Fundamental to The Art Novel and Bond & Grace’s mission is the partnership and collaboration of Artists. Art Foreword, the Bond & Grace art house emerged from a vision of art as a natural gateway to literature. With guidance from our curatorial team and literary scholars, the Artists create visual stories that echo the themes of the original text. Today, we are speaking with Bond & Grace co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Ayana Christie, and Art Experience Director, Maggie Lemak, on the relationship between Art and literature, and the experience of partnering with Artists for The Secret Garden Art Novel.
Before we can read, we can see. From a very young age children are attracted to visual stimuli and use it to contextualize the world around them. As adults, we turn to words to articulate our emotional experiences. “Think about the last time you saw an image in the New York Times and decided to read the article because of it,” Maggie says. “At an art museum, the first thing you do to better understand what you’re looking at is turn to language. In reading captions, you’re able to take in important context.” When paired side-by-side, great literature and beautiful art can create a powerful feedback loop, leading to deeper understanding and greater empathy.
“We look for Artists whose style is reflective of some of the themes discussed in the text, or who have life experiences that might mirror those of the author,”
This concept is practiced in how Bond & Grace selects Artists to participate in the Art Novel experience. It is not a matter of mere accolades or even solely talent, but the lived experiences and perspectives of the Artists themselves. “We look for Artists whose style is reflective of some of the themes discussed in the text, or who have life experiences that might mirror those of the author,” Ayana says.
“The Bond & Grace curatorial process is unique in that we aren’t sourcing existing artwork, we’re sourcing perspectives from proven creators who we believe will create content fit to be published alongside timeless literature."
The Artist’s unique perspectives and lived experiences are honored by granting them full creative freedom. “We aim to partner with Artists who have something to say and then ask them to propose the subject matter and method for their works in the experience,” Ayana says. “They are invited to the table to participate in creating the Art Novel using the literature as their prompt.” This allows for 12 wholly unique readings of the text and with it a diverse and multifaceted collection of work.
Another unique aspect of the Bond & Grace Artist experience is the space created for collaboration. Artists not only have the opportunity to workshop their pieces amongst themselves to gain feedback and new perspectives but also meet with the Bond & Grace literary scholars to obtain a deeper and more complex understanding of the original text. “Although we have Artists now from around the globe, they’re not working in complete isolation,’ Ayana says. “They have an opportunity to see what other Art is being created for the Art Novel, give feedback, and be able to leverage each other’s strengths throughout the collaboration process.”
“You’re not only obtaining a stunning original work of Art, you’re bringing that Artist's story into your home. You’re acknowledging the effort and vulnerability of the Artist who created it.”
“Our community is our core,” Maggie adds. “Working with both art and history we create a range of understanding that moves us all closer to the truth. Our scholars provide context based on years of research and expertise. Likewise, our Artists are key collaborators whose voices serve as credible sources that speak to the novel’s themes in a tenable way due to their backgrounds’ alignment with the core themes.”
This sense of community is extended to the Bond & Grace collector as well. Art buyers directly champion the unique voices and contributions of Our Artists when purchasing their work on Art Foreword at the Bond & Grace website. “You’re not only obtaining a stunning original work of Art, you’re bringing that Artist's story into your home. You’re acknowledging the effort and vulnerability of the Artist who created it,” Maggie says.
In the art world, this effort and vulnerability can often go unrecognized. The kind of artists who receive representation and compensation are limited, creating a disparity between the diversity among artists themselves, and a lack thereof in museums and galleries. 87% of artists in galleries, museums, and art fairs are still white men. “Not only is there a huge access and diversity problem within the art industry, there's a discrepancy in who is actually making the money,” Ayana says. Of the $196 billion spent at art auctions over the last decade, work produced by women only accounted for 2% of sales. “This reality inspired us to breed progress through our Artists’ Collective.”
Not only do Bond & Grace Artists come from a wide variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, but said Artists are compensated at a much higher rate than they would be in galleries.
“Something I’ve observed with Artists, particularly women, is the tendency to downplay the total effort they have put into creating compelling Art,” Ayana says. “ We play a role in helping them to more accurately translate effort into value. When Artists tell me how they had to navigate difficult memories to create their Art, I encourage them to factor that emotional vulnerability into their Art’s value. They are used to factoring the materials, time spent, and final size of their Art into its value, but forget the depth of emotion which is arguably most important; it’s what makes this work so profound.”
From acrylic to oil, embroidery to collage, the Bond & Grace Artists provide us with deeper avenues of connection both with their work and with the original text. Their work is a living reminder of what The Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote over 110 years ago.
“At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done–then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago.”
Special thanks to Ayana Christie and Maggie Lemak for joining us. To learn more about ArtForeword and The Secret Garden Art Novel. Visit bondandgrace.com.
