Going in the right direction
#CaptionedBlackArt | Thursdaysº
Captioned Black Art
Your Curated Art Museum
Get cultured in five minutes or less . . .
“They had all turned aside, and gone out into the wilderness, to fall down before idols of gold and silver, and wood and stone, false gods that could not heal.”
— James Baldwin
A Snippet:
Did you know that James Baldwin was once a youth preacher within the Pentecostal faith, but left the church to pursue writing, full-time?
Learn more . . .
115. “Plenty of Fish” (2020)
“When I'm trying to create work that will elicit some kind of response, I would say, I will feel uneasy sometimes, but that usually tells me that I'm going in the right direction.”
— Nina Chanel Abney
Did you know?
Did you know that critics praise Nina Chanel Abney’s paintings for, “Capturing the frenetic pace of contemporary culture?”
Born in Chicago, Abney currently lives and works in New York. Her work encompasses subjects as diverse as race, celebrity, religion, politics, sex, and art history and is included in collections found across the globe from New York to Hong Kong.
116. “Portrait of Abner Coker” (1810)
“As a self-taught genius, having experienced many insuperable obstacles in the pursuit of his studies, it is highly gratifying to him to make assurances of his ability.”
— Joshua Johnson
Did you know?
Did you know that Joshua Johnson (or Johnston) is famously known as the earliest documented “professional” African-American painter?
Johnson was active in Baltimore during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The descendants of those whose portraits were painted by Joshua Johnson claim that Johnson was formerly enslaved—although his background remains a mystery.
Most of Johnson’s portraits depict affluent residents of Baltimore and all his subjects are white—with the exception of two African-American males.
This portrait (of a man, Abner Coker) is one of Johnson’s two images of an African American subject.
Coker’s identity was never confirmed, though clues suggest the portrait sitter may have been Abner Coker, a minister at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore.
117. “Same Ol’ Blues Today”
“There’s these pre-narratives that people have with Black people, many times you’re a character to them. They show up and you have interactions with them that are so odd and so inappropriate and cross so many boundaries, and it’s because the narrative of your existence is so narrow. What it means to ‘be Travis’ is to endure all of that and find a way to still have joy.”
— Travis Johnson
Did you know?
Did you know that Travis Johnson grew up singing with his five siblings in the Mojave Desert and has spent the last three decades developing his craft as a creative?
Travis Johnson uses art to explore the human experience—touching on the sometimes, “Whimsical, silly, serious, and painful sides of life.”
Johnson’s main artistic inspirations include: Bill Watterson, Justin Bua, Thomas Hart Benton, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Michael Hafftka, and Bill Turner.
In addition to visual art, Travis Johnson has spent the last 25 years singing throughout the US with his family group named, Fivacious.
Let us proceed in a manner worthy of progress
(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)
Going in the right direction
A STEM Grew Petals Newsletter
Next issue is next Thursday:
11am (Pacific), 2pm (Eastern)
Want Daily Quotes?
Follow on Instagram (at Captioned Black Art)
Made in Silicon Valley (with love) by author Jafari Joseph.
Copyright (C) 2025 My STEM Grew Petals Publishing. All rights reserved.
STEM Grew Petals is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.