2023 At SAnkofa Studios

Since the start of this year, I have been pushing my creative output boundaries to explore abstraction and the potential of oil painting. I have been experimenting with techniques to create bold, vibrant, and captivating abstract works. I have been pushing the limits of my understanding of oil painting, color theory, and composition to create engaging works. I have also played with texture and layering to create captivating, immersive pieces. In addition to exploring abstraction, I have also been exploring the role of art in society and what it means to be an artist. I have been reading, learning, and reflecting on the importance of art in our culture and its potential to create dialogues and discussions about our collective experiences and histories. I have been exploring how art can impact the cognitive and emotional state and how it can lead to conversations about culture, history, and mathematics. By pushing the boundaries of my creative output, I am attempting to create art that speaks to my own experiences and the collective experiences of others. I am exploring the potential of art to create meaningful conversations, educate, and express the depths of our human experiences. I am also attempting to use art as a vehicle to learn and teach about our collective histories

Blog Post Title Two

I can remember the first time that I was introduced to the paintings of Horace Pippin, Lois Mailou Jones, and Aaron Douglas. I was impressed with their level of skill, the strength of their messaging, and more important than any other accolade was their lived experiences. I am a student of history and I fell in love with the study of history long before I ever touched a paintbrush. For many years I could not be found without some history or sociology based book in my possession. One in particular that brings back many memories is Will Durant’s Story of Civilization, an eleven volume history of many historic periods in European history, and yes, I read every volume. In reading these books I took the route of our legendary historian Dr. John Henrik Clarke who was told by Arthur Schaumburg to study the history of your masters, for your history exists in between the lines of that history. I learned to listen to our scholars and I studied their particular style of presentation. I would learn to read between the lines and further, uncover some of the missing pages of history, particularly art history. My early inquisitive disposition carried over into my life as a visual artist and I from the very beginning started to look for myself in the history of art. I would dig deep into the books, videos, and presentations and still my thirst for the presence of my people went unfulfilled. It was not until I started to connect the dots of those great artist from the Harlem Renaissance that I wold piece together what amounts to a full ethnography of Black art history. One of the first things that I understood was that our contribution to the arts was so old that time itself had erased our beginnings as artists. There were moments that I would learn and feel so fulfilled from uncovering these histories that it literally felt like a family reunion. I was meeting my aunties, uncles, cousins, and long lost friends and it felt amazing (It still feels amazing). I learned that Aaron Douglas’s journey from Kansas to Harlem landed him in the office of W.E.B. Dubois where he would work in the mail room; though he had ambitions on becoming the chief illustrator for the Crisis Magazine, but he would have to earn that positon. While working he would meet the legendary sculptor Augusta Savage that was known to challenge racism and popular stereotypes about Black people. I would then uncover that a basement in Harlem became the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts, a studio where a young Jacob Lawrence would study. Studying Jacob Lawrence’s style, particularly the migration series led my to the works of another artist, Horace Pippin. Pippin was from Pennsylvania and was a war veteran that would share with us so many moments from his life, including some particular moments with his beloved grandmother that were particularly special. After studying nearly every Harlem Renaissance artists I pushed back into the 19th century and met the great Henry O. Tanner who focused on religious themes early in his career but would move later to seascapes, portraits, and one of my favorites, The Banjo Lesson where he captured a powerful moment between a elder man and a youth transmitting cultural aesthetic across generations. Henry O. Tanner had some questionable issues with identity that I will eventually discuss but family is family, and he’s ours. Through my years of study I would develop a love for these artists and from that love grew a strong connection to the living artists around me today. Studying those histories will make clear to today’s artist that they are a part of a long lineage of creatives that bring an undeniably unique aesthetic to the world that we live in. Knowing these histories also gives the artists of today something very important, responsibility. Once the Black artists knows, they have the responsibility to hold on to these traditions and further, to become facilitators of these histories to the world. I am in the process of developing a full curriculum, more than 400 pages that includes teachers guides, assignments, quizzes, and a variety of projects that will be made available to schools, home schoolers, and art lovers in general. I received a grant in March 2020 that got the process started and the Aaron Douglas research section is complete and will soon be available for the public. I take my responsibility seriously when it comes to both encouraging and providing education in the arts, and along with my own works, this is my labor of love.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.