In a departure from her text-based drawings, Bethany Collins began experimenting with paper casting in 2023 when she created her Old Ship series. Collins's Old Ship works mix handmade paper with granite dust from a destroyed Confederate monument. Collaborating with Dieu Donné in Brooklyn, NY, Collins used molds based on acanthus ornamental details carved in the capitals of the twelve Corinthian columns enclosing the sanctuary of the Old Ship AME Zion Church, the oldest Black church in the artist’s hometown of Montgomery, AL. Each cast pays homage to the building and congregation that hosted prominent Black speakers like Frederick Douglass, Senator Blanche K. Bruce, and Dr. Booker T. Washington.
