Jumping the Broom by Alyne Harris

Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 24x24
Jumping the Broom is an African American wedding tradition with convoluted origins. Click here to learn a little more about the tradition.
 
About Alyne Harris:
 
Born in 1943, Alyne Harris has lived in Gainesville, Florida virtually all of her life and is a distant relative of sculptor, Jesse Aaron. Harris has always felt the compulsion to create. As a child she would rather draw in the sand on the playground than play with the other children. Her cherished heritage and connections to the past are celebrated in her engaging art.

Usually, Harris sits on her front porch to paint and enlists an old dress as an apron. Her imagery embraces the spirit of imagination, as seen in her scenes of angels, and it captures the vitality of memories in her depictions of slaves, lost loved ones, sunflowers, baptisms and other family celebrations. Harris' work draws heavily from African-American traditions including jumping the broom in her wedding scenes.

Harris' paintings call on viewers to travel the paths of their own recollections, an exchange that becomes part of the work itself. Her work reminds the viewer that revisiting the past can connect us with the present and the future.