My main goal for this project was to become more creative and to learn how to play around more in terms of techniques and materials. I noticed that I tend to gravitate toward realistic styles and I wanted to move away from that. I just feel like I play it safe most of the time, especially when I think back to ART-160.

I liked the self-portrait I finished in that class. However, when I looked at my peers who took greater risks using different techniques for each square, I liked their pieces more and wished I had done the same. For the series, I had room to experiment and could do so without worrying about having to start over.

The process was long and sometimes frustrating for me because while I wanted to be freer in terms of style and material, but I still had some hesitation with some of the pieces that I did. I have to say that the pieces that I did later in the process are some of my favorite ones, especially under a time crunch. I became a lot less worried about the end product as much and more concerned with variety and if I was challenging myself enough. I started experimenting with different size paper and different contours of paper.

I would say that creating texture with different mediums and learning how that worked was a success of mine during this process such as the texture of my fluffy coat and different hairstyles. Also, mixing different mediums. Pen with India ink, oil paint with watercolor, ink with watercolor, and collage. I broke out of my comfort zone with a lot of these and accomplished my goal of getting more creative. Some pieces were broken into several drawings that were distinct but came together to create a whole.

Some were more experimental such as the ones where I used wrapping paper. It connects with me as a person (my spirit animal is decidedly a llama) and adds greater visual interest when looking at the series. One is even more interactive with the wrapping paper slightly obscuring the face, but you can also lift it up to view what is underneath.

However, not all were successes. The white pen drawing with white charcoal on purple paper was my least favorite overall. I tried to be more gestural but I did not like how it turned out. The drawing lacked key structure and proportion. Additionally, the first two drawings that I did with white charcoal were good with learning how to engage with the material, but the outcomes were not intentional. Proportions and trying to balance them without a grid was more difficult than I thought it would be. I was trying to get better at drawing portraits and faces, especially since I know proportions are a bit harder for me. So some drawings are more accurate than others. If I were to go back and do some over it would be the earlier pieces.

Throughout the process, I have learned several things. Drawing without a grid also connected with the goal of being more creative and more flexible during the process. Along the way, I found a different method of planning out the proportions such as blocking it out roughly with simple shapes like rectangles and squares and then going back in to fill out the details. I also got a better sense of working with ink and learning patience with the medium. I took Professor Emerson’s advice and started just going where the ink took me, and those were the pieces that I am proud of. You can really see a progression from the very first ink drawing to the last one I did for this series.

Overall, I am happy with the pieces that I have produced and would like to continue to experiment with different styles of drawing.

One thing I did not realize was how much the research becomes a part of your daily life even when working or doing something else. Thinking was a permanent state of being for me. I was thinking about connections, themes, and sentences for the paper everywhere. In the morning when I first woke up, in the shower, walking to class, on the verge of sleep, and when I was supposed to be doing other work. Repeatedly trying to grasp onto those thoughts long enough to at least write them down.

I hope that I have done justice to this topic and the beauticians. I realize that I could not name them all, but I wanted to make their contributions known. In the beginning, I wanted to add something new to the current scholarship and I felt that I have expanded on the story beauticians and political activism in Atlanta that I had read during my research.

My mantra this semester was “It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be there”. I wrote it down everywhere and repeated when I was struggling to write. My work still isn not done. There is still so much to research in terms of the topic and while examining this subject I found other things that interested me. The process has been hard, but I feel like a true historian.

On November 20, 2019, at 3:30 P.M. I, Sylvia Marshall, presented my research.

It is crazy to think about the amount of research I have done since last semester until now. I have a Google Doc filled with notes and even more notes scattered across paper pads and notebooks.

And, then the process of trimming it down and turning that information into a 20-25 page paper and then boiling it down even more to a 20 -30-minute presentation. It feels good to see how both the paper and the presentation have taken form. Going from notes scattered across a document and into cohesive or trying to be at least thoughts presented in a formal presentation.

I was so nervous when presenting and immediately after I fininshed, I thought of a million things I could have included in the presentation. But, I felt amazing after it was over. After spending so much time devoted to this subject I felt good about what I had presented. It felt nice to share something that I’ve found so interesting for the past few months and to see it come together and the response of people to my work was kind of gratifying. It was nice to see other people responding with interest to the subject and being invested in it as well especially after only giving glimpses of it during the semester. I feel that I am over the hump now and I have more ideas of how to expand and refine the ideas I am discussing in my paper. After condensing information for the presentation, I found that some information could be expanded upon in the paper or highlighted in the piece. The presentation made me even more invested in my paper and this topic.

But enough reflecting. Below, you can listen to an audio recording of me rambling about presenting my research.

However, I have had a few successes. The stories of Ella Ramsey Martin and Ruby Parks Blackburn merge perfectly with the secondary research that I have read. There has been a fair amount of written work about Ruby Blackburn that I am thankful for. The Atlanta Daily World has been helpful when tracking down the names of some shop owners. I have successfully found the name of the Madame Walker Beauty Shoppe and have found an oral history by Ella Martin which I will look into further. Despite the challenges, it seems to be coming together.

Before I even finished this draft, I jotted down all the things that were missing or that I needed to research more into. When I finally sat down to write the paper, it was slow-moving. I felt like I was not doing to topic justice, and when I write I tend to skip around. Tired of writing one part just skip to the conclusion, or better yet, simply begin in any random place. It is hard to distill all the pages and pages of notes that I’ve taken over the course of my research. Trying to make sense and order of all the information and themes and events that have been rattling around in your head is admittedly hard. I just kept reminding myself that this was just the first draft and that thinking is supposed to be hard.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be there.

There are still sources that I need to read, grammar edits to make, formatting to correct, new ideas to introduce, rearranging of flow, and a thesis to iron out. But, for now I will just enjoy submitting this first paper because it means one step closer to the final product.

 I believe I met these goals of the internship after writing a gallery guide and even arguing for certain pieces to be included. I found a fair amount of information concerning women’s political involvement in Columbus and have a written text that displays that information. There were also some photographs and objects to illustrate that history. However, I wish that I had found more ephemera related to suffrage in the local area, especially about the Georgia Women Suffrage Association; and more material before 1922. I also found it hard to find material on women of color in Columbus and their involvement in the local political scene. I was frustrating to know that the were a part of this dialogue, but lack artifacts and sources to truly tell the story.  I struggled and was at one point stuck during my research because of it. I always want to create content that is well-rounded and represents a multitude of perspectives.

I reconciled with myself and used the amount of material I had to build a narrative of women of color in Columbus of politics. When they were not present, I discussed why they were missing. I had to think outside of the box and start using some of my anthropological background when trying to find these women. I began thinking about the functions of social institutions in these communities and how women operated just outside the dominant lens to find them working behind the scenes in churches and auxiliary clubs. The finished product still did not present a holistic view in my opinion. However, I learned a lot about patience and how sometimes the material you want to find may not exist, or it may exist but cannot be found. These are experiences and ideas that I would like to keep in mind when conducting archival research and trying to make sense of history.

 I realized that an experience is worth more than a title and decided that volunteering would be just as informative. I was able to conduct research and work in the archive writing blog posts and meeting patrons. I gained a network, an experience, and mentorship from my time at the archive. More importantly, I learned to never let an opportunity go, even when it seemed to have slipped away. There are alternative ways of achieving that can yield the same or even greater results. I am still making an impact in within the community through my work at the archive.

I always wanted to major in history, but before volunteering I had always thought my focus would be on European history. However, I found that I was connecting more with the content I was writing about at the DHC than I had originally thought I would. Volunteering at the DeKalb History Center has reinforced the importance of oral histories and the amount of historical and cultural knowledge that a researcher can gain from them especially in the African-American community. In a community that has historically used non-written means of communication to impart collective knowledge and history, oral histories become central in the process of researching and understanding African-American communities. Additionally, I have come to understand the importance of making culture and history available to the public. I now plan my future goals around this outlook and seek skills to help me achieve my goals.