ARTBites / Art in Context – Finding Their way: Abstract Art by Black artists

Programming to accompany the Tangents: Abstract & Geometric Art in Northeast Ohio includes Finding Their Way: Abstract Art by Black Artists, a virtual discussion on ZOOM Wed. November 15th. between Dr David C. Hart, associate professor of art at CIA, and Kerry Davis a respected collector of African American art from Atlanta, Ga. Their topic of discussion will be centered historically around Davis’s collection which includes many Black artists working in abstraction.

This will take place as an interactive conversation between the two men and will also include images shown by Hart referencing works from the Davis collection, followed by a Q&A period between the audience and the panelists. This will be a free virtual presentation through ZOOM and registration will be required for viewers, from the AAWR website.

David C. Hart, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Art History at the Cleveland Institute of Art.  He received master’s and doctorate degrees in art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill specializing in the art of the African diaspora and modern and contemporary art. He is the author of “Spoken Softly with Mama: Memory, Monuments and Black Women’s Spaces in Cuba” in RACAR Revue d’art Canadienne / Canadian Art Review (2022); articles in the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism and SAGE Encyclopedia of Identity, and several essays in exhibition catalogues focusing on African-American and contemporary Cuban art including Inside/Outside: Contemporary Cuban Art at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.  He is currently conducting research on Harold R. Hart, former director of the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York and painter Alma Thomas.

Kerry & C. Betty Davis have over the course of 30 years collected more than 300 objects made by Black Artists both famous and unknown This collection illustrates the trajectory of African-American art from the early 20th century to the present day and places it firmly within world art history. They have in the past displayed this extensive collection within their middle-class home for neighbors, freinds, relatives and church members to see. Their goal is to make sure that everyone can access the works , whether or not they can get to a museum, like the High in Atlanta. Kerry has stated, ” If this collection inspires one child to pursue their interest in art, then it has served its purpose.”  Their collection inspired and was a part of the seenUNseen exhibition at AAWR in 2019.

Date & Time: November  15, 2023 from 7 – 8pm

Registration is required for this event.

Register using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mysNILIQTmWVgLF39M_hvw