East of the River | August 2007 | Southeast Stylings

Southeast Stylings

Black Artists of DC: A Safe Space for Visual Artists

by: Khadijah Ali-Coleman

Washington DC is rich with a cultural history that spans back to the days of the Harlem Renaissance. The U Street corridor, which housed freedom seekers in the 1860s, and was nearby to the historically black Howard University, attracted the nation's black intellectual and artistic leadership in the 1870s. Home to legendary musician Duke Ellington, philosopher Alain Locke and poet Langston Hughes, if only temporarily, DC was the largest black “mecca” until 1920, when Harlem became the center of black creativity, intellectualism and politics.

“The Harlem Renaissance actually started here in DC,” says founder of Black Artists of DC, Aziza Gibson-Hunter. “What we’re realizing is that there is that there is an aesthetic that is coming out of this area…a look, certain things that you can identify where you can say ‘that looks like an artist that comes out of DC’. Taking a look at Alain Locke and his idea of negritude—going back to your roots—that whole movement was the basis of the Harlem Renaissance. Washington DC was the first place where Africans got their freedom, so there was this flocking of African-Americans to this area.”

Gibson-Hunter says that today’s artists in DC embody the talent and creativity of that time, but some aspects have been lost over the years.

“When the Reagan administration came in, in the 80’s, it cut drastically art programs across the country. Up until the time, there was a very vibrant art community in DC. I left DC but came back and wondered ‘what happened’? There were artists working, but the camaraderie was not there like it used to be. I talked to artists about their impressions and we were moaning about the same thing,” she reflects.

Thus, began the formation of Black Artists of DC.

Creating the artist collective
Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter attended, Tyler School of Art, and received a BS in art educatin from Temple University. She attended graduate school at Howard University and then moved to Harlen where she received an MFA in Printmaking. At Howard she enjoyed the vibrant environment that was inclusive of people from around the world.

“You had this gumbo, this whole mix going on,” she remembers. “I had classmates from Ghana, Nigeria, Virgin Islands and then African-American students from one side of the country to the other. And there was this sharing going on.”

This sharing, Gibson-Hunter says, contributed to a feeling of pan-Africanism and cultural pride that those who attended Howard University took with them when they left the university. Gibson-Hunter traveled and left the District only to return in the ‘80s to find that the cultural explosion she witnessed and participated in during the ‘70s had subsided. Eager to recreate the sense of fellowship among her peers, in 1999 Gibson-Hunter joined with fifteen other visual artists for the first meeting of the Black Artists of DC.

“We brought a dish and brought our artwork. Each person put their artwork out and we critiqued it. And that is the beginning, how we got started. Meetings were very erratic, but we just kept it going,” says Gibson-Hunter.

Word spread and DC-area visual artists soon flocked to the meetings. All types of artists showed up -- painters, print makers, sculptors, glass artists, metal artists, textilists—people who actually make the fabric, beaders, photographers, digital artists, graphic artists, and illustrators. Popular east of the river-based photographer Camille Mosley-Pasley, visual artist Amber Robles-Gordon and Daniel T. Brookings are among the members of the group.

“Right now I’m doing digital prints that I design on the computer. I design digitized images of skin,” says Brookings. “My father was classically trained artist and my early training was in charcoal, oils and things like that…with the computer it has opened up so many possibilities. I was also in theatre for fifteen years, and one of the original members of the DC black poets. DC is my home. I was born and raised here, hitting all parts-- 5th and T, M Town, Anacostia -- went to Anacostia Senior High and Douglas during the early days of integration, graduating in 1960.”

The group includes senior citizens in their 60’s to 80’s as well as students from Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts and School Without Walls.

“The group is composed of the young and the elders and everyone in between,” says Robles-Gordon.

Recent upgrades to the website have also allowed access to the group without necessarily having to participate in regular meetings. Since then, the group has participated in several local and national art events including the recent ArtDC and the Miami Art Basel held in Florida. The organization has also exhibited three shows entitled Hidden Treasures, Found and Convergence Vision: The Power of Art at Prince George’s Community College.

“Three years ago we began adding the technology on the internet and put up a listserv where we share information about grants, and every aspect of being an artist.,” says Gibson-Hunter. “As we’ve started to move along we began to see that this is something that is very unique. We thought that we better keep some records here. Daniel keeps all of the information on the activities we’re involved in as a group.”

Creating an art archive
Brookings is spearheading BADC’s effort to document all of the art work that members exhibit. After an artist notifies Brookings of an upcoming or current show they are in, Brookings will then include it in an online registry which will be available soon.

“If you open anything dealing with African-American art, you have these glaring holes, very incomplete, no written information from the artist, no idea what he or she wanted to say with their work,” says Gibson-Hunter. “One of the things we put a lot of emphasis on is documentation.”

Brookings agrees. “There’re thousands of people out their doing things on their own and not connecting,” says Brookings. “Since joining Black Artists of DC there is so much information being shared. I don’t know of any other organization out there doing anything like this.”

Brookings notes that over 300 artists are on the books for the organization. Though all of them may not attend a meeting or know everyone personally, they are connected by their love of art and need for support.

“Above everything this group has forged itself into a community where there is sharing and trust and inspiration,” says Gibson-Hunter. “It has supported people who were afraid to showcase their work and who now show their work in a gallery in NY, an Anacostia Art Gallery or a showcase in Paris. This ability for us to teach and reach each other even though we are shut out of so much when it comes to the business of art is very important. It’s very powerful.”

To learn more about the Black Artists of DC visit www.blackartistsofdc.org. To enroll in their upcoming classes for artists interested in marketing their artwork, contact George Martin at 202-726-1853.

Some Current Exhibitions by BADC artists:
Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic System in African Art, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, May 9-August 26, 2007, BADC artist: Victor Ekpuk.

Art of the Emerging, Galerie Myrtis, Washington, DC , August 3 to September 3, 2007, BADC artists: Miles Bumbray, Anne Bouie, Elsa Gebertsadik, Nicole Cutts and Wesley Clark. http://www.galeriemyrtis.com/

Energy, The Gallery at the Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC, July 9 – Sept. 21, 2007, BADC artists: Miles Bumbray, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Al Burts.

Katrina Diaries, Maryville University, St Louis, Missouri, June - August, BADC artist: Rochleigh Z. Wholfe.

Charles Saatchi on-line gallery, United Kingdom, 2007 on-going, BADC artists: Barbara Blanco, Daniel T. Brooking, Victor Ekpuk, Prudence Bonds, and Juliet Seignious. (to access the gallery
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/

ARTSCAPE Baltimore 2007, Villa Julie College Gallery, Stevenson, MD July 12-August 11, 2007, BADC artist: Barbara Blanco.

Coming By Force, Overcoming by Choice, Apex Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, July 1 – Dec. 30, 2007, BADC artist: Amy Bryan.

Art Mecco, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, August 4-25, 2007, BADC artist: Hugeaux.

Beyond Art: Myth and Meaning in the Career of an Artist:Workshop Women’s Caucus for Art/DC Chapter Networking Day, Saturday, May 19th, keynote speaker: Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter.

Adjoa J. Burrowes, children's book author and illustrator was the subject of an article published in the July issue of Elan magazine. She was also featured in a video presentation on youtube.com about her exhibition Picture Stories: A celebration of African-American Illustrators, at Rutgers University. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwDyGupQpCQ

Presenting Victor Ekpuk, American Women’s Club of The Hague, Netherlands, May 5 2007, artist: Victor Ekpuk, one-man show.

Fort Dupont Summer Music Series
“Doesn’t take much to make me happy, and make me smile with glee,” sang the female trio Shadz of Soul on July 21st on the stage in Fort Dupont park. As hundreds gathered on the grass, some on blankets, other on lawn chairs, the singers enthusiastically chorused the classic rendition of the song “Best of My Love” originally done by the ‘70s group the Emotions.

This annual music series takes place this year every Saturday, beginning on July 14th and extending until August 18 at the Fort Dupont Park located on Minnesota Ave. and Randle Circle in southeast. Acts take to the stage by 8:00 PM.

“It’s best to get here by 7 or earlier enough to get a parking space that isn’t more than a mile away,” says Maryland resident Dianne Freeman.

Parking along the park’s street and within the parking lot is limited and parking within the nearby neighborhood is scant and distant. As you approach the park’s stage area, you can’t miss the dozens of people lugging chairs and bags of food as they make their way to the park site. Smiles, not frowns, however, are on their face as they approach their destination.

“This is my sixth summer coming out to this,” says Freeman. “I really like it. You don’t have to worry about any of that mess happening like fights or foolishness like that. It’s a good time for everyone.”

With bare feet and incense sticks burning, some residents make themselves more than comfortable on the grassy area. They await to hear music from some bands that most likely they have never heard of before.

“The band tonight—Brass Construction and Shadz of Soul—I never heard of them, but I know they’ll be good, they usually are,” says one east of the river resident who had come down with his wife and children.

Singing other cover tunes, including several opening tunes by the songstress Teena Marie, Shadz of Soul engaged audience members, some who stood up and danced in place.

“Not many people can sing Teena Marie, but that wasn’t too bad,” says one woman. “Not bad at all.”

For more information, call 202-690-5166 or 202-426-5961. The following items may not be brought into Fort Dupont Park: glass containers, alcoholic beverages, illegal substances, and weapons of any kind. Charcoal grills may only be used in designated picnic areas. No tents or lit candles are allowed in the audience area. Vending, cameras, camcorders, and any other recording devices are also prohibited.


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Southeast Stylings
Black Artists of DC: A Safe Space for Visual Artists
by: Khadijah Ali-Coleman
Washington DC is rich with a cultural history that spans back to the days of the Harlem Renaissance. The U Street corridor, which housed freedom seekers in the 1860s, and was nearby to the historically black Howard University, attracted the nation's black intellectual and artistic leadership in the 1870s. Home to legendary musician Duke Ellington, philosopher Alain Locke and poet Langston Hughes, if only temporarily, DC was the largest black “mecca” until 1920, when Harlem became the center of black creativity, intellectualism and politics. “The Harlem Renaissance actually started here in DC,” says founder of Black Artists of DC, Aziza Gibson-Hunter. “What we’re realizing is that there is that there is an aesthetic that is coming out of this area…a look, certain things that you can identify where you can say ‘that looks like an artist that comes out of DC’. Taking a look at Alain Locke and his idea of negritude—going back to your roots—that whole movement was the basis of the Harlem Renaissance. Washington DC was the first place where Africans got their freedom, so there was this flocking of African-Americans to this area.” Gibson-Hunter says that today’s artists in DC embody the talent and creativity of that time, but some aspects have been lost over the years. “When the Reagan administration came in, in the 80’s, it cut drastically art programs across the country. Up until the time, there was a very vibrant art community in DC. I left DC but came back and wondered ‘what happened’? There were artists working, but the camaraderie was not there like it used to be. I talked to artists about their impressions and we were moaning about the same thing,” she reflects. Thus, began the formation of Black Artists of DC. Creating the artist collective Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter attended, Tyler School of Art, and received a BS in art educatin from Temple University. She attended graduate school at Howard University and then moved to Harlen where she received an MFA in Printmaking. At Howard she enjoyed the vibrant environment that was inclusive of people from around the world. “You had this gumbo, this whole mix going on,” she remembers. “I had classmates from Ghana, Nigeria, Virgin Islands and then African-American students from one side of the country to the other. And there was this sharing going on.” This sharing, Gibson-Hunter says, contributed to a feeling of pan-Africanism and cultural pride that those who attended Howard University took with them when they left the university. Gibson-Hunter traveled and left the District only to return in the ‘80s to find that the cultural explosion she witnessed and participated in during the ‘70s had subsided. Eager to recreate the sense of fellowship among her peers, in 1999 Gibson-Hunter joined with fifteen other visual artists for the first meeting of the Black Artists of DC. “We brought a dish and brought our artwork. Each person put their artwork out and we critiqued it. And that is the beginning, how we got started. Meetings were very erratic, but we just kept it going,” says Gibson-Hunter. Word spread and DC-area visual artists soon flocked to the meetings. All types of artists showed up -- painters, print makers, sculptors, glass artists, metal artists, textilists—people who actually make the fabric, beaders, photographers, digital artists, graphic artists, and illustrators. Popular east of the river-based photographer Camille Mosley-Pasley, visual artist Amber Robles-Gordon and Daniel T. Brookings are among the members of the group. “Right now I’m doing digital prints that I design on the computer. I design digitized images of skin,” says Brookings. “My father was classically trained artist and my early training was in charcoal, oils and things like that…with the computer it has opened up so many possibilities. I was also in theatre for fifteen years, and one of the original members of the DC black poets. DC is my home. I was born and raised here, hitting all parts-- 5th and T, M Town, Anacostia -- went to Anacostia Senior High and Douglas during the early days of integration, graduating in 1960.” The group includes senior citizens in their 60’s to 80’s as well as students from Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts and School Without Walls. “The group is composed of the young and the elders and everyone in between,” says Robles-Gordon. Recent upgrades to the website have also allowed access to the group without necessarily having to participate in regular meetings. Since then, the group has participated in several local and national art events including the recent ArtDC and the Miami Art Basel held in Florida. The organization has also exhibited three shows entitled Hidden Treasures, Found and Convergence Vision: The Power of Art at Prince George’s Community College. “Three years ago we began adding the technology on the internet and put up a listserv where we share information about grants, and every aspect of being an artist.,” says Gibson-Hunter. “As we’ve started to move along we began to see that this is something that is very unique. We thought that we better keep some records here. Daniel keeps all of the information on the activities we’re involved in as a group.” Creating an art archive Brookings is spearheading BADC’s effort to document all of the art work that members exhibit. After an artist notifies Brookings of an upcoming or current show they are in, Brookings will then include it in an online registry which will be available soon. “If you open anything dealing with African-American art, you have these glaring holes, very incomplete, no written information from the artist, no idea what he or she wanted to say with their work,” says Gibson-Hunter. “One of the things we put a lot of emphasis on is documentation.” Brookings agrees. “There’re thousands of people out their doing things on their own and not connecting,” says Brookings. “Since joining Black Artists of DC there is so much information being shared. I don’t know of any other organization out there doing anything like this.” Brookings notes that over 300 artists are on the books for the organization. Though all of them may not attend a meeting or know everyone personally, they are connected by their love of art and need for support. “Above everything this group has forged itself into a community where there is sharing and trust and inspiration,” says Gibson-Hunter. “It has supported people who were afraid to showcase their work and who now show their work in a gallery in NY, an Anacostia Art Gallery or a showcase in Paris. This ability for us to teach and reach each other even though we are shut out of so much when it comes to the business of art is very important. It’s very powerful.” To learn more about the Black Artists of DC visit www.blackartistsofdc.org. To enroll in their upcoming classes for artists interested in marketing their artwork, contact George Martin at 202-726-1853. Some Current Exhibitions by BADC artists: Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic System in African Art, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, May 9-August 26, 2007, BADC artist: Victor Ekpuk. Art of the Emerging, Galerie Myrtis, Washington, DC , August 3 to September 3, 2007, BADC artists: Miles Bumbray, Anne Bouie, Elsa Gebertsadik, Nicole Cutts and Wesley Clark. http://www.galeriemyrtis.com/ Energy, The Gallery at the Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC, July 9 – Sept. 21, 2007, BADC artists: Miles Bumbray, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Al Burts. Katrina Diaries, Maryville University, St Louis, Missouri, June - August, BADC artist: Rochleigh Z. Wholfe. Charles Saatchi on-line gallery, United Kingdom, 2007 on-going, BADC artists: Barbara Blanco, Daniel T. Brooking, Victor Ekpuk, Prudence Bonds, and Juliet Seignious. (to access the gallery http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/ ARTSCAPE Baltimore 2007, Villa Julie College Gallery, Stevenson, MD July 12-August 11, 2007, BADC artist: Barbara Blanco. Coming By Force, Overcoming by Choice, Apex Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, July 1 – Dec. 30, 2007, BADC artist: Amy Bryan. Art Mecco, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, August 4-25, 2007, BADC artist: Hugeaux. Beyond Art: Myth and Meaning in the Career of an Artist:Workshop Women’s Caucus for Art/DC Chapter Networking Day, Saturday, May 19th, keynote speaker: Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter. Adjoa J. Burrowes, children's book author and illustrator was the subject of an article published in the July issue of Elan magazine. She was also featured in a video presentation on youtube.com about her exhibition Picture Stories: A celebration of African-American Illustrators, at Rutgers University. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwDyGupQpCQ Presenting Victor Ekpuk, American Women’s Club of The Hague, Netherlands, May 5 2007, artist: Victor Ekpuk, one-man show. Fort Dupont Summer Music Series “Doesn’t take much to make me happy, and make me smile with glee,” sang the female trio Shadz of Soul on July 21st on the stage in Fort Dupont park. As hundreds gathered on the grass, some on blankets, other on lawn chairs, the singers enthusiastically chorused the classic rendition of the song “Best of My Love” originally done by the ‘70s group the Emotions. This annual music series takes place this year every Saturday, beginning on July 14th and extending until August 18 at the Fort Dupont Park located on Minnesota Ave. and Randle Circle in southeast. Acts take to the stage by 8:00 PM. “It’s best to get here by 7 or earlier enough to get a parking space that isn’t more than a mile away,” says Maryland resident Dianne Freeman. Parking along the park’s street and within the parking lot is limited and parking within the nearby neighborhood is scant and distant. As you approach the park’s stage area, you can’t miss the dozens of people lugging chairs and bags of food as they make their way to the park site. Smiles, not frowns, however, are on their face as they approach their destination. “This is my sixth summer coming out to this,” says Freeman. “I really like it. You don’t have to worry about any of that mess happening like fights or foolishness like that. It’s a good time for everyone.” With bare feet and incense sticks burning, some residents make themselves more than comfortable on the grassy area. They await to hear music from some bands that most likely they have never heard of before. “The band tonight—Brass Construction and Shadz of Soul—I never heard of them, but I know they’ll be good, they usually are,” says one east of the river resident who had come down with his wife and children. Singing other cover tunes, including several opening tunes by the songstress Teena Marie, Shadz of Soul engaged audience members, some who stood up and danced in place. “Not many people can sing Teena Marie, but that wasn’t too bad,” says one woman. “Not bad at all.” For more information, call 202-690-5166 or 202-426-5961. The following items may not be brought into Fort Dupont Park: glass containers, alcoholic beverages, illegal substances, and weapons of any kind. Charcoal grills may only be used in designated picnic areas. No tents or lit candles are allowed in the audience area. Vending, cameras, camcorders, and any other recording devices are also prohibited.