Senior Textile Arts Renaissance Society Student

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Process: Reaffirmation A Visual Dialogue Between Members of Black Artists of DC and Washington Projects for the Arts

International Art & Artists, Washington Project for the Arts, and Black Artists of DC present:

Process: Reaffirmation
A visual dialogue between members of BADC and WPA

Curated by Gina Marie Lewis, Assistant Professor of Art, Bowie State Univ.

Exhibition location: Hillyer Art Space,
9 Hillyer Ct. NW, Washington, DC
Exhibition dates:

Friday, April 1 through Saturday, April 29, 2011

Exhibition hours:

Mon. 12-5pm, Tues.-Fri. 12-6pm, Sat. 12-5pm

Opening Reception:

Friday, April 2, 6-9pm

Artists Talk:

Saturday, April 23 at 3:00pm

Featuring work by Anne Bouie, Daniel Brooking, Joel D'Orazio, Victor Ekpuk, Corwin Levi, Barbara Liotta, Adrienne Mills, and Cleve Overton.



Curated by Gina Marie Lewis, Process: Reaffirmation is an exhibition which focuses on and reaffirms the processes of artists within their studios. This exhibition honors the personal philosophies, practices, and vocabularies of eight artists and attempts to explore a visual dialogue between their works.

The exhibition represents an opportunity for artists to retain power over their work in the context of their own philosophies and interpretations. In some cases, the relationships between their works may be obvious, and other instances invite the viewer to inquire and explore the relationships from their own point of view. As a starting point, such aspects as linear relationships, creation of new processes, innovative use of materials, the making of marks, and defining space were most apparent during the curatorial process.


Gina Marie Lewis is a mixed media artist and educator. She holds an MFA in painting from Howard University and a BA in Cultural Studies and Studio Art from Norwich University.

She has curated exhibitions at Montpelier Arts Center and Howard University and has exhibited at the Hampton University Museum in Hampton, VA, Flashpoint Gallery in DC, and The Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, MD. She is currently teaching at Bowie State University.





All content © 2007 Black Artists of DC all rights reserved.For permission to reproduce contact: www.blackartistsofdc.com

Black Artists of DC Presents: Black Abstraction

Most of the artists featured in Black Abstraction speak of an energy and spirituality that guides their practice as expressed through: the five senses (Brooking), musical forms such as the blues, jazz and R&B (de Vargas and Williams), nature and the changing light patterns of the weather and seasons (Goodridge, Jackson, and White), multi-layering and various textural media, such as sand (Gebreyesus, Jones, and Leak), early African,craft and folk art traditions (Bouie and Varnell), while others have even been influenced by other art styles and movements, including Abstract Expressionism and the Colorists (Vango).

For many black artists, abstraction serves as an alternative way to express political and social ideas, fears, dreams and longings outside of figuration. It is the psyche made visible in swaths of bright and deep hues and textures energetically executed as in gestural abstraction or in the meticulous application of lines and shapes seen in geometric abstraction. Other artists express this creative impetus at times in symbols and letters, some seemingly familiar while others are self-created.
A few notable African American artists who have made seminal contributions to abstract art and Abstract Expressionism idioms include DC-based artist Sam Gilliam, Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas, Felrath Hines, Al Loving, Moe Brooker, Stephanie Pogue and Charles Searles.

In his essay “Blindness, Abstraction and ‘Double Consciousness’: the Critical Imaginary and the Sources of Modern Art,” CUNY professor and author Dr. Geoffrey Jacques summed up the relationship between African-American visual culture and abstract art as: “abstraction entered modern (so-called Western) culture in large part as an African or black thing, and is in fact, a ‘black’ tradition.” Increasing the understanding of this often misunderstood aesthetic and exposure of these art-makers is the primary focus of this current exhibition.


Jarvis DuBois CURATOR


The purpose of “Black Artists of DC” (BADC) is to create a Black artists community to promote, develop and validate the culture, artistic expressions and aspirations of past and present artists of Black-Afrikan ancestry in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Some of the goals of “Black Artists of DC” are to: produce, exhibit, document, continue and conserve our artistic legacy; create a cooperative trans-generational training ground for artists; create an advocacy for Black artists through community and political activity; and create and support a market for the art created by people of African descent.


The exhibition, Black Abstraction, in cooperation with The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Arts/Harmony Hall Regional Center, is sponsored and organized by the Black Artists of DC and highlights the work of 12 contemporary abstract artists who continue to explore and individualize this artistic style. These artists include: Anne Bouie, Daniel T. Brooking, Desepe de Vargas, Elsa Gebreyesus, Carolyn Goodridge, J. Hubert Jackson, Wayson Jones, Viola Leak, Eugene Vango, Kathleen Varnell ,J. Bertram White, and Ann Marie Williams. The works in the exhibition illustrate various mediums and methods including digital archival prints, encaustic, silk shibori and smoke-fired stoneware.








All content © 2007 Black Artists of DC all rights reserved.For permission to reproduce contact: www.blackartistsofdc.com

BADC is in the HOUSE!!!!11 x 51: 2011 Artist Fellowship Program – Visual Arts Exhibition at The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center

Come out and support on Friday!!!Wednesday, August 11, 2010 6:00 PM

Opening Night, Friday, August 13, 2010 at 6 pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday–Friday 11 am-5 pm, Sat. 11 am-3 pm
Exhibition Closes, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 5 pm


Media Contacts

Moshe Adams, (202) 724-5613

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) is proud to announce the 2011 Artist Fellowship Program (AFP) exhibition. AFP offers grants of $5,000 to individual artists who make a significant contribution to the arts and who strive to promote the arts in the District of Columbia. The artistic disciplines funded by the Artist Fellowship Program are rotated on a biannual basis, this year media and visual arts applications were accepted and next year (FY2012) performing arts and literature applications will be accepted. This program is unique because all AFP applicants have the opportunity to exhibit their work for free at The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center. While on display, the work will receive exposure from residents, art aficionados and the press. The AFP grant program is an excellent example of how DCCAH promotes diverse mediums and artistic disciplines. The exhibit will open at The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 6:00pm and will close on Wednesday, August 25, 2010.

Opening Night, Friday, August 13, 2010 at 6 pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday–Friday 11 am-5 pm, Sat. 11 am-3 pm
Exhibition Closes, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 5 pm

Where: The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center
1632 U St NW, Washington DC, 20009

Exhibiting Artists include:
Adam Davies, Alec Simpson, Alexandra Silverthorne, Andrew Konrad Wodzianski, Anna U. Edholm Davis, Beatrice Hamblett Delmonte, Bernard Smith, Bruce McKaig, Colin Winterbottom, Cory Oberndorfer, Dana Jeri Maier, Daniel Brooking, Donald Sterling Benjamin, Elaine Langerman, Elizabeth Wyrsch, Gediyon Kifle, James Brown Jr., James L. Hicks II, Jason Haber, Jenna Buckingham, Jenny Walton, Joanne S. Kent, John James Anderson, Joshua Cogan, Joshua Yospyn, Judy A. Southerland, Katharine MacDonnell, Kenneth George, Lely Constantinople, Leslie Talusan, Margaret Anne Marchand, Marta Perez Garcia, Michael Dax Iacovone, Michael Janis, Nancy Donnelly, Nicole Aguirre, Patricia C. Goslee, Patricia Tobacco Forrester, Patrick Michael Beldio, Peter Dueker, Rachel Beamer, Rania Salah Hassan, Rex Weil, Rik Freeman, Roderick Turner, Scott G. Brooks, Sean Hennessey, Sheila Crider, Sondra N. Arkin, Terrance E. Biddle, Tim Tate.

For a sneak peak of the artist's work visit Facebook.









All content © 2007 Black Artists of DC all rights reserved.For permission to reproduce contact: www.blackartistsofdc.com

Mixed Media Closing Recetion @ The Corner Store

All content © 2007 Black Artists of DC all rights reserved.
For permission to reproduce contact: www.blackartistsofdc.com