Memoirs of Erma Hayman
Memoirs of Erma Hayman
- Creator: Vinnie Bagwell
- Date: 2021
- Location: Erma Hayman House
- Types: sculpture (visual work), installations (visual works)
- Materials: resin (organic material)
- Collection: Site-Based Works
The call to artist for this project resulted in dozens of applications from all over the US. The selection panel Selection panel was made of several community stakeholders, including over half of the Erma Hayman House Task Force, which was a group assembled in 2019 to guide the EHH project. In 2020, Mayor and Council unanimously approved sculptor Vinnie Bagwell for the development and creation of public artwork for the site. Vinnie’s work focuses on preserving African American history and stories through sculptural public art. The process of creation of the artwork (sculpting and casting). The material is a resin, similar to what is used to create records. She created clay sculptures, which were used to create a mold. A cold-cast process, which means instead of molten bronze, using bronze powder and resin. The owner of the foundry Vinnie works with had access to a series of large, vintage frames from which molds were made that have made their way into the final work. Her work, titled, “The Memoirs of Erma Hayman” is exemplary of her style, defined by candid portraiture in narrative bas-relief techniques. Each work is a vignette that references different moments in Mrs. Hayman’s life. While many of these are based on photographs provided to us by Mrs. Hayman’s family members, some tell very specific stories. For example, the ballerina certainly stands out! This piece references a story told to us from Mrs. Hayman’s daughter, Jeanne. As one of the few Black students at her school, Jeanne, recalled that her teacher at Park Elementary wanted her to play racially type-cast character in the school play. Well, Mrs. Hayman had little patience for any stereotypes and promptly marched all the way to school to inform the teacher of her disrespect. Jeanne was quickly recast to play a ballerina instead.
