Work samples
About Kim
Kim Rice creates artworks that focus on the construct of race through the lens of whiteness. She uses common materials and craft-based media as a meditation on systemic racism and the policies that affect American society today. Crocheted, sewn, and linked together, Rice's labor intensive art practice reveals the ways in which whiteness is woven into our everyday lives.
Rice earned her BFA in Sculpture and MFA in Printmaking from the University of Oklahoma. Her work has been… more
Liberty Injustice
These are a few of my pieces from the exhibition Liberty Injustice at Connect Collect Gallery in Baltimore.
Quote from BMOREART :
Kim Rice and Paul Rucker are both prolific makers of labor-intensive, clever, immersive works of art that captivate and inform. Both repurpose unusual and historic materials with an ability to harvest the hidden stories that animate these objects and challenge common assumptions about our collective history as Americans. Beyond this, both artists are fearlessly, passionately socially engaged and their work is informed by the history of injustice in America. Research is primary to their process and historical documents, events, and statistical data is interpreted in surprising ways through new translations of familiar forms and materiality, which are surprisingly inviting–at least at first glance.
Seen together for the first time in Liberty and Injustice, their artworks offer an expansive conversation about race and gender, America’s evolving legal system, intersectionality, violence, coordinated systems of exclusion, and the ethics behind collective political thought. This conversation is complex and sensitive, uncomfortable at times, challenging and wholly necessary.
How do we talk about liberty and injustice honestly, intertwined with aspects of race and gender in America? What language can we use? What actions can we take to have transformative rather than symbolic change? And how do we effectively critique and educate one another with respect and authenticity? With genuine care and reverence, Rice and Rucker offer us an American conversation that addresses a subject that cannot be simplified.
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Open Carry Detail
Handcut and woven photo collage on archival lustre paper, 84" x 108", 2021
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Open Carry
Hand Cut and woven collage on archival lustre paper, 84" x 108", 2021
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Hit Home and Who is Safe
Installed at Connect Collect Gallery
Hit Home: Collage of hand cut redlining neighborhoods throughout the United States, 60" x 48", 2021
Who is Safe: Self Portrait, Caution and Danger Tape, Ink, 32" x 36", 2023
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Detail of Hit HomeAvailable for Purchase
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Good Fences DetailAvailable for Purchase
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Good Fences and Hit Home Installed at Connect Collect Gallery
Good Fences: Hand crocheted and braided Caution tape and Danger tape, twist ties. Variable Size, 2022
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Floored Detail
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Floored
Floored: Hand crocheted and sewn caution and danger tape, thread, mirrors, 55' x 95', 2023
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Star Quilt DetailAvailable for Purchase
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Star Quilt
Inherited Family quilt, Hand fused and sewn caution and danger tape, thread, 72" x 96", 2023
Available for Purchase
Caution
This work is a meditation on Who is safe from whom, Who needs protection from whom, what is a safe neighborhood, and the history of policing in the United States.
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Target
Target: Hand Crocheted Caution and Danger Tape, 11' x 11' , 2022, Installed at Silber Art Gallery
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Detail of Target
Detail of Target Hand crocheted caution and danger tape 11ft x 11ft 2022
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Caution
Caution, 2021, 10' x 10', Hand crocheted caution tape
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Caution Detail
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Imprint
Collograph of hand crocheted caution tape, watercolor, 2022
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Welcome
Hand Manipulated caution and danger tape, 2021, Variable size
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Detail of wreath from piece Welcome
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Welcome Mat from piece WelcomeAvailable for Purchase
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Caution Self Portrait
Hand cut and woven self portrait and caution tape, 2023
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Soft Power
Hand cut and woven photo collage, 5' x 7', 2021
Available for Purchase
[RE]Birth of a Nation
[RE]Birth of a Nation and The Greatest City in America are a love letter to Baltimore.
For [RE]Birth of a Nation I hand cut and wove the Chapter Healing the Black Butterfly of Lawrence Brown’s book The Black Butterfly into the Baltimore redlining map. In the chapter Brown proposes a way to disperse funds into Baltimore to create true equity in the city.
For The Greatest City in America I bought books by Baltimore authors at Baltimore based bookstores and cut, folded, built, and painted 1,300 flowers.
Baltimore was the birthplace of redlining. The federal government looked at Baltimore’s segregation policies and then replicated it throughout the country with the Home Owners Loan Corporation. I love this city. I see the tenacity and creativity of the people here and believe If Baltimore was once a model of oppression it can become a model of equity. There are incredible change-makers and creatives in this city who are already doing the work. To the rest of us, it is a call for philanthropy and support.
The books and authors:
- The Black Butterfly by Lawrence T. Brown
- The Cook Up by D. Watkins
- Black Boy Smile by D. Watkins
- The Beast Side by D. Watkins
- We Speak for Ourselves by D. Watkins
- Raw Wounds by Kondwani Fidel
- Hummingbirds in the Trenches by Kondwani Fidel
- The Anti-Racist by Kondwani Fidel
- I Got a Monster by Baynard Woods & Brandon Soderberg
- Inheritance by Baynard Woods
- The Master Plan by Chris Wilson
- Baltimore Revisited by King, Drabinksi, Davis
- Not in My Neighborhood by Antero Pietila
- The Ghost of John Hopkins by Antero Pietila
- If You Love Baltimore it will Love you Back by Ron Cassie
- 5 Days by Wes Moore & Erica L. Green
- The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
- We Were Eight Years in Power by TaNehisi Coates
- The Water Dance by TaNehisi Coates
- Between the World and Me by TaNehisi Coates
- The Beautiful Struggle by Ta Nehisi Coates
- Baltimore Civil Rights Leader by Victorine Q. Adams & Ida Jones
- Baltimore Monuments by Thomas Cotter
- The Line Between US by Lawrence Lanahan
- All the Pieces Matter by Jonathan Abrams
- We Own This City by Justin Fenton
- The Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco
- Kings of B’More by R. Eric Thomas
- Things We Didn’t Talk About When I was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco
- Miss Chloe by A. J. Verdelle
- Lost Restaurants of Baltimore by Suzanne Loudermilk & Kitwaskom Pollard
- Loner Forensics by Thea Brown
- The Portero Complex by Amy L. Bernstein
- Baltimore A Political History by Matthew Crenson
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REBirth of a Nation and The Greatest City in America
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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REBirth of a Nation
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
Available for Purchase -
ReBirth of a Nation Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
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REBirth of a Nation and Greatest City in America Detail
REBirth of a Nation: Handcut and woven archival lustre, 8' x 8', 2023
The Greatest City in America: 1300 origami flowers made from book pages, Variable size, 2023
Redlining
In the 1930’s, as a means to boost the middle class, the US Government made mortgages available through a program called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). In a well-documented process known as redlining, government officials outlined neighborhoods on city maps and then color-coded the areas. The neighborhoods deemed “declining” (yellow) or “hazardous” (red) were not considered for mortgages—these were integrated or non-white neighborhoods. Banks and insurance companies followed the example of the Federal Government and did not finance home ownership in these areas either. This practice was legal until 1968. The residue of this institutional racism continues to segregate, allowing some communities to thrive while others suffer.
Equality in America is directly linked to property. It is the way we accrue money, pass down inheritance, and get access to education, food, and employment. Where you live in the United States is even linked to life expectancy. In an era of constant information it is important to repeat a truth over and over again until we fully understand it and deal with it. As a white person I recognize my middle class status, my education, my profession and my ability to be a homeowner today are directly linked to my grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ ability to own property.
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The Long Shadow Hamilton
Hand cut HOLC map
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For Sale Portsmouth
Monoprint, hand cut signs, ink, prism
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Redlining New Orleans
Hand cut HOLC map and magazines, 2018
Areas that received mortgages are handwoven with magazines of eurocentric flesh
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Redlining Manhattan
Diptych: Hand cut and embroidered HOLC map, Founding Fathers, 2021
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Redlining Miami
Hand cut HOLC map and magazines, 2018
Areas that received mortgages are handwoven with magazines of eurocentric flesh
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Redlining Oklahoma City
Hand cut HOLC map and magazines, 2017
Areas that received mortgages are handwoven with magazines of eurocentric flesh
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This is America - Brooklyn
Areas that received mortgages have the presidents inserted. Areas without mortgages are cut away exposing "this is america" with ink and monotype, 2021
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The Long Shadow - Cleveland
2019, 5' x 4' ,HOLC map, Thread
Areas that did not receive mortgages are hand cut out and hand embroidered
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The Safety Net Richmond
The Safety Net - Richmond: 2018, 5' x 8', Zipties
The redlining map of Richmond made from over 17,000 zipties
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The Safety Net - Baltimore
The redlining map of Baltimore made completely out of zipties
Redlining 2
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Complicit
Self portrait hand cut and woven with all the redlining maps of places I have lived. (Except Norman OK which was a sundown town), 3x5, 2021
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Complicit Detail
Hand cut and woven self portrait with redlining maps of all the places I have lived
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Redlining Tapestries
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries Detail
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries Detail
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries Detail
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries Detail
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
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Redlining Tapestries Detail
Hand cut and woven HOLC Maps and Housewrap, two panels at 3' x 11' , 2017
The Divide
Using roofing paper and New Orleans HOLC (Redlining) maps, I hand cut and wove 7 to 14 panels creating the image of the Mississippi as it curves around New Orleans. The panels are two-sided and can be installed several ways. This piece connects the cartography of New Orleans to redlining and the repercussions of that during Katrina.
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The Divide installed at The Peale Museum
Handcut and woven roofing paper and HOLC maps, fourteen 4' x 10' panels, 2017
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The Divide Detail
Handcut and woven roofing paper and New Orleans HOLC maps, fourteen 4' x 10' panels, 2017
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The Divide Installed at Northern Illinois Art Museum (7 panels)
Handcut and woven roofing paper and HOLC maps, fourteen 4' x 10' panels, 2017
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The Divide installed at Creative Artspace New Orleans (14 Panels)
Handcut and woven roofing paper and HOLC maps, fourteen 4' x 10' panels, 2017
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The Divide installed at the Delaware Art Museum (14 panels)
Handcut and woven roofing paper and HOLC maps, fourteen 4' x 10' panels, 2017
Inheritance
Tell the truth, to yourself and to the children — Maya Angelou
Like many Americans I was taught the story of the United States growing up—great founding fathers, equality for all, and hard work creates wealth—the American Dream. And while there is some truth to this narrative it left out a large part of history, creating a disconnect in the America I experienced as a young adult.
By researching the construction of race in our country and my family lineage: immigrants from Sweden in the 1900s, and Irish and English settlers reaching back to the 1600s, the divisions and inconsistencies I experienced began to make sense. Stolen land, the Virginia Slave Codes, the Naturalization Act, Supreme Court cases that decided who was white, Jim Crow Laws, and Redlining… America was built to benefit white people (even as those who were considered white continually changed).
The truth is often held hostage to whatever we accept and believe; therein lies the tension and the conflict. This work dismantles and reconstructs the dissonance we experience in our engagement with truth. School and academic references, family photographs, redlining maps, court documents, and furniture from my home create a space where both the past and present reside. Woven, sewn, and linked together, my work repeats pieces of truth over and over so connections can be made and intentional conversations started. To have a just and equitable country for all people we must first understand our history.
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Founding Fathers
Founding Fathers: 2019, 42" x 49", Founding Father's Image, Virginia Slave Codes, Hand cut and woven
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Ghosts of our Past
Hand cut and woven ancestors photograph and ancestors letter, backlit, 2019
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Inheritance
Handcut and hand sewn paper quilt using redlining maps, photographs of my ancestors, and the Naturalization Act of 1790 that stated you had to be a white person of good moral character to become a citizen of the United States. 5' x 4', 2020
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Naturalization Act
Hand cut school pull down map with the words of the Naturalization Act written behind it stating you had to be a white person of good moral character to become a citizen of the United States, 2020
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Family Values
Thirteen Colonies Map handcut with the words of my great great great great grandfather's will bequeathing humans to his family. 2019
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Family Values - Different way of displaying
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Family Values 2
219 butterflies made from the 1810 census stating 219 humans to be my family's property
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Bootstraps
bootstraps: 3x3, fabric, 2020
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I pulled myself up
hand made bootstraps and escape ladders, 20" x 22'. 2022
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I pulled myself up Detail
White Issues
To be white is to see oneself as an individual, normal, universal and not linked to race. Media, through its oversaturation of the white image perpetuates this idea of normality, creating a landscape where the white race remains powerful but no longer visible.
By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials my pieces depict the often-unseen impact whiteness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
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White Side
Woven Magazines of White Eurocentric flesh and tyveck, 11' x 20', two-sided, 2015
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White Side Detail
Detail of White Side Hand cut and woven magazines of white eurocentric flesh and tyveck
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Illusion of Ordinary
Hand cut and Woven Magazines of white eurocentric flesh and tyveck, 48" x 90", 2014
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Illusion of Ordinary Detail
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Confident Idiots
Hand cut and woven magazines, 2016
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Just Say It!
Hand cut and woven magazines, 2016
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Secrets of American History
Hand cut and woven Magazines, 2016
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Unveiled
Hand cut and woven magazines, 2016
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I'm Sorry
Hand cut and woven magazines 2016
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Still Desirable
Hand cut photograph of Illusion of Ordinary, 2020