Pacific Northwest College of Art    Portland, OR

3 Questions with Joyce Scott

3 QUESTIONS is a series of brief, three-question interviews with PNCA’s visiting artists and lecturers. Each year, PNCA attracts innovative, thoughtful, and creative makers and thinkers who share our belief in the transformative power of creativity. In three short answers to three short questions, these artists offer perspectives on career, motivation, and transformation. When available, we include links to audio recordings, transcripts, slideshows, or video.

The MFA in Applied Craft and Design program welcomes Joyce Scott as part of the 2013-2014 Graduate Visiting Artist Lecture Series.

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“I don’t have to do every little thing.”

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Photo by Joseph Greer ’16.

What advice would you offer current students about to embark on a career in the arts?

Stay true to yourself and your work. Be willing to take the very long walk to achievement. Experiment. A failure is just another opportunity.


How do you maintain your creative practice? What keeps you motivated and engaged?

Life itself. Pop culture and current event. My joy in beauty. Mad scientist genes.

Could you describe a moment or experience that profoundly changed the nature of your work?


Glass. The desire and knowledge that I could collaborate and trust someone else with my idea. That I could submit, blend, and appreciate someone else’s input. That I don’t have to do every little thing.

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Renowned as the “Queen of Beadwork,” Joyce J. Scott is a versatile artist from Baltimore, Maryland. She is a printmaker, weaver, sculptor, performance artist, and educator, but she is probably most well known for her work in jewelry, beadwork, and glass. Her art, in whatever form, reflects her take on all aspects of American popular culture, her ancestry, and the immediate world of her neighborhood. Her pieces serve as a commentary for issues regarding race, politics, sexism, and stereotypes. She received her B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art and M.F.A. from the Instituto Allende. Her work is in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Mint Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

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