About: As a mixed media artist I am fascinated and intrigued by the histories of artifacts and the emotional human qualities they posses. I accumulate found, recycled, repurposed, and well-worn forgotten objects. The clutter that has been tossed aside as useless or obsolete becomes the backbones and inspiration of my work. The main focus in my work is to imbue these rediscovered treasures with new re-imagined narratives that are humorous and poignant.
About: See in color–through a Yelloh Joy lens. Hang-out in this portfolio space. View never-released works by top west coast talent and curated pieces from our most popular stories.
Art Specs: 8″ x 10″ Giclee image. Archival paper 10″ x 12″ in size. Added with order, history card / caption information and matte board. Frame will not be included.
About: I am a professor of African American literature at Mills College and a lifelong artist and writer. In my work as a teacher and scholar of U.S. Black literature and literary history, I focus on bringing to light those Black lives and legacies that have been overlooked. These same interests inform my work as an artist. I am especially interested in the ways that telling stories of the celebrations, struggles, actions, and accomplishments of Black communities and individuals can transform how people of all ethnicities experience themselves and the world around them. My portraits are informed by the sights, sounds, and sensations that I’ve stored up over my years in Black artist, academic, and activist community. I embrace bright, audacious, and unexpected colors as a way to move beyond entrenched stereotypes and into a vision that reflects the wonderful complexity of Black lives–our history so deeply embedded in our present, our celebrations so often tempered by grief and, yes, the pleasure and risk we find in so many of the individuals, places, and activities that give us joy.
About: Mianta McKnight is a self-taught artist from San Francisco, who is spreading her wings and sharing the world through her lens. She finds art healing, and there are various forms of creative expression that she embodies. She creates visual pieces that are original work inspired by what she sees. The artwork has allowed Mianta to capture creativity visually and has been a new form of communication when words can’t quite express. She also has giclee canvas artwork, t-shirts, buttons, stickers, magnets, and mugs for sale. Her medium is a pencil, acrylic paint, and airbrush.
Creative expression is a part of who Mianta is. She also has experience in painting murals, and participated in the execution of the Bay Place WholeFoods mural in Oakland CA, and has worked closely with the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP) also located in Oakland, CA. Mianta does commission artwork, logo design, and website designing. Mianta has been in the Art of Living Black Exhibition 2019, is participating in the 2020 Black Woman Is God Exhibition (BWIG), and has been a vendor at countless Bay Area event venues, such as the Art and Soul Festival, Fam Bam, Sip and Swirl, Black Vines Wine event, Lake Merritt, and the Black Joy Parade to name a few.
Mianta also is a professional dancer who finds freedom through movement and performs with the Daktari Dance Medicine Collective as well as has her own business as a dancer called Movement Mami. She is a choreographer and is trained in samba, belly dance, swing dancing, west African, Haitian, and HipHop genres. She also has a background in classical ballet, tap dance, and jazz. She has danced in parades Carnaval, SF Pride and performed at the Black Joy Parade, Oakland Dance Festival, The Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive (BAPFA) 50th Anniversary for the Association of Black Psychology (AbPsi) and has been dancing for 40 years.
About: My works of art are primarily considered to be abstract and figurative . The approach is somewhat unconventional in the application of paints materials. I emphasize a free and spontaneous expression of techniques to achive unique designs. My most recent works of art is a combination of organic and abstract. I take a walk in the park to collect some interesting materials from nature. I infuse the process of incorporating abstract energy with the organic in a dynamic fragmented fashion.
About: My work is simply speaking to the day to day life of Black people in America. It starts with my memory of a childhood in Philadelphia and moves about in the long life I have been blessed to live. Some images are constant, but are familiar to most persons who see my work. I appreciate those who say to me…..”I remember this, or I had a dress like that …..when I was young. Thank you again RAC, for hanging in with us.
More info:
Title image 1. Hallelujah!!!!! 30×30 2021 Oil Pastel On Paper 2500.00
Title image 2 Standing Room 45×45 2019 Oil Pastel On Paper 3000.00
Title image 3 Storefront Church 40×45 2017 Oil Pastel On Paper 3000.00
About: Fan Lee Warren lives, works, and teaches drawing, painting, and art history at Laney Community College in Oakland, CA. Born in Birmingham, AL, and raised in Chicago.
Her work depicts a mixture of popular and historical perceptions of black people in the Americas. She arranges her figures within layered fragments of memories and events surrounded by the transformative ancient spiral on the stressed paper.
About: Memories of my childhood play a tremendous role in my approach to creating art today. In my early years, my mother a single parent lived in fear for my health due to the environmental hazards of San Francisco’s Hunters Point district. I suffered from asthma. Therefore, my innate interest in drawing and painting became that of a marriage over sports modeling my pursuit for constant spiritual mental, and physical elevation. Having siblings among others as viewers of my work challenged me to go beyond my limitations. I remember my late grandmother a Barber and tailor sewing for hours at her machine after coming home from work. I would sit at her feet and draw on a paper bag with a pen, marker, crayon or a number two pencil.
Art is an absolute liberation of my imagination, a tool I use to communicate and share my “inner-light.” I have regular memories of my childhood working at the local supermarket, helping elders with their shopping bags. Receiving tips helping my grandmother in her barbershop by sweeping up the hairs to find money mysteriously hidden in large clumps. At the end of each service, those who knew me would say, “ Never stop doing your art.”
