Cheryl Derricotte, The Autobiography of the late Mary Ellen Pleasant, A Black Capitalist in Gold-Rush Era California. Originally spoken by herself; now faithfully transcribed & lovingly published by Cheryl Patrice Derricotte, 2022, Artist Book, Hardback, Linen Cover 103 Pages, Edition of 12 + 3 APs, 5.25"(w.) x 7.25"(h.) x .5 (d.).
This work was initiated during Cheryl Derricotte’s artist-in-residency at Paper Machine in New Orleans and completed in 2022. During her residency at Paper Machine, Derricotte began work on a new project entitled Friend of John, to visually tell the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant, who was a trusted confidant of abolitionist John Brown. Mary Ellen Pleasant was once the richest Black woman in San Francisco, a self-proclaimed “capitalist” on the 1890 census. Pleasant was bi-coastal; a central figure in both California politics and the Underground Railroad. She reportedly gave John Brown $30,000 towards the raid on Harper’s Ferry.
Cheryl Derricotte, How I Crossed Over, 2021, Ink, Rives BFK, 3-Color Screen print, Edition of 35 + 8 AP, Image Size 18” x 24”, Paper Size: 19” x 26”
This work was created during Derricotte’s artist-in-residency at Paper Machine in New Orleans from Nov 1 - 30, 2021. During her residency at Paper Machine, Derricotte began work on a new project entitled Friend of John, to visually tell the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant, who was a trusted confidant of abolitionist John Brown. Mary Ellen Pleasant was once the richest Black woman in San Francisco, a self-proclaimed “capitalist” on the 1890 census. Pleasant was bi-coastal; a central figure in both California politics and the Underground Railroad. She reportedly gave John Brown $30,000 towards the raid on Harper’s Ferry.
The project’s title, Friend of John, is a play on words with the well-known Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) signifier “Friend of Bill,” as anonymity and privacy were equally paramount to the abolitionist movement. The title also acknowledges Mary Ellen Pleasant’s final act of defiance, as she requested her tombstone state that she was “a friend of John Brown.”
Derricotte was interested in Mary Ellen Pleasant’s relationship to both San Francisco and New Orleans. Pleasant’s journey to Gold Rush-era California took her through New Orleans. In her autobiography, Mary Ellen Pleasant said she was the daughter of a “full-blooded Negress from Louisiana.” This made some biographers believe that Pleasant also spent time in Louisiana. It is reported that during the period of her life between slavery and freedom, Pleasant spent some time as a linen worker at the Ursuline Convent in New Orleans, whilst waiting to travel to San Francisco. Mary Ellen Pleasant sailed on The Oregon, a mail steamship that made port in New Orleans, before continuing through Panama to California. Derricotte turned to the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) to find an image of the city c. 1850 to use in her art projects.
The HNOC image was used in a new 3-color screen-print, How I Crossed Over (2021), which visually illustrates Mary Ellen Pleasant’s journey. As there were no pictures of Mary Ellen Pleasant until shortly before her death, she is represented by a simple Quaker-style dress, as she grew up on Nantucket. There is also an image of The Oregon, the mail steamship, as well as the two cities New Orleans and San Francisco. The image is tied together with a white line resembling stitching; it is in fact the shape of the route the ships used to take to get from one side of the country to the other.
Cheryl Derricotte, Living on the Fence-Line, 2020-2021, Los Angeles.
Derricotte’s new public work is being installed this week, Feb. 1, 2021 on a billboard at the intersection of N Highland Ave & Willoughby Ave in Los Angeles, CA. Cheryl is one of eleven featured artists, (including the legendary Judy Chicago), in a tri-city public art exhibition entitled “Whistling in the Dark” sponsored by SaveArtSpace. The works will be on view for one month.
Living on the Fence-Line (2020) is part of a series of work from Oil and Water. The art in this series looks at communities that live in the shadow of oil including California places like Richmond (pictured), Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach.
“I stand for art and liberation. Public art is one of the brave spaces for difficult conversations—like the fact that over 16% of the US Black population lives near an oil refinery. That’s why I am so excited that SaveArtSpace selected my work to contribute to a brave conversation about environmental racism.” --Cheryl Derricotte
Cheryl Derricotte has been selected for the 2020 YBCA100 list. She is featured among the creative changemakers and everyday heroes YBCA is recognizing for their efforts in building sustainable, equitable, and regenerative communities. Learn more at YBCA’s website.
Cheryl Derricotte, “2017 Year-at-a-Glance: 214 Dead Black Men." (2018), Ink on paper; hand-stamped bullet imagery on wall calendar, collection of de Young Museum, San Francisco.
Photo credit: Kija Lucas
the wolf & the wheat
Cheryl Derricotte’s The Wolf & the Wheat, 2020, work on paper, edition of 6 + 1 AP, 11” x 14” each image. Please contact gallery to purchase.
Derricotte’s work references Thomas Jefferson’s often quoted commentary on the peculiar institution of slavery:
"But as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."
(Jefferson discussing the Missouri question and slavery to John Holmes April 22, 1820. Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 12. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905, p. 159.)
Background: The most famous French Ambassador in US History was Thomas Jefferson. he served in France for 5 years as the “American Minister to the Court of Versailles.” Jefferson was a firm supporter of the French Revolution in Paris and upon his return to the US, when he was appointed Secretary of State by Pres. Adams. He would go on to be Vice President and later, the third President of the United States.
Jefferson’s affection for revolution was not extended to Black people. He was born into a slave-holding family, thus inheriting his own slaves and later, slaves from his deceased wife that she brought into the marriage. Over the course of his life, he owned 600 people. In a typical year, he owned 200 people, ½ of them under the age of 16.
One of those people was Sally Hemings, the slave girl who was 14 when she went with Jefferson’s family to Paris as his daughter’s maid. When she was 15 years old and clear that she was free in France, she told Jefferson she would not return with him unless he agreed to free her unborn children. She was pregnant when she returned to Monticello and at 16 had the first of 6 children fathered by Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson often said that slavery needed to end but did not take its dissolution on at a federal level. He believed in individual plantation reform and at Monticello, he moved away from tobacco and did not seek out cotton. Rather, he planted wheat and trained many of his slaves as skilled laborers to build out his property and neighboring shops.
And, although Jefferson freed her living children as agreed, he never freed Sally Hemmings.
Cheryl Derricotte, The Wolf & The Scale, 2020, work on paper, edition of 6 + 1 AP, 11” x 14”.
To inquire on purchasing these works, please email info@reriddle.com
Cheryl Derricotte, Adorned, 2016, Photograph, Glass.
Cheryl Derricotte, Illuminated, 2016, Photograph, Glass.
Cheryl Derricotte, Devoted, 2016, Photograph, Glass.
Cheryl Derricotte is a visual artist and sculptor. Her favorite medium is glass, and she also makes work on paper and textiles. Her work explores themes of identity, memory, and place, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner, among other noted publications. She has held prestigious residencies including the Museum of Glass; Corning Museum of Glass; the Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency; and the Windgate Charitable Foundation Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center.
Cheryl is widely known for being the creator of Freedom’s Threshold—the first glass monument to Harriet Tubman—unveiled in 2023 in Millbrae, CA. Her work is in the permanent collections of the deYoung Museum, the Museum of Glass, the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Oakland Museum of California. Cheryl holds an MFA from the California Institute of Integral Studies, an MRP from Cornell University, and a BA from Barnard College. A licensed city planner, she merges art and the built environment across disciplines.
Cheryl Derricotte’s Artist Statement:
I do not often lead with beauty, but my work is well-crafted using beautiful materials. Glass, textiles, and paper are my collaborators to dive into challenging topics like race, money, power and place. I like materials that are translucent and seemingly fragile, yet hearty enough to survive the passage of time between civilizations. This long view of time — both in making and subject matter — guides my research-based art practice. My creative inquiry often leads me to work with topics for a few years or more. I work intuitively, so seemingly random observations of current events and landscapes, (including the political ones), often lead me to the economic and environmental concerns that guide my art practice. Historical portraits and stories weave through my wall-work and sculptures. My recurring themes are home, memory, place and spirit.
To make my work I use a variety of glass and printmaking techniques. My cold glasswork (unfired) often takes form as sculptural mixed media. Warm glass means work fired in a kiln up to approximately 1,500°F. I enjoy layering images and text onto warm glass pieces, featuring public domain historical drawings and photographs. Sometimes the imagery is my own. My preferred techniques include screen-printing with glass powders, including enamels. My work-on-paper employs the techniques of image transfers, ink stamping and digital collage.
I have been enjoying learning the craft of bookbinding. In 2022, I created a limited edition artist book to elevate the wisdom of Mary Ellen Pleasant, the richest Black woman in Gold-Rush-era San Francisco; the cover of this hardback book is linen. I also made a smaller pocket-sized book, called “21 Lessons” to share her wisdom for the ages with a broader audience. In 2024, I made a limited edition accordion book focused on the declining integrity of The Great Salt Lake.
Text is an important component of my artwork. I often say that I live under the tyranny of title. A phrase will get stuck in my head and I wrestle with it until an artwork is created. Thus, many of my pieces have titles before I ever make a schematic drawing, much less cut a piece of glass. To further my practice with text, I have begun hand-embroidering thoughts from my journals onto my prints on paper and textiles. I am a visual storyteller. In a world that is increasingly digitized and mechanized, I signify the value of work that is slowly made by hand.