Paula Wilson strategically leads viewers through ‘Toward the Sky’s Back Door’

"Creatures of the Fire"

"Fly On, Little Wing"

"Full Circle Swing"

"Bricked Out"

When I first walked into Paula Wilson’s “Toward the Sky’s Back Door” at the California African American Museum, I couldn’t immediately pick up on what the exhibition was about, but I think that was intentional and it was really smart. Her exhibition, which consists of multimedia works including paintings, sculptures, moving images and rugs,

starts off with “Bricked Out,” a multimedia painting of a pondering woman looking out of her window into the distance. There is a colorful tree close to her window with an orange parrot, so it is possible she is observing and contemplating them as well with a sense of peace. The work is made with silkscreen pigment, acrylic paint, felt, paper and canvas. There is a crown molding at the top of the canvas, creating a frame. 

Soon after is “Between Two,” where the curators describe that for Wilson, “Architectural facades [...] are continually animated, like a work of art in process.” The work has a red brick wall in the background with multiple window frames that have broken images inside of them, suggesting movement and change over time. I noticed this theme in her other artworks, which is movement in time and nature. 

As you go further into the exhibition, it seems these themes are still present but there is more of a narrative to each piece, or more background history. In the exhibition description, the curators describe how “Wilson steeps her work in autobiography and cross-cultural, cross-historical narratives [...]. Wilson unites this seemingly disparate imagery, often with a sleight of hand that plays with perceptions of illusion and reality.” 

I noticed there were a lot of frames in her artworks, and it felt like she was taking the viewer into a different time, or encouraging them to advance their thought process by moving it into a different time and space that she creates. I am not sure where exactly that time and space is, but it definitely felt like she was encouraging the viewer to think beyond what they saw in her work. 

Wilson had many artworks in this exhibition, including “Creatures of the Fire,” where a figure stands in front of a window looking at a moth through a magnifying glass. There is a sunset landscape in the background, outside of the window. In this multimedia artwork, the curators describe that Wilson “respects her environment’s smallest creatures as feeling beings,” and that they have “potential for awareness and sentience.” This was the first instance when I saw a moth/butterfly in her work, and it appeared quite frequently in her works that came later. There was an innocence to the way the figure was looking out at the moth, as if she were a child, and  a purity to the moment, with the sunset and the beautiful colors. 

Soon after, Wilson had a moving image artwork —  a human playing out the life stages of a caterpillar, from being an egg to its death. This was when I started to notice the theme of transformation and a hope for a better, more optimistic future that is connected with nature, where humans are friends with the natural world and in line with it. 

To the left of the moving image piece on the wall is a set of frames that she titles “Naturalist’s Collection,” created from 2018-23. These are drawn and painted frames on the walls that consist of drawings and paintings of Wilson’s in-process works, as a way to separate her from “the commodification of art,” Wilson says in an interview on the wall text. I felt like this was a way for the artist to emphasize her love for childlike energy or playfulness, which is also seen in “Full Circle Swing.” 

Wilson, with artist Mike Lagg, built “Full Circle Swing,” a swing that is open for viewers to gently ride, as a way for them to experience playfulness and to do so while experiencing her art. She says, “I think that we are tasked on this earth to celebrate our lives.” This moves into the theme of the overall exhibition that I picked up on, which is to be in harmony with nature, emphasizing a feeling of playfulness. There is also a sense of safety with nature, which we see in her final piece, “Fly On, Little Wing.”

This piece was made in 2024 and is a full-wall multimedia print and painting of Wilson lying on the ground, holding a butterfly. On her pants are images of her work in process. The feeling of Wilson is warm and maternal and it seems like the main theme she is amalgamating all her artworks to is this feeling of optimism, playfulness, experimentation and wonder, and that happens with nature. 

I felt like my experience in “Toward the Sky’s Back Door” was a story, that I was taken through a few thought processes and very strategically to an overall message that is pertinent and gently conveyed through her works. 

Paula Wilson’s “Toward the Sky’s Back Door” is at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park through Aug. 18, 2024.