Category: black history
-
Artist a Day: Dare Coulter
Today’s post features one of my favorite murals in downtown Raleigh that holds a unique connection to Raleigh’s history. In 2017 artist Dare Coulter was commissioned by the ACLU and the Raleigh Murals Project to create “Dare to Dissent”, a tribute to the legacy of protest and activism throughout history. Coulter’s murals are important…
-
Artist a Day: Beauford Delaney
Beauford Delaney was born in Knoxville TN in 1901 and raised in a southern Baptist family with two budding artists. Beauford and his brother had a strong aptitude for art and their skills were cultivated locally until the artist moved to Boston to continue his studies. Delaney would later settle in New York and become…
-
Artist a Day: Vashti Harrison
In 2017 director Matthew Cherry announced a Kickstarter campaign to produce a short film about a little girl’s natural hair journey. At the time, artist Vashti Harrison was garnering a large social media following for her beautiful illustrations that capture the magic that’s found in the simple joys of childhood. Her expressive characters could be…
-
Artist a Day (Design Edition): Cliff Vaughs
Last year I wrote a piece about a lowrider motorcycle exhibition called Viva Viclas at CAM Raleigh, and one of the things that struck me during the research for the piece was how Black and brown motorcyclists formed strong connections in the early years of motorcycle and chopper culture. I wonder what happened, because those…
-
Artist a Day: Noah Davis
Over the last 3 weeks I’ve seen the laudatory reviews and images on Noah Davis’s solo show at David Zwirner and one painting keeps sticking out to me. It features a little girl in a dress with white knee-high socks and a pair of t-strap Mary Janes. The little girl’s hands are politely folded in…
-
Artist a Day: David Hammons
I have few words today, so I will let David Hammons do the talking. Injustice Case (1971) is part of his body print series and is in reference to the judicial misconduct against Bobby Seale who was on trial for conspiracy as a member of the Chicago Eight. After Seale was refused an attorney of…
-
Artist a Day: Lava Thomas
As we commemorate the birthday of Rosa Parks today, I wanted to highlight the work of an artist who not only honored Parks, but also created a series of works that celebrate the women of the Montgomery Alabama Bus Boycott of 1955-1956. These women are not as well known as Parks, but became an important…
-
Artist a Day, Super Bowl Edition: Ernie Barnes
Today, I’m celebrating Super Bowl Sunday my way, by honoring a great Black artist whose career began as a professional football player. Ernie Barnes was from Durham, North Carolina where he endured Jim Crow segregation and childhood bullying, using football and art to strengthen his body and his resolve. He earned a scholarship to play…
-
Artist a Day: Karen Collins
It’s February 1, and I’m back at it again! Last year I continued to pivot away from the blog to pursue more freelance/paid work, which meant that my Artist a Day and Culture Shock Art posts had to rest on the back burner for a bit. Oh, and I also relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina…
-
A Case for Black Art History Month in Los Angeles
We tend to define key visual art moments through seminal shows that seek to define, map, and place an artist’s work in a historical context. In Los Angeles, many of these moments revolve around large-scale exhibitions like the Hammer’s Made in L.A. biennial or the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time. When they are executed well, these…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 