Through August 29
The James Museum
Details here
Beginning September 10
UT’s Scarfone-Hartley Gallery
Details here
A potent and beautiful collection of work by Black visual artists is well worth exploring at the James Museum, and traveling soon to the University of Tampa. It’s a gathering of mighty work in a variety of mediums by acclaimed artists who span a wide range of ages and backgrounds. Each work is rich with skill and story, striking to see and beautifully displayed.
Presented by the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg, Reverberations curator Desmond Clark explains, “Can you hear the song that has been playing for over four centuries? Can you feel how it vibrates our nation? Can you see how it has affected your neighbor, your friends and your family?
“These artists live this every day. They weave the stories of past BIPOC people with their own. They inform and shape the art and actions that will come after. The rich history passed down for generations displayed in the images in this exhibition do not just echo; they reverberate.”
Each work tells a story – of past and present pain, and of strength, beauty, family and resilience. Highlights include a towering tribute to African American quilting by Missionary Mary Proctor with a gorgeous tapestry of fabric fragments. . . a towering sculpture made of very different gold-rimmed plates by Kendra Frorup that speaks to the strength of Black women. . . the vivid portrait of a world-weary Deacon of Defense and Justice with his rifle by Aaron Henderson, that illuminates little-known volunteers who protected civil rights workers from vigilante and police violence, often without their knowledge. . . and the colorful patterned abstracts of Sam Gilliam.
As artist Aaron Henderson explains the exhibit’s feature image, 400 Years, “We are the descendants of those they could not kill.”
Desmond Clark kindly gives us a vivid video tour of the exhibit.
ZZZ
Several striking works, including Gilliam’s, are on loan from the University of Tampa’s Scarfone Hartley Gallery, the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, Atlanta’s ZuCot Gallery – the largest African American-owned gallery in the Southeast – and private collections. Many works are available for purchase.
Explore the work and stories of these artists
on their websites
Jamaal Barber
(3 pcs) – courtesy of ZuCot Gallery, Atlanta
Jeremy Bell
(1 pc) – on loan from the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation Collection
E. Richard Clark
(3 pcs) – courtesy of ZuCot Gallery (Atlanta, GA)
Shannon Elyse Curry
(3 pcs)
Kendra Frorup
(3 pcs)
Sam Gilliam
(2 pcs) – on loan from UT’s Scarfone Hartley Gallery Collection
Trenton Doyle Hancock
(1 pc) – on loan from the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation Collection
Aaron Henderson
(4 pcs) – courtesy of ZuCot Gallery, Atlanta
Sedrick Huckaby
(3 pcs) – on loan from the Kendra Frorup Collection
Dallas Jackson
(1 pc)
Kianga Jinaki
(4 pcs) – one on loan from the Kathryn Howd Collection
Nneka Jones
(5 pcs) – 2 pcs on loan from the Gianna & Neil Gobioff Collection
Steve Prince
(3 pcs) – courtesy of ZuCot Gallery, Atlanta
Mary Proctor
(1 pc) – on loan from the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Museum
Eluster Richardson
(5 pcs)
Charlotte Riley-Webb
(3 pcs) – courtesy of ZuCot Gallery, Atlanta
Joyce J. Scott
(3 pcs) – on loan from UT’s Scarfone Hartley Gallery Collection
Princess Smith
(1 pc)
Therman Statom
(1 pc) – on loan from the Margaret Pennington Collection
Maxwell Taylor
(3 pcs)
William Villalongo
(3 pcs) – on loan from UT’s Scarfone Hartley Gallery Collection (2)
and the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation Collection (1)
Kara Walker
(2 pcs)
Basil Watson
(6 pcs)
