LaToya M. Hobbs carves out time, literally and figuratively

Celina Colby

Celina Colby is an arts and travel reporter with a fondness for Russian novels.... VIEW BIO

In the age of ever-present Google calendar invites, iPhone reminders and overbooked day-planners, LaToya M. Hobbs’ impressive woodcut print series “Carving Out Time” is more relatable than ever. In the series of five woodcuts, acquired by Harvard Art Museums in 2022, Hobbs takes us through a day in her life, literally and figuratively carving out time for herself and her artwork.

The day begins with Hobbs, her husband and their two children waking up. During the day, Hobbs juggles home-schooling, laundry, cooking, story-reading and family mealtime. It’s only in the last panel, when Hobbs is alone and finally finished with the tasks of the day, that she works in her studio. This alludes to the way mothers often have to put their own needs last.

“A lot of these works in this series are talking about this idea of matriarch, my role as a mother, other women in my community, what’s been passed down from generation to generation,” says Hobbs. “And also this idea of self-preservation … we do so much to pour out and help and preserve other people. But you also have to take a moment and say, ‘What am I doing to preserve myself in the process?’”

A viewer uninitiated to Hobbs’ work might not realize on first look how complex these woodcut prints are. Each of the five works, measuring 8-by-12 feet, had to be made in three sections to accommodate the large scale. Hobbs considers the wood pieces the primary artworks, carved intricately with scenes from everyday life. The prints, made on cotton paper with a printing press, are a reflection of those original artworks.

LaToya M. Hobbs, “Scene 4: Bedtime for the Boys,” from Carving Out Time, 2020–21, woodcut on cotton paper, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund, 2022.224.4 © LaToya M. Hobbs PHOTO: ARISTON JACKS/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Preparatory drawings included in the exhibition and a video of Hobbs’ process provide a more comprehensive view of the labor involved in woodcut prints and in a series of this scale. This is the first time all five prints have been exhibited together.

“‘Carving Out Time’ is a technical marvel on a grand scale, and a powerful statement about the capacity of prints to be deeply personal and universal at once,” says Elizabeth M. Rudy, Harvard Art Museums’ Carl A. Weyerhaeuser curator of prints. “This acquisition was transformative, both for the museums’ holdings of contemporary art and for its representation of monumental prints in the long history of printmaking.”

Closer viewing will also reveal the many artworks Hobbs has carved into the interior of her home — works by Black artists like Kerry James Marshall, Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Valerie Maynard and others. Hobbs was particularly inspired by Marshall’s work; it was from viewing his woodcuts that she decided to create this series on such a large scale, the largest she’s ever worked in.

In one scene, a crowned dinosaur by Jean-Michel Basquiat hangs above her children’s beds during story time. Though Hobbs admits Basquiat isn’t a natural choice for a children’s room, the scene gives a sense of passing on ancestral artistic knowledge to the next generation.

Young visitors can pursue a provided visual scavenger hunt to engage with the exhibition. That and other programming surrounding the show were developed in partnership with the Association of Black Harvard Women.

“LaToya M. Hobbs: It’s Time,” runs at the Harvard Art Museums through July 21, 2024. The museums are open Tuesday-Sunday 10am – 5pm and admission is always free to all.