Being able to exhibit a piece of artwork at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York, is a dream for many artists – one that was realised for TT-born artist and founder of Alicia Aberdeen Art, Alicia Aberdeen-Jones.

Aberdeen-Jones was one of six artists who exhibited at the Gracie Mansion Conservancy (GMC) art installation last month.

Gracie Mansion is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in Manhattan and is part of The Historic House Trust. The GMC is a private, not-for-profit corporation that was established in 1981 to preserve, maintain and enhance the historic structure and its surrounding landscape and gardens. It also acquires furnishings that tell the stories of the rich cultural history of New York, and provides educational services such as publications and tours.

Aberdeen-Jones and over 70 other artists answered the open call to exhibit, and she told WMN, “I was one of six artists selected for the first official ‘public’ art exhibit and tour. The show featured an international cast of artists spanning varying disciplines within the fine and media arts genres.”

The exhibit ran for the month of May.

Her two pieces, The Re-emergence and I am WOMAN – Omnipotent; Omnipresent ENERGY, delved into the Transformation and Rebirth theme of the exhibit.

“The pieces were supposed to reflect a time or experience in our lives that brought some kind of transformation.”

The Re-emergence, she said, was shown at a Women In Art event hosted by the Delta Theta Sigma Sorority Nassau County Chapter in 2014.

“It was swiftly picked up by one of the sorors, so I never got to show it again. The original was done in oils on canvas and employed an all-palette knife technique.”

[caption id="attachment_1087183" align="alignnone" width="768"] Artist Alicia Abderdeen explains the concept behind her I AM WOMAN painting. -[/caption]

But because she keeps copies of all her artwork, she was able to submit a giclee reproduction to the GMC. Giclee is a fine art print created by using a specialised high resolution inkjet printer.

“It is the most intimate reproduction you can get because of the details in the scan. And even then I am able to go in and retouch the canvass.”

She described the piece as a representative of a “new me.”

“The internal latent energy becoming kinetic, hence the texture in the piece.”

She said it was an attempt to show what she was feeling at that point in time in her life.

“I had a three-year old baby girl, was halfway through a media arts degree and was, for the first time in my life, totally dependent upon another human being – my husband. It was a scary time but one filled with exhilaration and curiosity as to where this road that I was finally about to take would lead me.”

Having left her corporate life to explore her creative side, Aberdeen-Jones said it was like leaping into freedom.

“It was like looking into the light from a dark space…Uncertain, kinda scary.”

I am WOMAN, she said, is part of her I SEE You 2024 series that focuses on the other si