Transformation Through Archives℠
Greetings! My name is Joyce LeeAnn and I am a certified archivist, an interdisciplinary artist, and the founder of Archival Alchemy®. Since I was a little girl, I have organized and taken care of my precious belongings. I’m driven by the process of letting the past inform the present in order to transmute the future. Looking back does not have to be motivated by nostalgia, it can be an interrogation or a reclamation. An invocation of our ancestors. Old documents collecting dust in storage rooms can be reused to advance a purpose. My intention is to share my process with others through the projects I produce and the services I provide.
Services
Archival Alchemy® supports cultural institutions and artists to activate and enrich archives. I can serve as an advisor, collaborator, or producing partner for archival/artistic programming and projects. Being able to serve indivisibly as an archivist and artist is my strength. I am versed in established archival practices to ensure sustainability, but utilize creativity to showcase why archives are kept.
The Archival Alchemy Laboratory℠ gathers archival researchers to explore my multidimensional process while investigating transformative methods that live at the intersection of art and archiving. My innate perspective has also been presented in public programs and through my facilitation of workshops.
Archival Alchemy® produces innovative creative work that portrays the healing and liberatory power of archives. I’m currently developing a multimedia and performance project that explores the idea of embodying archives while examining the meaning of home. The universality of the subject matter allows my projects to interact with a variety of initiatives, to be showcased in many different settings, and to connect with a wide audience.
Please contact me about rates, availability, and ways to offer your support. I can work remotely or on-site, across the nation or around the world. To follow Archival Alchemy’s projects, please connect with me on social media!
About
I received a bachelor’s degree in Writing and Literature from Naropa University via Hampton University. I received a master’s degree in Library and Information Science with an Archives Certificate from Pratt Institute; I hold a Digital Archives Specialist Certificate from the Society of American Archivists; and I am a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists. I have worked for the Weeksville Heritage Center, the Associated Press Corporate Archives, The New York Public Library, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2011, I self-published my first archival text, somethymes grief goes for a walk. In 2013, I co-curated The Finding Aid: Black Women at the Intersection of Art and Archiving event at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. I am a House of Noire gem, and was a Create Change fellow with The Laundromat Project, as well as a MoCADA creator in residence. In 2017, I founded Archival Alchemy® in New York City. This letter written by Jean Hines, a librarian and friend, inspired the name of my business.