Iman Hathaway
Building community, visibility, and opportunity for Black artists across Washtenaw County
Iman Hathaway
To me the title of “Black Artist” carries the responsibility of documenting, carrying, sharing and creating Black histories and stories. As modern anti-Black institutions continue to remove artwork by people of color from public spaces, especially those located at the junction of collaboration and diplomacy, as well as destroy physical texts under the veil of efficiency, the urgent duty of ‘Black Artist’ is to preserve Black representation. Equally as important to preserving history is the responsibility of corporealizing visions of abundance in the present.
Artist Bio
Iman is an Ypsilanti based artist primarily working in the medium of glass. In 2022 Iman began working with glass as a resident artist at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland where she spent three months independently researching and experimenting with stained glass techniques. Her additional background in engineering and woodworking lends itself well to the application of stained glass artwork.
Now Iman continues to work as an independent artist and educator exhibiting work and teaching stained glass techniques to her growing community of stained glass revivalists. The subject matter of her personal work centers around themes of rest and abundance specifically focusing on women of color and how the objects of their power contribute to prosperity. The goal of all her work in this medium is to create art that encourages the viewer to make space and time for moments of rest while spending more time in front of a window absorbing light.
My Artistic Practice
Iman creates stained glass artwork from her original designs using cold working techniques that are then structurally reinforced using the copper foil method, lead came and wood. Her subject matter of the human form often begins with short sketches taken from live models focusing on the gesture of the pose over hyperrealism. Iman then transfers her drawings into glass using hand tools to hand cut, grind, hand foil and hand solder her stained glass compositions. Iman also cuts/fits her own wood accents and framing.
IG: @glassbyiman