ART – Balisle Blog

The Richmond Art Center currently has three engaging and thought-provoking exhibitions: Art of the African Diaspora, The Future is Fluid, and Right Here, Right Now, Richmond. No need to drive far to see excellence. Witness a diverse collection of artworks that honestly reflect the human experience. Truth is proudly on display!

From the Richmond Art Center website: “Art of the African Diaspora is the longest running event of its kind in the Bay Area. This year it brings together over 150 artists of African descent, showcasing their work at the Richmond Art Center, as well as in open studios and satellite exhibitions at thirty different venues across ten Bay Area cities.”

Cedric Brown’s honeycomb/coming queen (bee), Karla Higgins’ Crimson Delegation, and Justice Renaissance’s Revolution employ pattern to record history. The natural world becomes ingrained into memory. From Renaissance’s website: “…It was mind boggling to consider that the piece of ebony I held might have come from a tree that witnessed the birth of slavery. The slice of oak may have come from a tree that provided shade for the Underground Railroad. Maybe some mother’s son was hung from the Tennessee Pine. Those trees had stories to tell and I was determined to translate!”

Cedric Brown, *honeycomb/coming queen (bee)*.

Candi Farlice’s What we are tied to, Mychal’s VOTE, and Orin Carpenter’s I Can Do Anything define the personal narrative. Carpenter: “I began to paint on my mother’s walls. That’s when I realized I could imagine and bring to life, anything I wanted. Then that grew into creating a world that was safer than the world I lived in everyday. As I grew, so did my need to separate myself from the mundane and trivial things that caused me to isolate myself and find my world of comfort and solace.”

Powerful and wise women reign in the artworks of Genesse McGaugh’s Imani, Zoë Boston’s External Crown, and Virginia Jourdan’s Liberty and Justice for All. Women are the backbone for moral clarity and change. From Jourdan’s website: “I find release from my own personal dramas when I’m able to express them as universal. As an artist, I help others make sense of the human experience. I guide people in awakening and living from the highest potential inherent within them. I want to arouse a sense of pride among African Americans. I want to evoke a feeling of power, strength, authority, elegance, and prestige.”

Virginia Jourdan, *Liberty and Justice for All*.

Highlighting all the amazing Art of the African Diaspora artists in one blog entry is impossible. Don’t miss the opportunity to view this exhibition! It takes a tremendous amount of collaboration to organize and curate. The city of Pride and Purpose is here to stay…