Inspired Reflections

I am always inspired when I am in beautiful spaces-art, fashion, design, retail and cultural spaces. It seems to awaken the creative expressive side of me. It’s indeed my happy place. We all have different outlets (or inlets) for happy, however mine has always been in spaces that are beautiful, calm, clean, artistic and creative. 

Ironically, as I write this post, it was around this time last year when my son (then 7) and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago and saw the Virgil Abloh exhibit. It was fantastic! He came across my radar about 2 or 3 years ago, not sure how, maybe through an article I read about him on Vogue.com, then watching various YouTube videos featuring him (interviews, fashion shows, etc.). What I was so pleased to learn about him was his amazing design career as an architect, artist and fashion designer and creative director at Louis Vuitton…this talented Black man from Chicago! I remember to this day, the feelings I had after visiting the exhibition and how it tremendously added to my need in getting my creative voice out there. That as designers, we are social commentators and both influence society and are impacted by our society through our art, music, design, writings and fashion mediums. I have something to say through my art coupled with education, both of which embodies my expansive curation of thought, artifacts and as a practitioner for more than 40 years. 

We are experiencing a season in our lives where the future seems uncertain and quite possibly inconclusive. We are living through a pandemic, an amazing cultural revolution where the lives of Black people are finally being centered and uplifted, and unprecedented political challenges. We are in a space where the voice of our artists, writers, designers and musicians who speak out against injustice, racism and bigotry are all the more relevant NOW as they have been in times past. We are all charged to add our voice, talents and positionality to this call. We are all social commentators. We all have something to say.

Felicia