Black Art in America Presents:
In partnership with March On Washington Film Festival
Spiral Now – 55 Years in the Making;
New Artists, Familiar Struggle
July 12 – 14 • Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20005
Exhibition Hours:
Friday – July 12 : 5:00 pm – 9:30 pm • Saturday – July 13 : 1:00 pm – 9:00 pm •
Sunday – July 14 : 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
The March on Washington Film Festival is proud to host a three-day art exhibit presented by Black Art In America complete with lectures on Friday and Saturday afternoons, July 13 & 14, from artists, executives, and industry insiders. Join us early and stay later to explore the artwork.
This exhibit is a group fine art show that pairs the pieces and stories from some of the legacy artists of the 1963 Spiral Group with contemporary artists who are following in their footsteps using their art and influence for social justice, including Lavett Ballard, Jamaal Barber, Kevin Cole, Najee Dorsey, Shaunte Gates, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Charly Palmer, Michael McCoy and Ronald Walton.
The Spiral Group, was a collective of artists Romare Bearden, Reginal d Gammon, Charles Alston, Emma Amos, Norman Lewis, Richard Mayhew and Hale Woodruff. Inspired by the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Spiral Group met weekly to discuss how they would participate in the March and the role of African American artists in politics, the Civil Rights Movement, and the American art world.
Hale Woodruff suggested the name “Spiral” in reference to the Archimedean spiral that ” moves outward, embracing all directions, yet continually moving upward.” It also represented them as a group of individual artists of diverse creative expressions, finding a common voice to address issues of cultural and social concern to all of them.
This exhibit will provide a platform for continuing awareness and public engagement as it relates to past and contemporary explorations in social justice, disparities in equality, and memory as healing through visual culture. This arts experience includes exhibition and programming. Artist exhibition guided tour and a panel discussion with avid collectors of works by African Americans and artists of color moderated by Najee Dorsey. All artwork in the exhibit is available for sale.
March on Washington Film Festival Art Exhibit, Lecture #1 | Friday, July 13th, 1:30pm-2:30pm
A tour and talk on the history of the Spiral Group, and background on their art pieces and those of the contemporary artists in the exhibit. Presenter: Najee Dorsey, artist, curator, and founder of Black Art in America with featured artists Lavett Ballard, Claudia Gibson-Hunter and Michael McCoy. Join us early and stay later to explore the artwork.
March on Washington Film Festival Art Exhibit, Lecture #2 | Studio Theatre, Saturday, July 14th, 1:30pm-2:30pm
Join us for this informative talk on buying and building your own Black Fine Art collection. Moderator: Najee Dorsey in conversation with avid collectors Juanita Hardy, collector and recently retired Director of Cultural D.C. and Jim Nixon of the Nixon Foundation Collection of African American art with a focus on Women artists. Join us early and stay later to explore the artwork.
About the curator: Najee Dorsey, many descriptive titles could attempt to sum up the profile of Najee Dorsey — Artist, Founder and CEO of Black Art In America (BAIA), Collector, Producer and Arts Advocate would only be the tip of the iceberg. Those experiences and many more have shaped his unique perspective on the art market and its various art worlds. Najee has successfully carved out an individual space for himself. A world class artists having had multiple museum shows and with hundreds of collectors, a visionary having built BAIA with a digital footprint of over 200,000 followers and various highly engaged social media pages (BAIA, Do YOU Basel?, EveryThang Black and Garden Art for the Soul) as well as producing art shows in major markets of NYC, Miami, Kansas City, Houston just to name a few.
Select images of works in the show available in this catalog
Exhibition Featuring Works by:
Legacy
Romare Bearden, Alvin Hollingsworth, Reginald Gammon, Charles Alston
Contemporaries
Shawn Artis, Lavett Ballard, Jamaal Barber, Kevin Cole, Alfred Conteh, Najee Dorsey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Charly Palmer, Michael McCoy and Ronald Walton
Exhibition and Art Talks are Free & Open to the public. All works are available for sale, and a portion of the proceeds benefit the March on Washington Film Festival.
Click Here to Register
Featured Image: Holy Family by Reginald Gammon, available on Shop BAIA Online (SBO)
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