Absence does not raise a child
#CaptionedBlackArt | Thursdaysº
Captioned Black Art
Your Curated Art Museum
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“And that’s all we are, Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood, until we—each one of us, individually—decide to become something else.”
— Ernest J. Gaines
A Snippet:
Did you know that Ernest James Gaines after enjoying an immensely successful writing career, gaining all the approvals, accomplishments, accolades, etc. that one can dream of during a lifetime, chose to return to his birthplace, Oscar, Louisiana, during his golden years, where he and his wife built a home on the plantation where he grew up?
Learn more . . .
10. “Lineage”
“I think all artists feel they can do anything creative. Romare Bearden once said in an interview about his foray into songwriting, ‘If you don’t think this way, there’s no use being an artist . . . that you can do anything.’ I love that. It’s so true.”
— Shadra Strickland
Did you know?
Did you know that Shadra Strickland studied design, writing, and illustration at Syracuse University and later went on to complete her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City?”
Strickland won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent (in 2009) for her work in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott.
Additionally, Strickland co-illustrated Our Children Can Soar, winner of a 2010 NAACP Image Award and has published with Lee and Low Books, Simon and Schuster, Random House, Candlewick, Chronicle Books, and Little Brown.
11. “Walking” (1958)
“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as ‘Black art,’ though there’s certainly been a Black experience. I’ve lived it. But it’s also an American experience.”
— Charles H. Alston
Did you know?
Did you know that Charles Henry Alston (b. 1907-1977) was an influential painter during the Harlem Renaissance and the first African American supervisor for the Works Progress Administration?
Alston was responsible for supervising the WPA murals created at Harlem Hospital, leading a staff of 35 artists and assistants. Alston was also the first African American to teach at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Students League.
Charles Alston was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was related to renowned artist Romare Bearden—through his mother's second marriage. Although a natural with a painter’s brush, Alston’s artistic gifts were not limited to painting. In fact, he worked as a sculptor, cartoonist, and his illustrations were published in popular magazines: The New Yorker and Fortune.
12. “Juice”
“The idea behind art being or not being Black is not necessarily limited. We just have to do more than the average because critics are going to classify what’s done as Black art anyway—as long as you’re Black while doing it.”
— Alim Smith
Did you know?
Did you know that Alim Smith is a Delaware born interdisciplinary artist whose work has included the reimagining of popular Internet memes and has been referred to as, 'Afro-surrealist'?
Smith’s artistic process expands beyond one singular medium given several years of applied studies in Visual Art, Communicative Arts, as well as Photography.
In the artist’s own words, “I was actually annoyed because other articles would say things regarding ‘Picasso-esque’ style, but that’s not true. In fact, I was more interested in M.C. Escher because his optical illusions are very weird.”
“My art background is diverse, too, which was not delved into in previous pieces. My uncle, who was an artist, used to show me how to burn pictures into wood using a magnifying glass. He’d make these crazy little African sculptures, necklaces with doll hairs in them, and just dream up these wild pieces.”
“I was completely obsessed with his African masks. When I found out that [Pablo] Picasso was greatly influenced by African art, I was happy as it resembled work by my family. I didn’t look at Picasso trying to make anything similar, it was more inspired by my Uncle Lim and his love for masks.”
“If the village elder does not teach the child, the village idiots will.”
(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)
Absence does not raise a child
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