WASH DAY GOSSIP. 53” X 55”, OIL ON CANVAS
Marion Griffin, born in Columbia, South Carolina, is primarily a self-taught artist. Having learned the fundamentals of art in early childhood, she continued to grow through visiting museums, libraries, and other art institutions that could aid her awareness. Marion has exhibited in New York City, Brooklyn, N.Y., Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
(Medgar Evers College. (19–). The Medgar Evers College art collection. Brooklyn, NY: MEC)
NEW VISIONS. 40” X 29”, OIL ON CANVAS
Jean Dominique Volcy was born in Haiti. His passion for art showed at a very young age in his elaborate drawings and watercolor paintings. Later he visited the Bob Blackburn Print Making workshop; there he mastered his artistic skills. Volcy’s primary media are watercolor, oil and acrylic. Volcy has participated in many exhibitions in the metropolitan area and abroad in venues such as the Center for Arts & Culture (Bedford Stuyvesant), The Brooklyn Museum, The Bronx Museum and La Maison des Arts (Montreal). His works are included in many books and catalogs. (Source)
MOTHER AND CHILD. 39” X 18”, COPPER REPOUSSÉ MOUNTED ON WOOD
Art for Miriam was originally just a hobby. At age 40, she enrolled at the Brooklyn Museum Art School to study painting and drawing. After completing two years, she entered Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn to obtain a B.S. in Fine Arts. She graduated in 1975 summa cum laude.
(Medgar Evers College. (19–). The Medgar Evers College art collection. Brooklyn, NY: MEC)
FAMILY. 5’ X 6’, MAHOGANY WOOD CARVING
Maxi St. Felix was born in Aquin, Haiti. He began to study art at the age of 19 under his cousin Ludovic Booz who is a well-known sculptor and painter in Haiti. In 1969, St. Felix entered the Haitian Academy where he began his formal art training. He also studied at the Lope de Vega Institute, where he excelled as a sculptor. After five years of study, he opened his studio in Port-au-Prince.
(Medgar Evers College. (19–). The Medgar Evers College art collection. Brooklyn, NY: MEC)
Maxi St. Felix, a student and distant cousin of Mr. Booz’s, displays a number of well-conceived and executed wood carvings. In all of his art, Mr. St. Felix brings an uncanny sense of pride and honesty to his characteristic Haitian style. In ”Birds” (1982) in particular, he conveys a fresh approach, which mixes some of the expressive tendencies of African art, with the spatial and tensional concerns of the early Modernists. (Source)
YOUNG INDIAN MOTHER AND CHILD. 23” X 34”, WATERCOLOR
Marian Howard has been a full time artist for over 42 years. She presently makes her home in Morristown, New Jersey, but is a native of Savannah, Georgia. She has exhibited in many “One Woman” shows as well as group exhibitions. Her paintings reflect floral birds, African motifs or people of color as well as mixed media works and landscaping. She enjoys painting a wide variety of subjects, always searching for ways to grow. The original “Young Indian Mother and Child” is presently part of a permanent collection at Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, N.Y. “Young Indian Girl” is in the permanent collection of AT&T of New Jersey.
Ms. Howard expresses her love of humanity and nature and truly paints from her soul. Her paintings are in numerous private collections in countries such as Russia, Africa, Spain and throughout the United States. Her work also graces the walls of City Halls (Apopka, Fl. most recently), colleges and business offices. (Source)
Many of her paintings are drawn from childhood memories, and feature young and old generations alike. The lone subject of “Young Girl In Field” seems to exude an awakening and sensuality, as she stands smiling in a field with her white dress pulled down over one shoulder, against the backdrop of a virginal blue sky. In her painting simply entitled “Time,” an old woman looks off into the distance, her compelling, wizened face a testament to her long life’s journey.
Howard’s paintings also depict African subjects, such as the arresting “Massai Warriors” and the beautiful “African Mother and Child,” which provide striking glimpses into a distant, ostensibly ancient world.
It is no surprise that Howard paints her down-to-earth subjects with earthy tones and colors, as she strives to emulate her favorite artists, which include American masters Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth.
“I absolutely love their style, and the eloquence of their pieces!” she said. “Wyeth’s are a little bit more detailed, more illustrative and I love the colors he used. Those are the colors that I am so drawn to—so earthy—and the tones really speak to me.
So those are the same tones that I always used in my pieces as well.” (Source)
DUKE ELLINGTON. 24” X 32”
Mal Cann, painter, designer, and instructor attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City as an illustration major. He has taught at Parsons University and St. Johns University. Mr. Cann’s reproductions are in the homes and businesses of possibly thousands of people including some famous individuals such as …Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Bill Cosby.
(Medgar Evers College. (19–). The Medgar Evers College art collection. Brooklyn, NY: MEC)
THE CORONATION OF OBA. 2” X 16” X 48”, MAHOGANY WOOD CARVING
Chief Isaac Olugbemiga Komolafe is one of the best known master carvers of the Fekeye traditional carving school. Chief Komolafe, a Yoruba, born in Ilesha in Oyo State, Nigeria on March 15, 1947, began carving in 1969 after completing secondary school.
(Medgar Evers College. (19–). The Medgar Evers College art collection. Brooklyn, NY: MEC)
TWO WOMEN TALKING. 5 ½” X 7 ½”, COLLAGE ON BOARD
Born: Winter Haven, Florida, 23 March 1936. Education: Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, Florida, B.A.; Pratt Institute of Fine Arts, New York, 1973-76, M.F.A., 1976. Awards: Living Legends Award, National Urban League, 1980; Thirty-Ninth Annual Printing Industry Award, Schomburg Center, New York.
During his time at Pratt, Denmark was surrounded by a well-endowed art community and influenced by several ideologies, specific artists, and movements. In particular he studied and looked to the ideas and styles of African American masters such as Romare Bearden, Ernest Crichlow, Jacob Lawrence, and Norman Lewis. Denmark was also greatly influenced by mainstream abstract expressionists such as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Clyfford Still. With his newly expanded artistic involvement, Denmark’s style underwent a prominent change. He began to experiment with the essentially improvisational medium of collage. Using paper, found objects, and fabric, Denmark developed a personal, identifiable style.
(Minderovic, Christine Miner. (1997). Denmark, James. In T. Riggs & Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. St. James guide to Black artists. (pp. 140-141). Detroit: St. James Press)
HARLEM STREET SCENE. 24″ X 36″, OIL ON CANVAS
James Brown, a native of New York City, is an internationally-known artist. His capabilities and talents extent beyond that of a painter, for he is a graphic artist and illustrator.
Most of his work concentrated within the pinnacle of the life experiences of African people in North and South America, Africa and the Caribbean. He is committed to portraying a universal theme, making a statement, or relating a story in the lives and culture of African people in urban and rural environments that deals with such emotions as; loneliness, love, isolation, happiness, pride, faith and lack of faith, anguish, fear, weakness, dreams, despair, and above all strength and dignity.
Mr. Brown has exhibited his work in more than eighty shows throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean over a fifteen year period and was included in exhibitions with Romare Bearden, Andy Warhol, Jacob Lawrence, Frank Stella, Jack Levine, Will Barnet, Janet Fish, Elizabeth Catlett, Jack Beal and others. His work is included in numerous public and private collections.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Long Island University in Sociology, English, History, and Economics, a Master of Science degree from Brooklyn College, and has taken Doctoral Studies at New York University and Yeshiva University.
Mr. Brown is listed in “Who’s Who In American Art”. (Source)
THEY TRY SO HARD TO TAKE OUR SOULS. 50 ½” X 40”, PAPER COLLAGE
George Smith was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he majored in the Fine Arts. His mediums are sculpture, painting, and printmaking. He was a coordinating member of Art Against Apartheid and exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Columbia University and the Studio Gallery in Brooklyn among other venues. Mr. Smith also taught a graphic design workshop at the Children’s Art Carnival.
(Medgar Evers College. (19–). The Medgar Evers College art collection. Brooklyn, NY: MEC)
Art against apartheid (IKON: Creativity and Change. A special double issue)
“I believe that as a Black man who is an artist, I have the same responsibility and purpose as those of my forefathers who were artists before me. That is, of being the keeper of the culture, a visionary, a medium, an agitator, and a functioning member of the community.” (Geo. Smith)
Art against apartheid (poster)
