WEBINAR | Preserving Black Artists' Legacies

Elysian Koglmeier | December 13, 2022

In this webinar recording we hear from Black artists building their legacies and an art institution dedicated to collecting and sharing those narratives.

Black artists and Black arts organizations have a longstanding, vital and ongoing role in our cultural landscape – local and global. Works by Black artists need to be documented in a way that is lasting.

As important as the archival work is, it is still overwhelming. When it comes to digitizing one’s art career or institutional collection, everyone is daunted by volume. It may seem unsurmountable. We’ll identify ways to make the archival process more manageable so that your stories are not forgotten.

Because archiving is an act. As an artist, you have control over the legacy you leave behind. And as Charly Palmer shares in our presentation, "there is not one route to becoming an artist."

Our panelists share how they are thinking about their legacies–how they want to be remembered and how they are documenting and sharing their work.


A bit about our speakers:

Manuelita Brown specializes in bronze figurative and portrait sculptures commemorating great people and celebrating the significance of ordinary people. She creates sculptures intended to elicit compassion and a sense of common humanity–of identification with the “other.”

Keasha Dumas Heath is Executive Director of the nonprofit Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles. MAAA was founded in 1976 by noted artist and art historian Dr. Samella Lewis and a group of academic, artistic, business, and community leaders whose goal was to increase public awareness of and support for African American art.

Charly Palmer is known for saying “Art should change the temperature in a room.” In every painting, Palmer bears witness to African ancestry and contemporary experiences—rhythmic, visual stories that shift what each viewer believes. He created the cover portrait for John Legend's "Bigger Love" album and was commissioned by Time Magazine for the 2020 July issue cover art.

 

Here are some outstanding soundbites from our recording:

 “When I do a sculpture of Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Truth, I want (the viewer) to know
that that person was a human being just like they are and the potential that they have equals the potential of these celebrated people and they should not be afraid to step out and make a difference in the world.” - Manuelita Brown

“We are preserving our legacy as an institution so that we can continue to work on artists' behalf and their work in the community.” - Keasha Dumas Heath

“It’s important and very intentional for this time in my life to make a difference. Having a legacy becomes important because I now see how it literally can make a difference and a change for someone else.” - Charly Palmer

 

Watch our presentation for more insightful discussions.

Watch more webinars here.

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