{"id":7714,"date":"2020-07-14T07:26:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T07:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=7714"},"modified":"2020-07-14T07:28:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T07:28:16","slug":"garden-art-letting-it-do-what-it-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=7714","title":{"rendered":"Garden Art: Letting It Do What It Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garden Art: Letting it Do What it Do<\/b><\/h1>\n

by D. Amari Jackson<\/span><\/p>\n

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Najee Dorsey nostalgically recalls that fateful day he almost \u2018threw away\u2019 a significant part of his current success.\u00a0 Upon purchasing his Columbus, GA home<\/span> three years back,<\/span> the prominent artist and entrepreneur looked in a storage unit and rediscovered some two-and-a-half-foot artwork he once printed to PVC,<\/span> the <\/span>durable plastic of outdoor signs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was actually in a garbage container along with some other unused materials,\u201d recounts Dorsey, CEO and founder<\/span> of<\/span> Black Art In America, the top site in the nation focused on African-American visual art. \u201cMan, I ought to do something with this,\u201d he thought, gazing at the vivid images of Black women planting and picking flowers. \u201cI just decided<\/span> to stick it out in the yard.\u00a0 And the more I looked at it, I was like, man, I think this would appeal to other people as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Garden Art Is Public Art<\/p><\/div>\n

It has.\u00a0 Today, what ultimately became the Garden Art for the Soul<\/a><\/span> collection is consistently Dorsey\u2019s top selling item each month at Black Art In America, with orders from around the country.\u00a0 While generating considerable revenue its first year after a viral video post and its debut at a May 2017 art show in Washington DC, Garden Art for the Soul\u2014despite the global quarantine and market woes of 2020\u2014is on pace to dwarf the total revenues of its previous two years.\u00a0 The popular collection boasts powerful images of African American culture including Harriet Tubman and Muhammad Ali along with the proud, everyday-folk who embody the Movement for Black Lives and our community\u2019s ongoing quest for equity and representation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Gathering at the front door<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a garden product that was manufactured using art imagery\u2014initially my artwork for the first two years, and then works licensed by other artists\u2014that is reproduced, printed, packaged, and shipped around the country,\u201d explains Dorsey, clarifying \u201cbut it\u2019s so much more than that. It gives visible representation to our aesthetic, our culture, generally speaking for Black people, which is what I didn\u2019t see in the marketplace as an option when I initially started to look for things to put out into the yard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorsey\u2019s current success with<\/span> Garden Art for the Soul<\/a><\/span> did not come without its lessons.\u00a0 Like a garden that quickly blooms, the inspirational product still had to be tended to.\u00a0 Though year one was a big success highlighted by a video promoting the collection that garnered over half a million views in three days, it was followed by a different energy.\u00a0 \u201cYear two comes around and things slow down a bit,\u201d acknowledges Dorsey.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a dip, but I attribute it to me focusing on other areas of the company because where you find success is going to be where you put your energy.<\/span> \u00a0I was focused on doing shows, creating art and selling art, so I simply got away from marketing it.\u201d<\/span> By<\/span> the end of the second year, \u201cit wasn\u2019t really jumping like before and it wasn\u2019t the growth we had hoped for.\u00a0 But I still felt like the product was special, that it had more legs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In January 2020, Dorsey recommitted to marketing Garden Art for the Soul<\/a><\/span> by promoting fresh images of the collection and licensing the work of artist and colleague, Deborah Shedrick.\u00a0 \u201cAnd then Covid hit,\u201d he says, noting how they still \u201cdid really well.\u201d\u00a0 Despite the chaos and market instability, business picked up even more when they made a similar licensing deal with celebrated artist, Charly Palmer.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Precious memories in the garden with Our Land and Big Mama by Charly Palmer<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cNext thing I know, we\u2019re staying up to like one, two o’clock in the morning fulfilling orders,\u201d excitedly recalls Dorsey.\u00a0 \u201cIt was just crazy, I mean, it took over the kitchen, it took over the living room.\u00a0 Some days we had to take two trips to the shipper, and we\u2019re still trying to navigate this whole thing.\u201d Despite acknowledging the difficulty of servicing so many orders, Dorsey introduced more images to the popular collection while expanding its marketing and advertising.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI didn\u2019t want it to end even though it was difficult in terms of managing the fulfillment,\u201d he admits, clarifying customer service as a high priority and the recent upgrading of systems, facilities, and human resources to meet the demand. \u201cWe want people to know who we are and that we care about the experience they have and the product they are getting,\u201d continues Dorsey.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s been a tremendous blessing, but also a lot of work to try and navigate the success of Garden Art doing Covid.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Such success is also a result of Dorsey\u2019s licensing of additional artists\u2019 work over the past few months including the culturally-affirming offerings of graphic artist, Poncho Brown; the colorful, ancestral-based renderings of painter Frank Frazier; the rich imagery of fifth generation quilt maker, Phyllis Stephens; the moment-capturing watercolors of painter, Stacey Brown; and the vibrant, Gullah-influenced depictions of mix media artist, Sonja Griffin Evans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ancestors by Frank Frazier<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBeing an artist with Garden Art for the Soul<\/a><\/span> allows me to further share and expand my art and Gullah culture into everyday life,\u201d says Evans, whose Gullah Geechee female figurines, Faith and Hope, recently joined the collection.\u00a0 \u201cA garden can be a great place to showcase your favorite artists and encourage interaction with your beautiful surroundings,\u201d visually enhancing it while making \u201ca statement.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Faith and Hope by Sonja Griffin Evans<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGarden art is a collection of colorful and diverse urban images encompassing flowing colors and abstract designs,\u201d echoes Stacey Brown.\u00a0 With his Garden Art musical collection, \u201cYou can imagine the eloquent sounds of jazz from your garden,\u201d or you can \u201cexpress your need for social justice with the powerful Black Lives Matter Garden Art image.\u00a0 Strong representation of our heritage with these images gives us a voice to beautify our sanctuary, our home.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get a chance to see themselves, their culture, or their political views reflected via Garden Art,\u201d confirms Dorsey, noting \u201cfor those that want to let people know where they stand, in terms of Black Lives Matter, we got that. Or they might want to post the Ali image with his protest sign saying, \u2018Sorry for the inconvenience.\u00a0 We are trying to change the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Black Lives Matter by Stacey Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

So is Dorsey. His company, Black Art In America\u2014currently celebrating its 10<\/span>th<\/span> anniversary\u2014was created at a time when few, if any, online platforms championed, documented, or served the African-American visual arts community. Dorsey has since grown the company<\/span> into an internationally recognized digital destination with monthly site visitors from over 100 countries and a half a million to its social media. Promoting and representing the works of hundreds of top Black visual artists across the country, Black Art In America offers a full roster of functions and services including<\/span> timely commentary on today\u2019s visual arts news, gallery meet-ups, market trends analysis, artist profiles, free original content and educational tools, member workshops, curatorial services, art consulting, marketing and promotions, social media management, and art appraisal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the vibrant online space he has built, Dorsey views Garden Art for the Soul<\/a><\/span> as a wonderful way for consumers to support a community-based, Black-owned business while being welcomed into the African American visual arts community. <\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>I see it as a great introductory item to seed their interest in culture, in a visual aesthetic, while also allowing people to start to collect art.\u201d However, he stresses, \u201cit all starts with getting them engaged and I think that\u2019s the beauty of the product because it\u2019s easy to appreciate, and it\u2019s functional too. It goes out into the yard and makes a statement in terms of<\/span> this<\/span><\/i> is what I value, <\/span>this<\/span><\/i> is who I am.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Dorsey, such value, given our current state of affairs, is critical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think you could find whatever you\u2019re looking for, in terms of the product, whether\u00a0 you want something that speaks to the times or that\u2019s going to take you away from the madness of the times,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cIf you want to support a Black-owned company that\u2019s doing great work, or if you want to give a gift to somebody to uplift their spirits, Garden Art does that as well. So, I think people can find whatever they\u2019re looking for on many different levels. And I wouldn\u2019t want to limit it, because people are gonna let the product do what it do for them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why they connect with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dorsey’s back yard patio<\/p><\/div>\n

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