Zsudayka Nzinga
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Zsudayka Nzinga is an artist, curator and educator known for her colorful patterned textured mixed media portraits.
She is currently based in Washington D.C. In her work, Nzinga mostly explores black identity, including the context of black motherhood. One can see the influence of textiles in her work and the importance of the relationship, bringing together the cultural connection between black people and their community.
In an interview, she states the following about why she creates the images she produces: “I’ve always been interested in painting some definitive work together around what black culture is, and my contributions to that is my approach to color and pattern.”
Zsudayka’s work has been exhibited nationally at several galleries and museums, including the Center of the Arts in Virginia; 5 Point Art Gallery & Studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Follow us on Instagram to see more works by this artist and other daily post and images.
These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Gwendolyn Knight (1913-2005)
Painter and sculptor, Gwendolyn Knight (1913-2005) was the wife of renowned artist Jacob Lawrence. While she started painting at a young age, it was not until the 1970s that she began formally exhibiting her art.
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Knight immigrated to the U.S. when she was 7. At 13, Knight and her family moved to Harlem. She studied art at Howard University in 1930 and 1931.
During the Great Depression, Knight was employed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) where she assisted Charles Alston with a mural. At the same time, noted sculptor Augusta Savage was her mentor while she was a student at the Harlem Community Art Center.
Knight met her future husband Jacob Lawrence at the Harlem Community Art Center. Both artists worked with Augusta Savage. (Savage got Knight and Lawrence involved with the WPA program.)
While the WPA is credited for helping artists during the Great Depression, very few black artists were initially allowed to participate. To rectify this inequality, black artists in New York formed the Harlem Artists Guild to protest. It worked, and more black artists were accepted into the WPA’s programs.
Though Knight painted in a variety of styles, she was known for her narrative paintings. And she helped her husband prepare for his famous “Migration” series which told the story about the migration of African Americans from the South to the North.
It was not until she was 90 that she received a retrospective of her work. Knight received many honors and awards during her career, including the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award, the Centennial Medallion from the Black Caucus, and honorary degrees from Seattle University and the University of Minnesota. In 2007, to honor Knight and Lawrence, the Seattle Art Museum opened the Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Gallery.
In 2000, Knight and Lawrence founded the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation. The Foundation’s original mission was to support the early careers of professionals artists. Currently, the focus is maintaining their website.
Follow us on Instagram to see more works by this artist and other daily post and images.
These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Ed Clark (1926-2019
An abstract painter, Ed Clark (1926-2019) was one of America’s inventive painters whose innovation influenced the landscape of contemporary art during the post-war era (1950s and 1960s). In 1957, he exhibited one of the first shaped canvases and is credited as the first painter to work on a shaped canvas.
Despite his work receiving national and international praise, he couldn’t get represented by a white-owned commercial gallery during the post war era. The reason was simple: Clark was black. At one time, African-American artists who painted abstraction instead of black images faced the same bias as Clark. Black abstraction artists such as Norman Lewis, Jack Whitten, and others faced racism. Those in both the white and black art world felt that black artists should stay in the wheelhouse of painting black subject matter.
Clark, Norman Lewis, and other black abstraction artists should have been included in the Abstract Expressionism Movement along with Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Franz Kline. Instead, they were overlooked despite interacting with white artists that were part of the movement.
In 1998, Sharon F. Patton wrote in African-American Art (1998), “Although they knew and were friends with white American artists who later became renowned, the African-American vanguard mostly lacked the extensive sustained exposure through exhibitions, patronage and critical reviews in the press..”
Clark and other black artists, however, did not let being overlooked by the Eurocentric controlled art world stop them. They pushed on. Today, Clark is considered one of the most important American artists, and his work has revived both national and international acclaim. His work is in several museum and private collections, including The Studio Museum of Harlem, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Detroit of Arts. Clark died at the age of 93 on October 18, 2019.
Follow us on Instagram to see more works by this artist and other daily post and images.
These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Theresa Gloster
A self-taught artist, Theresa Gloster’s art tells visual stories based on her childhood and family. Gloster, a former beautician, was compelled to make art based on her memories while watching television in 1996. She grew up in a small African-American community in Bushtown, North Carolina.
In the beginning of her art career, she visited North Carolina folk art Sam McMillan after seeing him on television. McMillan was known as “Sam the Dot Man” and was one of North Carolina’s top folk artists. He earned the name “Sam the Dot Man” because he painted colorful dots on his artwork and clothes. (He died in 2018.)
Gloster took some of her art work for him to look at. Once he viewed her work, he declared she was a folk artist. McMillan proclaimed, “Girl, you’re a folk artist! Don’t ever let nobody tell you to paint differently from what you’re painting now. This is YOUR style, and you need to stick with it.” Gloster heeded his words and has been creating joyful images ever since.
In 2021, Gloster was selected as one of the South Arts Folk & Traditional Arts Master Artist Fellows. The fellowship honors master folk and traditional artists from the Appalachian Regional Commission Counties in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Follow us on Instagram to see more works by this artist and other daily post and images.
These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
Nate Young (1981-)
A Chicago-based artist, Nate Young (b 1981) is known for his conceptually narrative focused work made with wood. Born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, the inspiration for Young’s work is rooted in personal memories, family, and oral history. His work explores the objects and systems which influences beliefs, race, and identity.
In 2004, Young earned his BA at Northwestern College and, in 2009, he received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Also, in 2009, he attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Seven years later (2015), Young was invited by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture to become a Dean of the residency.
Young’s work has been exhibited at various institutions such as the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Walker Art Center, Milwaukee Art Museum, Fabric Workshop Museum and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Young’s work is in several collections, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Walker Art Center, Mott Warsh collection, and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Follow us on Instagram to see more works by this artist and other daily post and images.
These posts are sponsored by the Black Art In America Foundation as part of our continuous advocacy for African-American art.
THE BLACK ART IN AMERICA (BAIA) FOUNDATION is a 501c3 organization that applies what we’ve learned over our 12 years as a multifaceted arts company to facilitate the growth of artists while cultivating the relationships and opportunities that bring Black artists and communities together.
We invite you to become a monthly supporter of the BAIA Foundation. Starting at just $3 a month, YOU become a stakeholder and begin to help us transform lives through art. We are growing the BAIA team and will use your contributions to hire more team members for the purpose of creating more educational and marketing resources for schools and universities about african american artists both past and present. Such art initiatives and educational programming like Blacklite with Steve Prince, Relating to Art with Dr. Kelli Morgan, and BAIA BITS would not be possible without the ongoing support of our Patreon members. Please consider becoming a monthly Patreon member today!
Review our list of rewards for becoming a BAIA Patreon / patron supporter. Your monthly contribution has lasting benefits. — “What will your legacy be” – Dr. Margaret Burroughs
Thank you new and recurring monthlyPatrons
Deloris and Eddie Young, Esther Silver-Parker, Eugene Foney, Zadig & Voltaire, PetrucciFamily Foundation Collection of African American Art, John and Melanie Guess, FrankFrazier, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Leslie Fields, Jim Nixon, Dr.Michael Butler, Mary “Madea” Jones, Carolyn L. Mazloomi, Terry Whitt Bailey, Brenda k robinson, Greg Head, Deborah J Jackson, Deborah Griffin, Kimberly Wilson-Lawson, Gail Rogers, Natalie F Lawrence, Yvonne R Carter, Gillian Crocca Photography, Eliesha Nelson, Gracie M Jamiah, Lyndale Pettus, Rev. Anita Marshall, E L Greene, Devon Simpson, Sylvie Meyers, Edward Johnson, Jimmy S. Clark, Jr., Robert & Susan King, Jacqueline Boggan, Nanno Smith, Dindga McCannon, Jenae Gayle, Donald M Rubin, Maya, Jessica Bickett, Jewell T. Williams, Derek Nichols, Diana Mbr, Shavaughn Buckley, Jalisa Whitley, Kassi De Luna, Eric T McKissack, Tsedey Betru, Cheryl, Polk, Victor W Brown, Alnita Ann Holder, Sharon Butts, Gregory M Glore, Tanya Desdunes, Vernestine Laughinghouse, Arelia Jones, Shakira Pollard, Kimberly Esmond Adams, Patric McCoy, Bridget Griffin, Rayhart, Mikal Aziz, Patricia Goodwin, Rebecca Smith, Rita Alston, Chris McNew, Sharyn Welch, Eunice Sykes, Paula DeJoie, Patricia S. Kearse, Cyderia Gates, Anita Askew Wharton, LaShanda Chirunga, Kree8tive DJ, Cynthia Hargrove, S Johnson, Darris L Shaw, Willa Bandler, Valerie A. Cooper, Paige Jernigan, Monique Johnson, Djibril N’Doye, Zawadi, Paul Daniel Curtis, Dr. Karen Patricia Williamsm, Brenda Joyner, Christina, Robert Taylor, Takisia Whites, Stephanie Stephens, Atiya Slaughter, Renee Williams Jefferson, Hope Elliott, Elaine Buchsbaum, Rosemarie Rogers, Frazier and Myra O’Leary, Velma McLaurin-Bell, Judy Nyquist, Kate Gadd, R Simpson, Crystal Green, Denise Rogers, Tara, Faye Edwards, Trina Virginia Brooks, jack, Beverly S Ware, Raven Walthor, Paige Jernigan, Gregg Y., Loretta Y Blakely, Barbara Hayes, Sonia Pollard, Vince Leal, Lisa Tomlinson, Diane E Leifheit, Art Now After Hours, Suzette Davis, Alison Woods, PB Fine Art Appraisal, Peter Prinz, Vickie Townsend-Carter, Lindiwe Stovall Lester, Arturo Lindsay, Raynard Hall, Toby Sisson, Bernard W. Kinsey, Leslie Smith, Nelly Maynard, Terri Bowles, Otto Neals, Ted Ellis, Bill Cook, SylviaWong Lewis, Donna Paxon, Nancy Maignan, Kimberly Smith, Tracy Russ, Gwen Meharg, Johnnie Mae Maberry, Zishan Evans, Arbrie Griffin Bradley, Sandra Sautner, Barbara Brown, Bronwen Hodgkinson, Sonia Deane, January Hoskin, Quinton Foreman, Terri Pease, Annette Grrr, Elayne Gross, Ann Tankersley, Jacqueline Konan, Jerome Moore, India Still, Kim Dubois, Edwina King Diva E, Charlotte Bender, Phyllis Stephens, Judith Hamilton, Francene Greene, Caryliss R. Weaver, Sharmon Jane Hilfinger, Bill and Deborah Nix, Joyce A, Wanda Baker-Smith, Emily Jean, C Harris, Morris Howard, Marie L Johnson, Ayoka Chenzira, Jean Gumpper, Dr. Darlene White, Dr. Sandra Boyce Broomes, Michele C. Mayes, Rita Crittenden, Beverly Grant, Linda B. Smith, Judith Bergeron, Emily Hegeman Cavanagh, Teri L, Claudia Bell, Cooky Goldblatt, Danni Cerezo, Sarah Caputo, Christina Levine, Jessica Beckstrom, Pamela Hart, Tellis, Louise Berner-Holmberg, Carla Sonheim, Alison Deas, Monikapi, Ashley Littlefield, Pearlie Taylor, Marina Kovic, Sarah Rooney, Mitchell Shohet, Cheryl B Blankman, Petrina Burkard, Sarah Drury, Megan LaCroix, Kellyn Maguire, Sophia Bellino, Cory Huff, Wilhelmina Barker, Shelley Danzy, Rosalyn D. Elder, Karen Pinzolo, Desiree Dansan, Deborah Paige-Jackson, ALKEBU LAN IMAGES Bookstore, DeLores M Dyer, Shelia, Susan Ross, Carlton Cotton, Joan L. Ward, Jocelyn Benita Smith, Paul Robinson, Janice Orr, Patricia D Dungy, Shawn Rhea, Cheryl Odeleye, Runez M Bender, Karen Y House, M Belinda Tucker, Dr. Yonette Thomas, Diana Shannon Young, Harold Moore, Shurvon Haynes, K.Coleman, Dana Todd Pope, M. Rasheed, Jamal Love, Annette, Manuelita Brown, Gale Ross, KL Martin, Patricia D Dungy, Patricia A Thomas, Carolyn J Grantham, Lyla Correoso_thomas, Judith Braggs, Cheryl Odeleye, Jean ODonnell, Saundra Woods, D. Amari Jackson, Aisha J. Thomas, Lisa Brathwaite, Marcia T Gibson, Kathryn Anderson Weaver, Deadybones, Genevieve Marsh, Rene Lee, Deborah L. McCullough, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, William Rembert Sr, Pauline Mansfield, Richard Lewis, Patrica Nulls, DeVera Redmond, Marcia Rafig
We Appreciate Your Support
