(1978-2011)

From the earliest point of their collaborative practice, Alan Powell and Connie Coleman agreed that every work leaving their studio would be credited to “Coleman-Powell.” Some pieces spoke primarily with the voice of “she,” others with the voice of “he,” while many emerged from an indissoluble “we.” Every project was shaped by both artists, in ways both visible and subtle, and the finished product was not easily stratified. Jointly crediting each piece was just good sense. But more than that, it reflected a shared philosophy that  art driven by dialogue is as powerful as that of any individual voice.

Neither believed in the myth of the solitary artistic genius. Powell often observed the art world was always searching for the “heroic oneness,” a myth of inborn talent that emerged fully formed, out of nowhere. Coleman-Powell rejected that narrative. Their work was created through continual conversation and critique; experimentation and exchange. 

Their collaborative practice grew from two distinct artistic backgrounds. Alan Powell came to video through painting, sculpture, drawing, and fine art, capturing the delicate lines and expressive possibilities of the human form with malleable tools such as ink and clay. Connie Coleman, trained in textile design at the Rhode Island School of Design, approached image-making through weaving, pattern, and process. She was an accomplished print-maker and one of the early artists to embrace digitally programmed Jacquard looms, developing an intuitive understanding of grids, repetition, and emerging technologies. In the early 1970s she created off-loom constructions using recycled computer tape, and her fascination with systems and visual structure naturally extended into electronic media. For Coleman, video initially served as a way of documenting performance-based weaving, but it quickly evolved into a medium for exploring personal identity and the experience of womanhood.

Their video tape “Renovations” was Connie Coleman’s first time working in the medium: the piece documents the painstaking restoration of the couple’s first home (a deteriorating Philadelphia brownstone they rebuilt by hand), reflecting on the surrounding neighborhood within the broader context of urban change and gentrification. Throughout the following decades, Coleman-Powell continued to push the expressive possibilities of electronic media in works including Hot Pig, featured in the Los Angeles Erotic Film Festival; Radiation Therapy, and Saturday Night.

Their most ambitious body of work, Ballet Digital (1985–1995), brought together performance, electronic image processing, choreography, and experimental narrative into an investigation of movement, technology, and perception. The series includes Gender Roles, about the development of music video and the intersection of gender, as well as Red, White & Blue (1993), a landmark seven-minute work whose post-digital aesthetics and electronic processing exemplifies the artistic chemistry of the Coleman-Powell collaboration.

As digital technologies evolved, Connie returned to independent explorations in computer-generated prints, animation, and other media while continuing the collaborative dialogue that defined Coleman-Powell. Following her passing in 2011, Alan Powell has preserved the legacy of the Coleman-Powell years by sharing Connie’s work, adapting it to digital formats, and continuing to collaborate with other artists, photographers and writers.