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Jae Jarrell Was Born in Cleveland in Addition of a Colorful Bandolier

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Jae Jarrell Was Born in Cleveland in Addition of a Colorful Bandolier I WILL ALWAYS CREATE INTERVIEW BY ROSE BOUTHILLIER Jae Jarrell was born in Cleveland in addition of a colorful bandolier. Jae 1935. She grew up in the historic Glen- also made three new pieces for the ex- ville neighborhood, the same area of hibition, revisiting designs and ideas the city that she returned to in 2009 that still inspire her. Maasai Collar with her husband Wadsworth, after having Vest (2015) recalls the ornate cloth- lived in Chicago, Washington D.C., and ing and jewelry of the Maasai people, New York. They settled into two sprawl- who live in parts of Kenya and northern ing apartments facing Rockefeller Park: Tanzania. Shields and Candelabra Vest studio spaces above and residence below. (2015) uses the organic form of cac- Every wall and surface bursts with art, tus plants, flipped on their sides, as life, family, and soul. frames for colorful African shields. Jazz Scramble Jacket (2015) brings to- Jae has always been a maker and an en- gether two of Jae’s loves: jazz and trepreneur. Her passion has carried blues music (a constant backdrop at home through many pursuits, from art to fash- and studio) and the crossword board game ion design, vintage dealing, and furni- Scrabble. The intersecting names of ture restoration. In 1968, she was one influential musicians speak to the im- of the founding members of AFRICOBRA portance of community in developing a (African Commune of Bad Relevant Art- scene, style, and history. ists), along with Wadsworth, Jeff Don- aldson, Barbara Jones-Hogu, and Gerald I sat down with Jae in May 2015 to talk Williams. The collective formed in re- about her extraordinary life and cre- sponse to a lack of positive representa- ative vision. tion of African American people in me- dia and the arts, and their goal was to //////////////////////////////////// develop a uniquely Black aesthetic that conveyed the pride and power of their communities. RB How to Remain Human features three of Were there any influential figures for Jae’s garments from the early days of you growing up in Cleveland that set you AFRICOBRA: Urban Wall Suit (1969) drew on your path as an artist? inspiration from the graffiti and con- cert posters that filled the streets of Chicago, where brick walls became mes- JJ sage boards for the community; Ebony I am the granddaughter of a tailor, and Family (1968) embodies Jae’s deeply held though I never met him——he had passed by belief that strong Black families are a the time I was born——my mother always source of power; and Revolutionary Suit shared with me the wonderful workman- (1968) takes the shape of a Jae’s sig- ship that he taught all of his children. nature late 60’s 2-piece suit: collar- So I’ve always been mindful of fabrics, less jacket, three-quarter length bell recognizing different fibers, weaves, sleeves, and an A-framed skirt——with the classic dress. Mother would take me to 63 vintage shops, and when Mother wanted shop with one display window right at your attention, she whispered. She would the corner of a very lovely building at bring a collar of a garment forward and 52nd and Blackstone. And I named it “Jae say, “Just, look at that! Just, look at of Hyde Park.” that workmanship! When you see these saddle stitches, you know that that is a special tactic, so watch for these RB things!” And so I always thought of mak- You’ve always done things in your own ing clothes in order to have something way, on your own terms. As a Black fash- unique, and later I learned to sew very ion designer, did you feel that you had well and made it my business to always to forge your own path because it would make my garments. And I also have a love be more difficult to get your clothing for vintage, knowing that it has secrets into other people’s stores? of the past that I can unfold. JJ RB I was always full of dreams. In my up- When and how did “Jae” become the name bringing, it was always “yes you can!” you go by? The sky is the limit. I remember be- ing very taken with my family’s busi- ness. My Uncle Jimmy was a haberdasher JJ and had this wonderful men’s shop that When I left the Art Institute of Chi- I worked in. I often thought, “I’d like cago, I started a business in my apart- to have my own business.” That was a ment, designing for a number of mod- mission that I thought I could pursue. els that worked for shows and needed to High school was wonderful, it was inter- provide their own garments. So I built racial, about 30% Black students. And the idea that I wanted to have a shop. we just did everything together; we had At one point I got a job at Motorola—— parties and there were interracial rela- I was hired to help integrate the com- tionships. So I didn’t see any reason to pany. They wanted me to be the face of have pause. Motorola. I was hired as a reception- ist, and I bounced between three recep- Then, somehow or another, you would hear tion rooms in three buildings on the trends in the news that might give you same property in Chicago. There was one an indication that things could be oth- woman whose place I took when she went er than wonderful. I just thought, you to lunch and on breaks. She was an older know, treat this with caution...but I woman and was a bit concerned about los- didn’t think it would affect me because ing her job. I wanted to befriend her there was so much “plus” in my life. I and so I started chatting with her about left Cleveland to go to college at Bowl- clothes. I liked the way she dressed ing Green State University, where they and she liked the way I did, and there were forming a Black student union. And was something about our spirits that I thought, “Well, that’s nice.” There was good. And she was somebody that I were only a handful of Blacks, maybe imparted my secret to, that I really ten or fourteen on campus. At the same wasn’t going to be at Motorola for long. time my sister was dating a young at- I wanted to be a designer and I wanted torney from Albany, Georgia who was go- my own place. We decided to try to name ing to school at Case Western Reserve this place. She loved having my secret University. He was completing his law so we played around each time I came and degree and intended to go back to help she toyed with it. I wasn’t going to be his people. And I thought: “help them Elaine, my first name, and I wasn’t go- to what?” But at that time, a very ac- ing to be Annette, my middle name, and tive kind of revolutionary movement was I certainly wasn’t going to be Johnson, forming in Albany to free their people, my maiden name. At one point she came give them guidance, give them opportuni- up with throwing the initials backwards, ties. By the same token, I was struck by J-A-E, and that’s when I chose “Jae.” I the fact that colonized African nations always loved Hyde Park, and I envisioned were beginning to be decolonized. And of having a store there. I found a one-room course, fashion sort of takes a note of 64 activities occurring in the news, things ing. I included figures, because AFRI- that would affect expression. So these COBRA was interested in speaking to the concerns that I didn’t have before were people, and you feel you’re spoken to entering my life. if you see your image. But I’m diverse in how I work, sometimes I design right One of the things that struck me was how on the tabletop as I’m working, and this successful Uncle Jimmy was in his hab- gives me a degree of variety. erdashery. Turns out Uncle Jimmy looks like a white man. For all practical pur- poses, as far as his clients knew, he RB was a white man. So I’m seeing that my Can you tell me the story of Urban Wall dear Uncle Jimmy, who had such a knack Suit? What was the inspiration? in business, also had certain opportuni- ties based on an assumption that he was white. Later he formed a business rela- JJ I made Urban Wall Suit in 1969. One of tionship with several other merchants, the tenets of AFRICOBRA was to reinvent realtors, a whole spectrum of Black yourself, reinvent how you were, rein- business owners in the Cleveland com- vent your whole manner so that you had munity. They started a Negro Business a fresh voice. I was inventing my fab- League. And I thought, “Really?” Then it ric. I had made a line of silk shirts at occurred to me that these were precau- my Jae of Hyde Park shop, so I decided tions, to protect and support one an- to use the scraps. I put them together other. It was only then that I thought, in large and small patches of rectan- “How do you protect yourself?” Because gular shapes and squares. I started to I’m always going to be going off to the pay attention to the walls in our Chi- big lights somewhere.
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