About: My bliss is to use my creativity to make art I feel best express my idea of life. Art that challenges and satisfy a profound place in thee spirit (the process of making). Color, shape, texture, and balance, working together are the most inspiring elements of creating. Developing a technique of application has always been a critical aspect of my process. Application is the method of making marks, an exploration into how color and texture work to evoke responses in the viewer. I have been exploring this relationship between color and space to create emotional, provocative, and technically alluring expressive works. To ensure that each viewer has his/her own experience with the work. Using my foundation in basic drawing and composition, this knowledge releases me to create with a freedom that is energizing.
The act of painting is spiritual in many respects. If you are really faithful to your search, and it is a search, you become like a monk. You emerge yourself in the tools used to gain a better understanding of what painting is. Brushes, oil paint, watercolors, acrylics, inks, varnishes, knives, solvents, waxes, dry pigments, canvases and panels are just some of the tools. I am in awe of how paint can be combined, shaped, colored and made into images never seen before, and still offer beautiful songs, poems, and revelations.
About: I am a 1st generation California Black Creole. My parents and grandparents were some of the many African Americans who migrated to the West Coast during the great migration in the 1950s and 60s from Louisiana. Catholicism was a big part of my upbringing and I can remember seeing nothing but black representations of Christ around our home growing up. The piece that I’ve entered is my representation of Christ as a black man with a modern representation.
We’re excited that February brings to Richmond Art Center the launch of Art of the African Diaspora. Now in its 25th year, but presented as an online exhibition for the first time, Art of the African Diaspora will present artwork by over 130 Black artists from the Bay Area.
Art of the African Diaspora begins during Black History Month, a time for the education and celebration of Black culture in America. But Art of the African Diaspora extends well beyond February with exhibitions and artist events scheduled throughout March, April and May 2021. While the covid pandemic limits our opportunities to physically come together, Art of the African Diaspora offers numerous artist-curated happenings that everyone is invited to join. We encourage you to meet artists, learn about and from their work, and celebrate this rich creative community.
In February at Richmond Art Center we are also taking Black History Month as a prompt to reflect on what Black history reveals, and how racial inequality has shaped our community and in our organization. As part of our racial equity journey we are taking time this month for self-examination, and to identify tangible steps towards improving diversity, equity and inclusion at Richmond Art Center. Our goal is to be an organization that is inclusive year-round. We will share an update on our work at the end of this month.
More info: Donna Gatson is primarily a self taught emerging artist. Born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula w/ deep ties to the South and Southwest. Driven by an uncontrollable urge to create art using the mediums of water color, gouache, graphite pencil, metal and assemblage, her work ranges from Black country folk art to a style she refers to as “Afro/Deco Cubism”.
She is also one of the few African American silversmiths in the country. Donna was mentored by renowned silversmith Gerald Lomaventema in traditional Native American silversmithing on the Hopi reservation. She took the techniques and used them to create her own Afro, Asian, Anasazi influenced designs in silver and copper jewelry.
She feels very fortunate to have been able to take advantage of the wonderful metal arts classes at Mission (2011, 2012, 2016) and Evergreen Colleges (2008).
Donna can be reached at 408-489-0309
More info:
Title: Marvin Medium: Graphite pencil on unfinished violin Size: 18×14
About: These days when I stop before a mirror, it’s not to assess the length or increasing number of grey follicles of my “COVID” hair, but it is to consider whether or not it is the right time to sit down and draw a selfie, or self-portrait.
I have been drawing selfies since June 2019, inspired by the intriguing drawings I saw of an online art group. Each week members of this group post drawings of themselves by following two basic rules — each drawing has to be from a reflective image like a mirror — no drawing from photos are allowed — and the images have to be posted on a Sunday.
I have enjoyed these weekly drawing sessions with myself. It has brought a focus to my life when at times I have been distracted and rudderless. Despite the endless battles with my inner critic I tell myself that what matters is that I show up in front of this mirror.
Some weeks showing up at the mirror was hard, like the week I was laid off from my job. I was so disheartened that I did not feel like drawing. But when I picked up a handheld mirror and pencil, I drew the sadness that I saw on my face. Months later I found relief in that same face that I drew after picking up some freelance work.
Thanks to these regular sessions with my reliable model, I have noticed a big improvement in my drawing skills. Now I use an assortment of art tools, from graphite pencils to watercolors to an iPad to capture the light, curves and emotions that I see reflected in my face. Still, I have so much more to learn, which I plan to address one selfie at a time.
Artist bio: In addition to her ongoing series of self-portraits, Carrie McClish, a freelance writer, has illustrated a book of poetry, drawn newspaper illustrations, participated in group exhibitions with local urban sketchers and has created chalk art on the streets of Oakland and San Francisco to draw awareness to endangered bird species in the Bay Area.
About: James Knox has been photographing the Bay Area jazz scene since 2002. His photographs have been featured in SF Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Sotheby’s Realty, Visiting Oakland Tourist Guide and album covers/websites for local and national artists. He is contributing photographer for Cuisine Noir Magazine, SFJAZZ, Monterey Jazz Festival and San Jose Jazz Festival where he was a official staff photographer for the 2015 Summer Fest. His photo of Kurt Elling was published in SFJAZZ: The First 30 Years: Setting the Stage.
His photography has been exhibited at the San Francisco Main Public Library, California Jazz Conservatory, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library for Jazz Appreciation Month (San Jose), San Leandro Public Library, Berkeley Public Library, Cigar Factory Lofts, The Jazz Heritage Center SF, The Sound Room, Joyce Gordon Gallery, The Art of Living Black, Richmond Art Center, American Steel Studios and Warehouse 416.
James received awards for his photo submissions in the Visiting Oakland Photo Contest in 2010 and 2011.
James is a Chicago native and the first live jazz concert he attended was Ella Fitzgerald at the Chicago Jazz Festival at 18 years old. He credits his love for jazz and photography to his parents, Ritson and Elizabeth Knox.
More info: De’Ana Brownfield is an artist and educator that currently resides in Oakland, California. She utilizes natural material, dyes, and painting to inquire about healing and reconnecting with Afro-Indigenous traditional ways of being. Through the use of personal, collective narratives and mythology, she unearths stories that have been washed out in the framework of America—visualizing a Black future that honors ancestral ways of being, prioritizing revolution that is deeply rooted in healing collectively, and with the earth. She holds a B.A. degree from Mills College and is a Root Division fellow for the Black Artist Fellowship.
The series is called: “A Panther in Africa: From St. Louis, Missouri to Ghana, West Africa” (1-3).
We are on the elder’s property where he is holding court with the younger warriors. All Diaspora men — there are four men, one Ghanaian, one from the Caribbean and the third black American. All arrived in Ghana 20-25 years ago looking for the bush and found it here.
The younger man with Brother Muhammad stopped in Ethiopia first for a few years.
These Diaspora men were looking to get away from the complications of structural racism, noisy capitalism and modernity. They stepped off the grid, yet when I arrived in the conversation, they spoke of how the precious bush was being chopped down, land gone, cultural treasures leased and discarded, sold to the highest bidder.
So these men sell or rent out their houses when the road gets too close. . . hoping for a spot where they will be left alone. Off the grid, they use solar power, rainwater irrigation. They make small small carbon footprints. They live sustainable and over their time in Ghana have tried to share this way of life with the Ghanaian people; however, the west is a more attractive option to most of the youth who weld chainsaws like the cowboys of the wild wild west slang pistols. The boys chop down trees — clearing the land of their ancestors for European, Indian, Asian, American, outsiders to develop.
It had been storming, we walked carefully around muddy places on the hillside where the three houses stood. A garden flourished, covered the landscape with edible and decorative plants–many medicine for ailments.
The outdoor porch where Brother Muhammad sat was like a classroom, all of us eager to listen to his stories about the movement and his first time in Ghana and his return for good 30 years ago. When I went into his home, I was surprised to see the lovely marble floors and walls– spacious and open, with beautiful art in each room.
The other house further down was round, its walls tiled with beautiful seashells and tiled glass.
About: My degree is in engineering. Figuring things out and problem-solving is not what I do, it’s who I am. I constantly ask myself how and why something works. This same inquisition is part of the reason I love photography. As a self-taught photographer, I have found that photography among other things is a simply a balance of light, time, and subject.
My goal as a photographer is to continuously mix these three elements together to create an image that is truly sui-generis; An image of expression, focus, and substance. My passion is still capturing the moments that matter the most; however, I have grown in my photography.
I am in love with the smile and the expression that lovers make when they say I do. I embrace the notion that all women are beautiful and strive to make that a constant visual reality in my work. The diverse way I view the world is influenced by my experiences in living in many places (Compton CA, Carson CA, Cotton Plant AR, Los Angeles CA, Houston TX, Dallas TX, Atlanta GA, Long Beach CA and Oakland, CA).
‘It is in the living and the experiencing that you will find the light…my job is to capture those special moments in between.’ Gregory Worsham
About: Kumi Rauf grew up in a loving Pan-African household filled with music, art, activism, travel and photography. His inspiration for photography stemmed from his father, uncle & brother who are all established photographers. His inspiration for art & travel come from his mother.
After leaving corporate America, Kumi took his first international trip. They say once your mind is stretched by a new idea, it never regains its original dimensions. Kumi traveled extensively throughout Africa and other parts of the world soaking up culture and using his camera as a conduit for telling forgotten stories and forbidden tales of Blackness.
Recently Kumi has begun to document more stories in his own backyard. Oakland has so many beautiful and resilient stories to tell, these must never be forgotten.
In addition to being a photographer Kumi is also a drone pilot. Capturing images and video from an aerial perspective allows more encompassing ideas to take flight in his art (pun intended). Kumi blends his passion for Black cultures, storytelling and traveling in his artwork. He also leads tours to many different places around the world. Because of his love for travel & art he is known as the Escape Artist.
More info: The double exposure piece shown here showcases Huey P. Newton (co-founder of the Black Panther Party) and a nighttime scene in Oakland. Embedded in the image are different themes encompassing various aspects of Blackness.
