This week I sat down numerous times to recall the highlights of 2021 and how they shaped my writing this year. So many of these positive memories were nearly eclipsed by personal loss and the neverending distractions from the news cycle. Throughout this year I found solace in the visual image. Art continues to be … Continue reading Guideposts to Grace
Art + Practice’s latest show, Collective Constellation: Selections from the Eileen Harris Norton Collection is an exhibition that I always needed to see, I just didn’t realize why until now. Over the last several years, I’ve committed the month February to posting Artist a Day profiles where Black artists are highlighted and celebrated. In 2017 … Continue reading A Collective Constellation at Art + Practice
There is a confident sense of self in the subjects of Amy Sherald’s portraits whose gaze is as deliberate as their self-assured stance. They are dressed in sharp, bright colors with smart styling that merges retro and modern aesthetics into a style that’s not easily pegged to a specific genre. One painting features a young … Continue reading Artist a Day: Amy Sherald
It’s a good week for contemporary artists of color. While the MacArthur Fellowship announcements kept me buoyed all week, the news that the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery announcement was extra special. Michelle and Barack Obama have chosen Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley to paint their respective portraits which will be debuted by … Continue reading Artists Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley to Paint Obama Portraits
The cover of Robin Coste Lewis’ book, Voyage of the Sable Venus features a Harlem Renaissance era photo of a slim black woman standing on a sidewalk deep in thought. With one hand resting on her hip and the other cradling her chin, the woman is pondering what lies behind the glass window in front … Continue reading Poems and Portraits: Revealing and Reclaiming Blackness in Western Art
Culture Shock Art 