having me. I was very excited when you said that you were from Australia, well, podcast was in Australia. I said, oh, that's awesome. I've always wanted to visit Australia. But you know, I'm kind of visiting it right now.

Miranda Metcalf  Totally, totally. That's a real Australian plant in the background. Well, I'm here through at least 2020. You're very welcome. You'll always have a host in Australia, as long as we're here. 

Tanekeya Word  Yes. Well, I'm gonna have to do that. 

Miranda Metcalf  I was first introduced to you and your work through Pressing Matters magazine. You wrote an article for them, and then your project and you were also featured in it, I think in not the most recent one, but the one before last, and it was just all really exciting, great stuff. And then I heard you on the Studio Noize podcast, which is great. So I'll put a link to that in the show notes for this, because that is a really wonderful chat as well. But for those who don't know you yet, and don't know your work, would you'd like to introduce yourself and answer the questions who you are, where you are, what you do?

Tanekeya Word  I'm Tanekeya Word. I just finished up my coursework for a Doctoral in Urban Education with a specialization in Art Education. So I'm in the research phase, which will be a year, so I'll be Dr. Word this time next year. Long time coming. I have a BA in English from Howard University, an MA in Arts Management from American University, and then my doctorate will be from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where I'm currently residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm an illustrator, visual artist, a printmaker, art educator, and an art scholar. So those are basically the overall roles that I play day to day, besides being mom. So that's that in regards to that. I'm also the founder of Black Women of Print. It is a directory of black women printmakers. We are opening invitations up again next month. We have founding members Delita Martin, Jen Hewett, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, we also have Angela Pilgrim, Stephanie Santana, myself, and Leslie Diuguid. Hoping I'm not missing anyone else... and Latoya Hobbs. I can't forget her. So those are the founding members, and Leslie Diuguid came on after the founding members. So she's our first person in the first cohort. So we just kind of feel like she's a founding member.

Miranda Metcalf  You touched on that you're getting your your PhD, and that you just finished your coursework. And so you're doing your research, and you think it's just gonna be another year?

Tanekeya Word  Yes. So I've completed chapters one through three. And there's only five chapters for the dissertation. So I completed 133 pages. I'm in the revision phase of that now. So I'm revising that. And I'm hoping to have my hearing, my dissertation proposal hearing, in August. And then they'll say, 'Okay, you can finish the research.' So then I'll start doing qualitative interviews for a few months, and basically coding that work and writing those last two chapters. Pretty much a lot of it done.

Miranda Metcalf  Yeah, congrats. That's huge. And so does the PhD have anything specifically to do with printmaking? Does it play a part in it? Or is it more about the other sides of your research?

Tanekeya Word  So basically, it's two pronged. So for printmaking, I was at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Maryland at the time, now it's in Hyattsville, Maryland. So when I was in graduate school in DC, I interned there in development. And I started being a part of their screenprinting society. So I learned about screenprinting and paper making. And they're a very influential paper making and just paper arts and book arts organization within the US. So it was a wonderful introduction to printmaking for me. So after grad school, I actually did not do anything concerning printmaking at all, I was just doing my paintings and research and education. And about my second year to my doctoral program, I took print and narrative forms course, and advanced [printmaking], and I kind of really fell head over heels again with printmaking. It was just bad, I just went down the rabbit hole with it. And I learned how to use the Vandercook, the letterpress machine, and to typeset and to create book arts, and I screenprinted some more. I got back into relief printing, because I learned that a long time ago, like when I was in middle school, because I went to an art school for middle school. It was just more hands on. And as far as the doctoral program goes, I'm actually 10 credits away from having an MFA in printmaking. So the idea is, for after I finish the dissertation, to take a year and finish with the studio art portion in like one course so that I can have the MFA in printmaking, because why not? You know, 10 credits after all the work I've done. So my dissertation does have something to do with printmaking, because I'm talking about black women in the arts. So yeah, I will be speaking with a few printmakers, but also artists and curators and collectors, et cetera, to gain knowledge about what does it mean, basically, to be a black woman within the arts in the US, and how we are basically shaping spaces.

Miranda Metcalf  That's really exciting. I want to definitely dive into that a little bit more. But before I get to that, I'd love to have a little bit more background about you and sort of growing up and what role art played. You said you went to an art middle school, which sounds amazing. So obviously, it's been a part of you since you were a kid.

Tanekeya Word  I've been an artist all my life, I would say. My mother is an artist, and she drew me before, like she was doodling, and she drew me as a flower. And it was just such personification, basically, to have a flower for a head, and then the rest for a body, but she was just doodling. And because she has four daughters, she decided that she didn't think that she could be an artist because she wanted to be responsible for and take care of her children. So she put down the dream of becoming an artist to be a nurse. So it's like I get to live my mother's wildest dreams because of the sacrifices that she's made for me. I went to an African American immersion school for elementary, and with that, I learned Swahili and learned about Afrocentric culture, I learned about performance art and theater and the arts. So I had that black artistic cultural production very, very early on just from my mother, and then that atmosphere. And then I went into middle school, which was Lincoln Center Middle School of the Creative Arts. And that's where I really found out about showing your work in galleries because we had a gallery in our school. I took various courses with music, I played the clarinet. I was in swing choir, theater, I wrote plays, I was in forensics, all of that growing up for middle school. And then I went to high school, where I wrote plays and did theater, and also did painting and drawing. So it's just been my entire life. You know?

Miranda Metcalf  That's so great. I know, when you said "forensics," it's probably not what most people think of when they hear the word forensics. It's not CSI, right?

Tanekeya Word  Oh, yes, I was not doing any CSI as a kid. That would've probably weirded my mother out, totally. But it's speech. So it's like a performance art speech. I did poetry, I was in the poetry category, and also playwriting. So I wrote a play, and I actually won a competition where I was in NAACP ACT-SO, so I got a chance to go to New Orleans because of my play for that. So I just always either have been a writer, a conceptual thinker, creating conceptual art, as well as figurative art.

Miranda Metcalf  So just from go, you were a maker.

Tanekeya Word  I didn't play with toys. My mother, she would buy me these wooden sets. When you open up, it's like a case. And it had all the oil pastels and everything, or she'll buy me everything for nail art in there. So I was always just doing something artistic, didn't want to play with the other kids, cried when she wanted me to go to the YMCA or the Boys & Girls Club. And I'm just like, 'No, I just want to stay home, read my books, and paint or draw.'

Miranda Metcalf  Gotcha. And so that's when you were like, 'I need to get a PhD.' Because that's what getting a PhD is, getting to stay home and play with your books.

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, basically. My mother probably trained me into the PhD, because I was not going to get the doctorate at all after my master's program. I said, 'I don't ever want to do school again! This is so much work. It's so intense.' She said, 'No, you should do it.' She said, 'I know my child, you should do it.' I'm just like, 'Mom, do you really know me?' She was like, 'Yeah!' So I applied, and then I loved it. You know, I just absolutely loved every part of it. Not to say that it's not hard. If you're going to get your doctorate, they're going to make you work for it. That's all.

Miranda Metcalf  So then kind of going back to what you're working on now, black women in America in the arts is a huge topic. But maybe to kind of zoom in a little bit on it and talk about specifically printmaking, and then work our way into talking about what you're doing with Black Women of Print, I was thinking about, like, where do we even start with all of that? But one of the things that sort of struck me about it is obviously just like representation in education. The need for that is huge. And that education beyond Elizabeth Catlett, right? When people are creating the canon, I feel like they feel like they've checked the box, right? They're like, 'Well, we got one. We have Elizabeth Catlett. Okay, moving on! More dead white guys, please,' you know? So I think maybe just to begin a little bit historically, if you were rewriting he printmaking section of an art history book or something, which historical black women of print would you like to see added in the canon?

Tanekeya Word  So during Women's History Month, each day, I selected someone, I went from past to present to future, for Black Women of Print, just so that people can have at least 31 people, or 30, women that you can begin to start understanding the lives of. If you can have just a little peek into the fact that these are just 31 women that you did not know about, or 30 women, that you had no clue about, except for Elizabeth Catlett because I had to have her, because she is like the godmother for most of us in printmaking. Because if we're talking about textbooks, that's how we learned about the black women who were in print, specifically, Elizabeth Catlett. So she was our entry point for many black women. And then we had to go and do the research on our own. And there's still some black women who don't know, as far as the reach goes for printmakers. I would definitely give credit where it's due. Yeah, Elizabeth Catlett definitely belongs in the canon, but so does Charlotte Ruth Ellis. She actually owned her own business for letterpress. This is a black woman who had her own business in Michigan for letterpress, and she was amazing. She was also an activist for gay rights at a very, very early age where she could have been in so much harm for being a black woman, as well as a gay black woman, and a gay black woman in printmaking. So she deserves a lot of respect for breaking so many barriers in itself. And then Samella Lewis, Dr. Samella Lewis, I should say. For me, she's the blueprint, because she wasn't - she's still alive, she's an art educator, and she's still practicing. She's a printmaker. She's an art educator. She also raised money to start an art book publishing company. It was the first of its kind in the US. And a black woman started that so that she can get black artists out there because they weren't being in textbooks. So she had to do this herself and then sell these books. And she also worked with another printmaker, which was a woman, to help her with a lot of the work as well. Faith Ringgold, she is a printmaker, and she also wrote the infamous Tar Beach, if you ever read that as a child, you know that. So she's a collagist and illustrator, printmaker, she does it all as well. Then we have so many others, Camille Billops, she just actually passed away. She's a filmmaker. She also did so much archiving for blacks as a culture in general. And then she promoted black women a lot, because she knew that the representation was just not there. And it was supposed to be. So there are a lot of black women that I can go on and on about historically, but this is just like foundational black women within the arts, and specifically printmaking, who also were powerhouses in other fields.

Miranda Metcalf  I remember you posting a photo on the Instagram, and I think now I should just plug the Black Women of Print Instagram. It's incredible. It's like every single day, there's something else on there that it's just like, 'How did I not know about this? Oh, right. Societal hierarchies that are entrenched for thousands of years. Right, that's why I didn't know about that.' But it's just, every time I see it, I'm just like, 'This is incredible.' But I remember when you posted a photo of Charlotte Ruth Ellis standing in front of this printing press, and it's just great photos and incredible art. So definitely, I'll put a link to that. 

Tanekeya Word  Actually, it's Ruth Charlotte Ellis. I'm sorry, 

Miranda Metcalf  Ruth Charlotte Ellis. No worries. I'm a very bad art historian, because I'm very bad with names, unfortunately. Sometimes I think, Miranda, that's just kind of your job as an art historian, is to know names. So maybe this would be a great time just to talk about the beginning of Black Women of Print and when you started it, how you started it.

Tanekeya Word  No, it's a lot, especially when you have three names or whatever. Or if you get into, like, Margaret T G Burroughs, that's another famous printmaker who was best friends and roomies with Elizabeth Catlett, and she doesn't even get as much recognition as she should. And she started cultural organization for blacks. Black Women of Print started just as an idea after reading different books and coming across the fact that basically the books were just saying, 'Oh, these are two women who are black and they're printmakers. The end. Moving along.' I knew better. I said, 'Well, this is not the history. This is just a small, small part of it.' So I said, I want to have a continuum of black women printmakers so that we can continue the legacy, and to bring all the women who are now hidden figures, because you're not talking about them, to the forefront, and then also say, well, these are presently women who are still working within the field of printmaking, so that they will not become hidden figures. Because we want to erase and dismantle all those things, and we cannot leave it up to anyone else besides ourselves. We have to do it for ourselves. So I had talked to Delita Martin, and she's kind of like my Elizabeth Catlett. I say that, you know, I said it in Studio Noize podcast. But when you find a mentor and they're so giving and supportive with knowledge, you kind of gravitate towards that. So, I talked to her and I was like, 'I would like to start Black Women of Print, and I would like to have you join.' And she said, 'Yes, whatever you all need, this will be wonderful.' So then I sent out a couple more emails to women that I knew who are printmakers. And when I say women that I knew, I did not personally know them. I didn't personally know anyone, this is just women that I had seen works by, basically. And I sent out an email for invitation, being very transparent as to what this directory would look like, what it would be, and the room for growth and how I'd like all of our ideas to be enmeshed, at one point, within it. And everyone that I asked said yes, which was huge for me. So I knew I was onto something. And then after that, we just started talking organically, and trying to figure out exactly what we wanted it to look like. That's when we just started talking about, you know, I told them about the portfolio, because we had to think about sustainability. Now we're just in the phase where I'm doing some background foundational work so that Black Women of Print is around forever. That's the goal. I want someone to pick up and leave where I left off when I'm gone. So that's basically where we're at right now, doing our portfolios and building it up into a nonprofit organization so that we can have programs and events to help other black women printmakers have funding for startups, et cetera. Because that's the only way it's going to actually continue. As you know, printmaking is very, very expensive. The equipment is super expensive. So access, I think, keeps a lot of black women and black people in general, or marginalized groups, away from the field of printmaking, because you're either learning at a university, which is not cheap. It's not cheap to attend a university. Or you have to pay a co-op fee or something else monthly to use studio space. So we have to get to the elitism of printmaking as well, because it's supposed to be such a commoner's field, basically. But when you really look at it, it's very elitist in itself as well. Because not everyone has access to $1,000 equipment to do that. And then I know some people will say, 'Oh, well, all you really need if you're doing relief is a linocut block, something to cut with, and a wooden spoon.' Okay, but that means that this person can never expand the concepts that they have in their mind outside of relief, to intaglio or screenprinting, et cetera. So you have to think about all those. It's a privileged statement to say that as well.

Miranda Metcalf  Totally, totally. And you have to ask yourself, how many works are being shown in museums or commercial galleries that somebody made in a kitchen with a linocut block and a spoon? It's a little insulting to say that, because it's just like, 'You know, if you want to make your little prints, what's the problem?' You know? Like, no, there are bigger ideas, for sure. And I think that's a really significant point is that, as you say, printmaking is pointed out to us, like, 'Oh, it's the democratic medium. It's the medium of the people,' and that sort of thing. But that's only in comparison to the extreme elitism of other art forms. I would say every single person that I have had on this podcast, and most every person I've ever talked to, you say, 'When did you fall in love with printmaking?' And they all say, 'At university.' So at that point, you're cutting out a huge section of the American population right there. And my goal with Pine Copper Lime is I wanted to have conversations with a diversity of printmakers from different backgrounds, from different styles. The hardest one of those goals I've tried to reach is to find printmakers who weren't University educated. I have found a printmaker who is quadriplegic who I'm trying to get on the podcast before I found a printmaker who is not University educated. So it's like, that is such a huge barrier to get to printmaking.

Tanekeya Word  Exactly. Yeah, I don't think it gets discussed as much, because it's very homogenous. So to discuss something that's not a factor to most printmakers, it's like, why are we discussing this? We all feel the same in regards to this, or we all don't see it. But when you begin to start thinking about calling a field a "field of the people," then you have to figure out what people. And in that, once you break it down and deconstruct it, you're saying, okay, we're talking about University educated people who have the means to produce this sort of artwork. And that means that there are so many people who do not have the funds, but may have wonderful ideas, who cannot enter into the space because there's a roadblock. It's there for a reason, I should say. So it's not like, 'Oh, you know...' no, there are always reasons to keep certain people from various fields. And when we started looking at that, then we have to say, if you really want a field to be of the people, and to have equity there, then what are you going to do to provide the resources so that it's accessible? That's the only way the field is really gonna grow to be even bigger than us.

Miranda Metcalf  I'd love to maybe zoom in a little bit and talk about, like when you're talking about the specific roadblocks, would you say more about that, just so I'm not assuming and so everyone knows sort of what you mean by that? 

Tanekeya Word  When we talk about the field of printmaking, we can just go super basic first, we can talk about instruction. So instruction will come from someone who's probably a master printmaker, okay? And in order to be a master printmaker, you have to have years of technical experience, which comes with a lot of apprenticeships as well. So that's a lot of time where some people can afford not to work full time jobs and take care of family and everything else to get to the master printer status. Okay, so we have that aspect right there. Then we also have geographical location. So let's think about the accessibility for that. Are there any centers that are free, that people have access to, where they can take public transportation or they can walk to, to get this instruction? Okay, so there's another roadblock. We have instruction, we have access geographically via location for that as well. And then we go into the equipment. The cost of running a print shop is very expensive. The supplies, all of that. Who can afford a $10,000 printing press? Most of the times, yes, universities can do that. Or people who have patrons who've done the development work, and most of the time when someone has a print shop that has educational programming, and that's free, they're getting grants for that, but they've also raised or had something matched for a million dollars or something. So who is owning the print shops? So we continue to see different roadblocks the more we deconstruct the field of printmaking,

Miranda Metcalf  I guess my next question is, how do we go about removing those roadblocks?

Tanekeya Word  I believe that in order to have equity within the field of printmaking, first, we have to acknowledge all those different roadblocks. First and foremost. And we want to have more master printers, more advanced printers, more beginner printers, who are not homogenous. And I say that in regards to ethnicity, gender, sexuality, education levels, socioeconomic incomes, we have to think about all of that. Because if we're talking about the people, then we also have to think about social construction, because that's how society is built. So you're going to have to think about all that. You can not extract the body and the social constructs from a field, because that field is indicative of its surroundings. So I believe that in order for us to have equity within printmaking, that we're going to have to have some sort of funding setup that's going to have master printmakers, pay them, don't have them working for free, first of all. Pay them to start having some free courses to teach outside of the academy. So go into the community. Maybe there should be more community printmaking workshops that are pop ups, you can do that, or to have them just stationary in spaces where if someone does not have access to public transportation or a car, that they can walk there to do that. Some after school programs would be also helpful, so that people can come in after work, because a lot of people have to work so they can eat and they can live and they can provide for their family. So they can't do apprenticeships and things, but they can sometimes get a babysitter and come in the evenings or on the weekends. Maybe reduce fees so that some people can pay for those. Grants that's allowing people to do those too. So it's a lot of different things that we can do. And if you don't have access to the financials, then if you are very passionate about what you're doing, then why not provide your skills for free to the next generation? Not all the time, but you know, one person that you pour into can become a master printmaker who may be able to pour into more people. So those are just a couple ideas that I have about it. It doesn't solve the world, it's not going to make printmaking like a utopian field, but it's a start.

Miranda Metcalf  No, I think that's huge and doable, and something that is going to benefit everyone. And particularly, I think about it in terms of like, let's say someone has just graduated with their MFA, and they haven't gotten any positions offered to them. Do you want teaching experience? Why don't you go host a workshop somewhere? I was thinking about people who are doing workshops where people are paying, and let's say you have like a dozen students, maybe have a couple of spots that are sort of scholarships that people don't have to pay for. Because you're still going to have enough money to keep going. Obviously, as you said, it comes down to money. Not everyone can always provide free workshops all the time, but just even giving a chance, it's something that people should really be thinking about more.

Tanekeya Word  In workshops, versus paying like three credits for a course at a university - I absolutely believe you can get so much knowledge from university, but I also believe that not everyone has the ability to get funding, or no one wants to take out loans or whatever else. There's just so many other roadblocks. So let's talk about the people who cannot do that. It's okay to say, 'Okay, well, I'm holding a workshop. Because there are so many watercolorists and graphic designers who just hold their own workshops and say, 'Okay, pay $40, and we're meeting and doing this.' Let's think about it in different ways. Printmaking is a very archaic field, because we are working with these very old objects or whatever. But it does not mean that the people who are working with this equipment have to also be archaic. 

Miranda Metcalf  And I do think that printmakers pride themselves in being progressive, and as you said, a democratic medium, an accessible medium. And I think that we do identify that way. And we try to be socially aware and communicative. And I think that these are really great boots-on-the-ground ways that we can put our money where our mouth is, when it comes to how we self-identify. Speaking of things in sustainability, you touched on it a little bit back there, but you talked about the portfolio that you're doing as a form of sustainability with Black Women of Print. I'd love to hear about the creative and the logistical and financial sides of that, because I think it's a great model for supporting an institution.

Tanekeya Word  it's mostly kind of like you will see in different printmaking organizations, they'll have portfolio exchanges. So within the founding members this year, it'll be open to all members next year, but for our inaugural portfolio, each member will create 12 to 13 prints. It'll create a portfolio so that everyone who's in the founding members will each get a portfolio they can keep. They cannot sell it, the portfolio, whatsoever. They cannot sell it unless they speak to the members and we decide together that that could happen. But basically, no, but you can pass it on to your estate. That's going to be like that every year that we do a portfolio, because we don't want people enjoying it and getting portfolios, no matter how big the artist may get over time, and trying to sell the work because it's a gift. It's a gift for the collective. So that's that. And then we'll have three other portfolios that'll be left. One will go to an organization or a collector. It will be considered a "restricted" benefit. And what "restricted" means is that there will be restrictions for you accepting this donation. And that means that you have to make sure that it's exhibited every so often, we'll set the years. So in order for you to get that, you are agreeing to do that. So that's one of the things that we have for that. If it was "unrestricted," that means, here you go, here's a donation. If you decide that you want to sell it four years down the path, you can do that, there's no restrictions whatsoever if you need to sell it for operational costs or whatever else. So there's restricted and unrestricted. So we have that, and then we have one that will sell. And the proceeds from that will go for a stipend for a black woman printmaker, so that she can attend a residency or for a startup for printmaking. The other one that we will sell, it will go back to each of the members, whatever their individual print costs within the portfolio. So what that does is, it puts money back into the printmakers' pockets, it gives a scholarship away for the next generation to start their funding or have a residency, and then the other one, it also helps generate a catalog or exhibition or whatever else is needed, basically, for that collector or that organization is showing the work by black women printmakers. So a continuum is happening with all three of those things. And then the archive, we have one that's just strictly going to be an archive for Black Women of Print. 

Miranda Metcalf  And so for anyone who's listening to this and thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, that is so smart. How do I learn about this kind of stuff?' How would you recommend, like you said, you had your MA with the focus in development, I mean, is that really the best way to learn the nuts and bolts?

Tanekeya Word  I can only tell you the way that it happened for me. And I understand that that's also a privilege. But I didn't know any of this until I went to American University and had some of the absolute smartest professors that I have ever come into contact with when it comes to the business of art. So I have an MA in arts management, and specifically in development, because I was interested in that. So that's how I found out about the inner workings of nonprofits and sustainability, for that. But as far as the business side of art, before I had an MA, I was already selling my work before that, because I was always interested in entrepreneurship and marketing and business, because you can pick up books from that for that and do all of that. So there are two different things, I think it's harder for you to find out direct information for nonprofits. For profits, it's out there, but for some reason, nonprofits, it's just very tight knit, as far as trying to get some information about that. So I would say, for me, it was school. It was the privilege of going to a university to learn about it. If you ever want to know the business behind how someone's doing in a nonprofit structure, you can look at their 1099 forms. In the US, if you're a nonprofit, you have to have your annual report online so that it can be seen. So you can actually go through there. That was one of the tricks that was taught to me at university is that before you go and work for a nonprofit, you go and you look at that form to see if they're sustainable for like three or five years, how they're doing. And if they're not doing great, then you don't accept that job. Because you may be out of one during that timeframe. Because a lot of nonprofits, they're closed in three to five years, because they cannot sustain themselves.

Miranda Metcalf  Yeah, you were talking about finding a mentor. And I know that you'd mentioned that Delita Martin was definitely a mentor of yours. And I think that there probably are a lot of people in the arts, and maybe even particularly people from marginalized groups, that are like, 'I wish I had someone who was like me, who's been through this, that I could talk to.' I guess I just kind of was hoping you could speak to that relationship forming, and how do people do that? Because I think it is so, so important to the longevity and life of someone in the arts.

Tanekeya Word  I believe that you definitely need a mentor and a support group within the arts the way that - and let's just say, Delita has never officially said that she's going to be my mentor. I basically adopted her as my mentor, because I saw her work. I loved what she did. I reached out to her, I talked to her, and that could be the development side of me, because I don't have a problem with asking. I've done asks before for money, lots of money. So asking someone for something as an exchange is way easier. So I think if you see someone that has said something to you, or says something on a podcast that you like or something that you read, then reach out to them. You don't know what you're going to get, because we never know who a person is behind the magazine, behind the podcast, whatever. But you can ask and see if they're available. If not, then do they know someone who may fit what you're looking for? And also your classmates, your peers, if you are in school, don't forget about them. Because cohorts become like families, you know, chosen family. So you can look at them as well. Or if you don't have anyone as far as in a school setting, then are there other artists that you like that you can talk to, and then you all can group chat or whatever else? Form your own community at the same time, so you all can learn from each other. And if you're stuck on a technique that they have worked on, just ask, you know, 'I'm trying this, I really want to get information about how to do this.' I'm always asking, but I'm also always giving.

Miranda Metcalf  I think that's a good segue into one of my other questions, which was, when you were talking about Black Women of Print, you touched on this need for intergenerational knowledge and being able to pass that down, which I'd love to hear you just speak about that a little bit. 

Tanekeya Word  Within Black Women of Print, I decided to go with a model of intergenerational wisdom based upon the Sankofa principle. It's a very Afrocentric - for me, with my lived experience and personal experiences, that's all I know - it's a very African and Afrocentric centered philosophy. And that is to pass knowledge down from the elders on. In the US, it has become so youth centered that we look to the youth for everything because of what's cool and everything else, and ageism has taken center stage as well. Like, 'Okay, they're old, they don't really know what's going on in the now.' When the reality is that if we stay close to our elders and have that wisdom, then we can listen to that. We can remix it, we can figure things out for the future. So that's kind of the model that we have within Black Women of Print. We're always asking each other things, but also, the women who are older ask the younger women about things. We can all teach each other something, you know? And that's the beauty of it. The youngest person in the founding members is Angela Pilgrim, and I think she was born in like 1991 or 1993. Something like that. So for me, I think there's like a 13 or 11 year difference in our age, but she does a lot of clever things like with social media, or just has her personality out there a little bit more. And I love to see her do that. I continue to say, 'Keep going, do this and do that,' because I love to cheer her on. But at the same time, she's very, very smart. And she's an advanced screenprinter. So I can ask her questions about that as well, where she can also ask me questions, or I can Delita questions or Latoya Hobbs questions, or Jen. We can just continue to ask one another questions to get better, basically.

Miranda Metcalf  That speaks to one of the wonderful things about printmaking, is that community kind of hearth in the print shop, where you can look across the press at somebody and say, 'Hey, what are you doing? How did you do that?' And so I think printmakers are kind of naturally inclined to that. And then to set up a space that is explicitly there to pass that intergenerational knowledge on is so important.

Tanekeya Word  I really feel like everyone should get to the point where they're reaching back and looking and talking to their elders and the elders do the same thing to the youth. Like, you know a lot, yes, you do, because you've lived a lot, but you haven't lived during this time to understand the technicalities of some things, either. So the youth can also teach. It should be an exchange.

Miranda Metcalf  So I'd love to talk about your personal work a little bit with the time we have left. And I know, because like I said, I've cheated a little bit in that I've already heard you on Studio Noize. So I know you've got a big project that's kind of secret that you're not talking about. But anything you'd like to share with us, I would love to hear it. 

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, I have this secret project, but it's not so secret. I've been doing studies, I'm thinking about a lot of things, for about seven years, and I've taken my time because it was a question. And with every question, there's some sort of answer somewhere. So I've been searching for the answer by doing research, by drawing, creating studies, just all those little things. So that's why I call it a seven year project. From all of that, I'm basically looking at the loads of stuff that I've written and drawn, and picking out what's left, like the final things, which I feel like is the answer for me. I'm picking those things out and printing them and painting them in hopes of having an exhibition surrounding that in conjunction with the research writing that I've done. So it's just been a long process. I didn't want to share any of my progress with it, because I didn't want to be influenced in any way around the way that I was thinking about it. I didn't want any pressure to put it out before I was ready for it. So I think there's a benefit in sharing different things that you create, which I do. I share, well, I'm trying to get better at sharing. Because I'm such a behind the scenes person that it takes a lot of work for me - it's just very meta meta to photograph a print or a painting and then post it or whatever. So I'm trying to get better. That's a flaw of mine, because I'm just so behind the scenes. But if you stay so much behind the scenes, people aren't going to be able to benefit from the work that you're doing. So that's been a challenge for me, to start doing that more. But yeah, so I'm working on all of that. And I'm hoping that I can have the exhibition pop up when I do my dissertation so that it can be hand in hand. So that's the goal. And if I do not reach that goal, it'll come after the dissertation, during the year that I'm doing the printmaking MFA. So either 2020 or 2021, then you'll all see what I've been up to, and hopefully it's as great as I feel. At the end of the day, it answers the questions that I had, so it's done its job.

Miranda Metcalf  That's a great way to go about making. I think, particularly in the age of like the internet and Instagram and likes and follows, we want that, like, "tell me I'm good."

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, it's still behind the scenes in regards to that, but I think more so of praxis, it's when practice and theory work in tandem. So that's kind of what I've been doing, trying to understand my praxis as an artist. 

Miranda Metcalf  And then I think we touched on this a bit, but I always like to ask people, what are you particularly looking forward to in the next few years?

Tanekeya Word  Well, the reason why I went to get my Doctorate in Urban Education is because I've always wanted to open up an art school. So that's my big dream, is to open up an art school, and there are different projects I'll be doing as I get to that goal. And it's basically to have a community of students that are coming up with this artistic cultural production, that are understanding all of these different praxis. So that's the overall goal, is to have that art school and to have something that's accessible and all the things that I'm talking about in regards to equity. Peggy Cafritz, she has done a great job with Duke Ellington School out of DC. So that's a very big blueprint for me as well, for the art school that she's created. I just have a lot of shoulders to stand on with some really, really awesome black women who have done a lot for the community. And I just want to be in that legacy, to keep it going. 

Miranda Metcalf  And so when you say art school, would it be kind of like what you attended, where you go and you learn your reading, writing and arithmetic, but it's art centered, though, and art is always a part of it?

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, so it'll be art centered and it'll have the general education as well as the art centered. 

Miranda Metcalf  And using a not for profit model, I assume, with your background and all that?

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, because in the US, it'll most likely be a charter school, because that's the only way that you're able to get a school that you want to build from the ground up, unfortunately. I would love to see it in a public school structure, but bureaucracy that I've seen from teaching in public schools makes it a bit hard to do that, although all of my art education has been through the public school, except for at university level. So it makes me so sad to see what the public education system is now from what it used to be, as far as having the arts in there. Now students don't have art at all, or they'll have it once or twice or something, versus it being just as important as general education. Do you think that there's any chance of America moving back on that and starting to reintegrate it? Oh, how I wish. How I wish. I believe that it's imperative. It's vital that the US funds the arts. Because we are creative people. And in order for us to go the distance, you have to let people imagine what's possible.

Miranda Metcalf  I love that. And it kind of reminds me of a conversation I was having with my partner just a couple of days ago, because we're obviously not in the US anymore, but we both grew up there. And there's nothing like being removed from the water you're swimming in to be able to look back at it. And particularly in this day and age, there's a lot to not be proud of about being an American. When you're in Australia, and people kind of are casually asking you to account for things that your commander in chief tweeted... 

Tanekeya Word  Like, yeah, about that. 

Miranda Metcalf  Yeah, like, 'I'm actually Canadian...' And I sort of say, in this day and age, because that's not to - America has had a long history of doing horrible things, obviously. But I think that a lot of it is coming to the surface in a way that's really good, but it also means that you have to deal with it, we have to process that and figure out what we're going to do. And so basically, it's a long way of saying that we were talking about, what can we actually be proud of as Americans? Because that's a complicated question. One of the things that we came up with was innovation. 

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, I think - and it's always great, what I can say is, since the Trump administration, what has been great for me, is that I hear all this talk about the embarrassment, but I think - not I think, I know for sure - that marginalized groups, and I'm going to specifically talk from a point of positionality, as a black woman, as a black person, is that we have always gone through this. So it was always looked upon as, is it really there? So we could feel something, we can feel the systemic oppression, when other people could not see it. And now it's putting the vision and the feelings together. And now everyone is seeing it. So we've been living in this climate all along and innovating and everything else. So we were well equipped and prepared, because we've done this our entire lives. So I think now it's important that everyone else sees how they have felt in these two years, and then imagine someone being like this for centuries. So if you can't handle it for two years, no way would you have been able to handle it for centuries. So now's the time to say, 'Okay, we don't want to do this anymore.' You know, we don't want to do this anymore. Let's backtrack and figure out how to get beyond this. And I think that's most important now. Not everyone sees and feels what other groups have felt for centuries. Let's find the equity now. And do better. That's pretty much all we can do. Instead of saying, 'Aha, I told you! This was not just a feeling!' So I think that innovation has always been there and I think it will always be there. But it can be better if we invest in it like we are investing in things that we don't need. Like a wall. But okay.

Miranda Metcalf  I'm hoping that thinking about it using the analogy of like, it's been like a poison that's been maybe a little bit underneath the skin, and we're just squeezing it out. You know what I mean? And so it's always been there. And now that it's on the surface, it has a chance to be addressed.

Tanekeya Word  The secret's out, basically. The secret's out, so what can we do now to heal?

Miranda Metcalf  People are now having conversations that could have been being had for centuries, but they're happening now. 

Tanekeya Word  And you can't take that back, so all you can do is work with where we're at now and go forward.

Miranda Metcalf  So I just want to close up by asking you, where's the best place people can follow you? And I mentioned, of course, the Black Women of Print Instagram, which is great. But for both that project and your your personal work, where can they find you online?

Tanekeya Word  Yes, so we are @blackwomenofprint on Instagram. We are also www.blackwomenofprint.com. We have blog posts that are coming out, you can sign up for our newsletter, where we will have exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes action from various black women print makers who are a part of Black Women of Print and who are outside of the directory as well. So a lot of that's coming up. You can follow me at tanekeyaword.com. That's where I'll have everything housed for me. I'm redoing my website right now, so everything will be housed there and you can click on whatever you need to click on and find out the different sections about myself, from being an arts & culture journalist all the way up to some creative direction stuff that I've done, to artwork and research, et cetera, in regards to that. And then we have a lot of great things coming with a shop for Black Women of Print. So we're gonna have some merch that's happening. And I have a lot of print work and publishing projects that I'm currently working on that I'm excited to introduce.

Miranda Metcalf  Awesome. I have to say, as soon as Black Women of Print kind of just exploded into the print scene, it just was so clear that the aesthetic, the organization behind it, it just was so good. It was definitely inspiring for me. I look forward to following all of that, and I hope we can have you on again, maybe sometime next year, or when your seven year print project is finally revealed. Kind of talk about where Black Women of Print is at that point, because I know this is pretty new right now, and all of that.

Tanekeya Word  Yeah, it's definitely very, very new right now, so it will be great to talk to you after, because then you'll see a lot of the stuff that rolls out. 

Miranda Metcalf  Totally, totally, and the portfolio and all of that.

Tanekeya Word  Oh, yeah. Can't wait to show that. It's gonna be a stunner. 

Miranda Metcalf  Oh, I'm so excited. Thank you so much for all your wonderful words of wisdom and inspiration. 

Tanekeya Word  Thank you for having me. You're waking up and I'm going to bed. 

Miranda Metcalf  I know. Have a good night! Well, that's our show for this week. Join me again in two weeks' time when my guest will be Elizabeth Jean Younce. We talk about her time printing at Tandem and Gemini, being your own print Boss Lady, and that eternal question, "What's a nice girl like you doing making a print like this?" This episode, like all episodes, was written and produced by me, Miranda Metcalf, with editing help from Timothy Pauszek and music by Joshua Webber. I'll see you in two weeks.