The Black Art in America Fine Art Print Fair
It was a beautiful day yesterday. After weeks of cold, rainy weather, the sun was finally out. So I took a walk to the Houston Museum of African American Culture, a couple of miles from where I live. I had heard that they were having an art fair. I like art fairs—they are always fun to visit and browse. Houston used to have two regular art fairs and I have even hosted my own satellite art fairs in hotel rooms. And the Black Art in America Fine Art Print Fair was going on yesterday (and is happening today as well)—I wanted to check out the scene.
HMAAC has a grouping of Bert Long eyes on the lawn that is always welcoming to see.
Black Art in America is an Atlanta-based arts company that seems to have a multi-faceted approach to the business of art. They focus on African-American art (obviously). They’ve had a couple of print art fairs in Atlanta and DC, and this weekend they expanded their reach to Houston. Seems like a logical place to do business if you want to sell some art to the black bourgeoisie.
BAIA showcased several artists, including Traci Mims and Jamaal Barber, who was giving a woodcut demo while I was there.
Barber’s woodcuts were dramatic and exciting. His approach is illustrational, with some surreal and even cubist touches. The Underground Railroad, South Carolina has the boldness of a knockout magazine illustration.
Some of Barber’s pieces were so enormous that I wondered if Barber had to produce them on several different smaller woodblocks in stages. But I was told that they are produced on a single mammoth woodblock.
Traci Mims was another printmaker specializing in bold chiaroscuro woodblock prints. In addition to prints, two of her actual woodblocks were on display, dark with ink. As with Barber’s prints, they were quite large. It looks like producing those things would be very taxing, and you would develop a lot of arm strength. Given the visible strength of the two women depicted, the notion of a brawny printmaker is perhaps appropriate.
Of course with printmaking, the image on the plate is a mirror image of what is printed. So if you want to include the words “DEAR BLACK GIRL”, you have to carve them in reverse.
The content of the art in the show was often directly about black empowerment and history, but not exclusively—there was some interesting abstract art on display, such as a series of lovely biomorphic abstractions by Mildred Thompson (1936-2003).
The show had a bunch of portraits of James Baldwin, who seems right for this art fair because he is both a major black culture figure but also quite political. A lot of the art here on display had a political vibe—not radical, mostly, but inspirational. Given the explicitly racist regime we just elected, maybe polite inspirational art is not quite enough for this moment.
A more urgent political message was present in Carolyn Mazloomi’s Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.
I had never heard of any of the above artists until I attended the print fair, which I greatly appreciated. But this art fair features a few very well-known black artists, including the sardonic Robert Colescot (1925–2009) and Kerry James Marshall.
They also had prints by such hometown heroes like John Biggers and Robert Pruitt.
The Black Art in America Fine Art Print Fair continues today at the Houston Museaum of African American Culture. It looks like another beautiful day—perfect for art viewing and shopping.
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Wow, those woodcuts and linocuts look fantastic!
The founder/owner of BAIA is Najee Dorsey who is a great collage artist in his own right. We (Nicole Longnecker and I) had a solo show for Najee back when we were on Colquitt. I must mention our current exhibit of beautiful African American portraits by Romeo Robinson which is on view thru March. Out space is open daily from 10-5 and we hope people with come see the work.