Access provided by Northwestern University Library (27 Mar 2013 00:03 GMT)

The Emergence of Black Women Artists

The Founding of

Where We At

Kay Brown

118 Nka

Journal of Contemporary African Art 29 Fall 2011

DOI 10.1215/10757163-1496399 2012 by Nka Publications

Where We At Black Women Artists exhibition at Metropolitan Applied Research Center Gallery, October 1973. Members are shown with Dr. Kenneth Clark, sponsor of the show.

lthough the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s signaled one of the most significant developments in recent American art history, black women artists, for the most part, were underrepresented in major gallery and museum exhibitions at its inception. While individual artists such as Camille Billops, Elizabeth Catlett, lnge Hardison, Los Mailou Jones, Faith Ringgold, and Betye Saar were gaining high repute on a national level, many working black women artists in New York received only marginal representation in major shows. Not until the spring of

1971 did black women artists, as an entity, finally make a breakthrough and receive the recognition they deserved. At the time, the Black Arts movement was at its height. It so happened that the Weusi Artists Collective had become one of the greatest supporters of the women artists. In 1968 I had been fortunate to have worked as a printmaking apprentice at their Harlem cooperative gallery, Nyumba Ya SanaaHouse of Art in Swahili. As far as I knew, no other female artists had been invited into the workshop. In time the cooperative permitted me to become an actual
Brown

Nka 119

Kay Brown, Sister Alone in a Rented Room, 1974. Etching 30/35, 20 16 in. Courtesy the artist

member. I subsequently created the kind of art that reflected the cultural and sociopolitical views embraced by the group. In this respect the collective focused on its African ancestry and followed the political views of leaders such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael. Early in 1971 I met with the artists Dindga McCannon, Faith Ringgold, Carol Blank, and Pat Davis, along with a photographer and others, at McCannons studio. The meeting was called to plan a major exhibition of black women artists. The work of a few of these women had been exhibited in Harlem early in the movement, in such venues as Nyumba Ya Sanaa. But since their work was usually shown along with that of a larger number of male artists, they often did not gain full recognition for their artistic contributions. By the early 1970s Nigel Jackson, an artist turned gallery owner, had opened the Acts of Art gallery in Greenwich Village to exhibit the works of black artists, a real feat for that particular area. Jackson became a gallery director in direct response to the happening often referred to as the Whitney

Fiasco, when the administrators of that museum k nown contempoinstalled a major show of well- rary black artists, titled American Survey of Black Artists. Suddenly, plans for the Whitney show fell into chaos when some of the exhibiting artists withheld their work. They felt that the museum had minimized the value of the artwork by misrepresenting and discrediting the richness and diversity of African American culture. The incident rocked the art world: it became the talk of both black and white artists, and newspapers carried stories on the incident. After this the Acts of Art gallery came into existence. Apparently, Jackson was willing to take a risk that brought attention to his facility. After much persuasion by me and other artists, such as McCannon and Ringgold, Jackson agreed to curate the first show of professional black women artists, Where We At Black Women Artists: 1971. Presenting fourteen participants, the exhibition was intended to emphasize the artists close ties to the grassroots community, and its title was meant to evoke the shows general earthiness. At the opening, attendees were served deliciously cooked food, a conscious departure from the wine and cheese served at traditional openings. Like the show itself, this touch was welcomed by the visitors. The exhibition was unprecedented in that location, not only because of the race and gender of the participating artists but also because of the opportunity it gave them to demonstrate their originality, high artistic skills, and interpretations of the relevant themes of the Black Arts movement. The show was so popular that it was acclaimed throughout the city of New York and also inspired several complimentary articles by news journalists, some of whom had reported on the Whitney incident. The WWA: Professionals on a Mission Inspired by the shows smashing success, the contributors decided to form an artist collective during the same year, retaining the exhibitions title as the groups official name, the Where We At Black Women Artists Inc. (WWA). The group eventually became a real sisterhood, working together on common aesthetic ideals and developing a professional closeness that I had found to be rare among black women. I encouraged the artists to follow the cul-

120 Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art 29 Fall 2011

tural and political themes and stylistic approaches Id learned during my tenure with the Weusi artists. Besides me, the early members of the WWA were Carol Blank, Vivian Browne, Carole Byard, Gylbert Coker, Jerri Crooks, Iris Crump, Pat Davis, Linda Hiwot, Doris Kane, Mai Mai Leabua, Dindga McCannon, Onnie Millar, Charlotte Richardson, Faith Ringgold, Ann Tanksley, Modu Tanzania, and Jean Taylor. Other artists who would hold membership during the groups evolution included Brenda Branch, Janette Burrows, Linda Cousins, Asiba Danso, Dimitra, Jeanne Downer, Miriam Francis, Rafala Green, Deidre Harris, Claudia Hutchinson, Crystal McKenzie, Mari Morris, Madeline Nelson, Millie Pilgrim, Hurtha Robinson, Akweke Singho, Saeeda Stanley, Gail Steele, Joan Stevens, Priscilla Taylor, and Ann Wallace. There were memorable meetings at the members homes and studios to discuss a range of topics that included ideas for shows, specific exhibition sites, and specific goals all done while breaking bread, a reference to the African practice of sharing meals with those who had a common cause. Many themes on numerous art- related topics were thus exchanged, such as what galleries should be targeted for shows, what sources of funding might be tapped, and whether the organization should assist community centers and neighborhood programs for children (this was done). The WWA was also approached by a theatrical company in the downtown region to contribute to its stage sets and background designs. When the WWA became a professional organization, a set of bylaws was developed and officers were elected from the body of the group. I became the first president and later served as executive director, working in that capacity with a board of directors that included Sophie Johnson, head of Magnolia Tree Enterprises, and Andrea McLaughlin of Brooklyns Medgar Evers College. Carol Blank became vice president; Miriam Francis, treasurer; and Modu Tanzania, secretary. Guidelines for WWA committees named the gallery/ resource committee, the screening committee, and the graphics committee, which oversaw the groups promotional activities. There were also commitraising and public relations and an tees for fund-

archives component that recorded the groups evolution. All the committees worked to encourage the continual growth of the organization. Although the WWA was founded in Harlem, members agreed to move the headquarters to Brooklyn, where several members now resided and where many elected officials supported the group, anticipating that it would open an art school for community residents. Applicants for the WWA were required to submit slides of their works and to show an open willingness to discuss their backgrounds and interests. In most instances, the applicants were accepted as the organization continued to grow, even accepting a Hispanic member at a time when black identification was so central to the groups focus. Eventually, the group began a newsletter, edited by Akweke Singho, that provided a calendar of events, a Spotlight on Health page, and related information. other arts-

Kay Brown, The Kick of Life, ca. 1974. Color etching and aquatint on cream woven paper, 19 15 in. Proof, from an intended edition of 50. Courtesy the artist

Brown

Nka 121

In the winter of 1972, the members of the WWA installed the exhibition Cookin and Smokin at Weusis Nyumba Ya Sanaa gallery. The show was warmly received, drawing visitors from all the New York boroughs. It was particularly meaningful because it finally made clear that a cooperative spirit existed between women artists and their male counterparts. A short time later, Kenneth Clark, a well- k nown black psychologist, requested a WWA exhibition at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center, a gallery he supported in downtown Manhattan. The show, widely publicized, soon sparked requests for more exhibitions. WWA shows were soon held at Medgar Evers College, where I served as a humanities professor and coordinator of art. During 197278 other WWA exhibitions were held at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Stony Brook University, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Public Theater, Hofstra College, the Metropolitan

Museum of Art, and the Martin Luther King Gallery in New York. In 1974 members of the organization were represented at CariFesta in Guyana, where I took samples of WWA artworks for display. The following year, at FESTACan international exhibition held in Nigeria to celebrate black artists of the Diaspora many WWA members participated. Interestingly, when a group of Nigerians passed the section of the stadium in Lagos where the black American contingent was seated, they raised their fists in the Black Power salute to show their allegiance to the struggle. WWA artists also participated in various panel discussions held through the National Conference of Artists, a black artist organization that sponsored annual conferences throughout the United States and eventually other parts of the world. Members of the WWA exhibited their artwork in Jackson, Mississippi, as well as at the Sojourner Truth Festival at the Womens Interart Center in New York, and in 1977

Robin Holder, Between the Temple Walls I. Linoleum with stencils, 20 26 in. Acquired by Washington State Arts Commission, courtesy the artist. Photo: Steve Mayo

122 Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art 29 Fall 2011

members conducted a panel of women artists at the Brooklyn Museum in connection with the book Two Centuries of Black American Art, published the previous year by the highly regarded art historian David Driskell, who curated the exhibition of that title that broke attendance records at the museum. Members of the WWA also presented their artwork at major black exhibitions at the Restoration Gallery in Brooklyns Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, and at the Benin Gallery, the New York State Office Building, the New York Arts Consortium, the Downtown Cultural Gallery of the Brooklyn Educational and Cultural Alliance (BECA), and the Sojourner Truth Festival at the site of the Womens Interart Center, all in New York City, and eventually were invited to exhibit in colleges and universities around the country. Much of the funding for these exhibitions was provided through BECA, since the WWA now operated out of Brooklyn, as well as through the New York State Council on the Arts, the Presbyterian Church Committee for the Self- Development of People, and the America the Beautiful Foundation. The WWA sisterhood also conducted a well- received seminar for Womens International Year at Medgar Evers College. Classes for community youth, such as Willoughby House in Brooklyn, were also conducted by WWA artists during the organizations first seven years. In the fall of 1978 WWA artist members decided to conduct art workshops for inmates at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women and the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility for men on Staten Island. The artists strongly felt that teaching art at these prisons was therapeutic and would assist in the inmates rehabilitation and eventual reentry into the community. In addition to the prison program, held in 197879, the WWA artist community served youth recruited through Medgar Evers College from various neighborhoods under an apprenticeship program founded by the artists. Through this program the WWA offered special career-development classes in graphic design, illustration and media skills, painting, ceramics, and macram.

Grace Williams, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, 1997. Mixed media. Courtesy the artist

The WWA and the Feminist Movement Interestingly enough, during this same period the womens liberation movement, basically headed by liberal white women, made its debut. Although some believe that gains made by black women artists resulted from the influence of the feminist artists, in my opinion this is not so. Although the WWA members and other black women artists all agreed that women should empower themselves to gain economic and artistic equality, they gener-

Brown

Nka 123

Charlotte Ka, We Rise, 1994. Plywood, soil, flag, tulle, raffia, and antislavery documents, dimensions variable. Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, New York, for the Bridges to Brooklyn, Puentes a Brooklyn exhibition, 1998. Also mounted at Visualizing Blackness, an exhibition at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 2000

ally viewed themselves as integral to the Black Arts movement and saw their struggle as primarily one against racial discrimination, in contrast with the unitary battle against sexism emphasized by the feminists. The WWA members were not prepared to alienate themselves from their artist brothers. That WWA artists did not really view themselves as feminists can be sensed through my own artwork. It so happened that one of my mixed- media collages, Take It Now (1968), was reproduced in the book The Afro-American Artist, by Elsa Honig Fine, in 1973. Although Honigs recognition of my work was flattering, it was apparent that she had misunderstood it. The piece actually expressed open resistance to birth control; I believed that our babies had a right to be born and to live a productive existence. A section of the composition also revealed images of black children alive and happy. However, Honig

referred to me as a militant feminist, saying that I resisted because I considered feminists champions of birth control. Two years earlier, in 1971, the WWAs first year, the National Conference of Women in Visual Arts had been founded by feminists to focus exclusively on issues affecting women in the arts. Their call for the collective unity of all women artists, regardless of race, age, or class, was an inviting prospect. A period soon followed during which the WWA artists and other black women, along with the feminist artists, agreed to exhibit in Greenwich Village, SoHo, the East Village, and the midtown area. However, it soon became apparent that the purpose, artistic ideology, and philosophy of the feminist artists differed completely from those of the WWA sisterhood. The two groups were equally astonished by the

124 Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art 29 Fall 2011

incongruity of the artworks created by their two camps. The feminists focused totally on sexism, in an often flagrant, bizarre fashion. Nudes a revealed women few based on classic paintings with their legs open, sometimes with blood seeping from their genitals. In direct contrast, the paintings, graphics, and sculpture of the black women artists related to issues defining the unity of the black family; incorporated the idealism of female relationship; used sociopothe black male- litical imagery geared to overcome racial discrimination, oppression, and inequality; and centered on African- related concepts. Nonetheless, some black women artists, a few of them quite well established, did choose to align themselves with the militant feminists. Further Artistic Challenges Meanwhile, the brochure Where We At: Black Women Artists; A Tapestry of Many Fine Threads, which accompanied one of the organizations greatest exhibitions, was produced in 1982. The brochure described the mission and history of the WWA sister collective, with a special foreword written by Linda Cousins, a well- k nown black writer. Every page also featured one of the artists: her background, an example of her work, and a written statement by the artist herself. Some of the writings were especially expressive and moving; one artist submitted a poem. A few of the artworks represented were Carol Blanks This Little Light of Mine, a pen-and-ink portrait of a young woman that captured her positive spirit; Pat Daviss Ritual Series: Surinam, a collage xerography of black Surinamese engaged in ritual activity reminiscent of continental African traditions; Miriam Franciss heralded Egyptian copper repouss Hatsheput; Akweke Singhos acrylic Sun Dance, depicting worshippers with hands raised to the sun; Dindga McCannons Memorial to Bob Marley, a portrait in batik collage; Charlotte Richardsons Mother and Child Fantasy, in exquisite oil and collage; Crystal McKenzies Dry Leaves, a lithograph; Ann Wallaces Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning, which captures the pensive mood of a brother strumming his guitar; and my own Sister Alone in Rented Room, an etching that represents the black women who traveled to the main north-

ern cities of America from the South or from other countries of the world, forced to leave their children behind. The brochure, distributed throughout the country, brought a new level of consciousness to the WWAs work. The link between the WWA and their artist brothers soon resulted in two stellar exhibitions. In February 1985 Close Connections opened at the 1199 Gallery in midtown New York. The exhibition coordinator was Priscilla Taylor, a member of the WWA who had also provided her Brooklyn home as the WWAs official address, and the guest curator was Leslie Tolbert Daniel. The show featured sixteen WWA artists and eight Weusi artists whose works covered a wide spectrum of themes and conceptions. The impressive brochure cover showed Franciss copper repouss and Gaylord Hassans expressive painting of the heads of two youngsters, a work focusing on their wide eyes against an African-themed background. Other artists included the WWAs Jennifer Brown, Pat Davis, Stephanie Douglas, Stella McKeown, Modu Tanzania, Priscilla Taylor, Ann Wallace, Joyce Wellman, and me. The Weusi artists participating were Abdullah Aziz, Ni Nunoo, Otto Neals, Ademola OlugeAhene Mettle- befola, Okoe Pyatt, Abdul Rahman, and Taiwo Shabazz. The show included a wide array of color- viscosity etchings, inks, oil paintings, pastels, and mixed- media collages, all of which demonstrated original styles and laudable themes. Close Connections was heralded locally and nationally as news of the exhibition traveled. Opening a year later, the second major exhibition was one of the most innovative shows of black women artists and their brother artists up to that time. Joining Forces: 1 + 1 = 3, a collaborative installation by the WWA and invited artists, began at the New Muse Community Museum of Brooklyn in June 1986. Funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, the New York Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Black United Front, Con Edison, and Citibank, the exhibition was curated by Charles Abramson and Fitz. The equation 1 + 1 = 3 indiSenga Negudi- cated an erotic symbol that suggested how the male- female relationship created a third thing that went beyond arithmetic. This interpretation was decided

Brown

Nka 125

 Where We At Black Women Artists, 1980. From left to right: Carol Blank, Pat Davis, Victoria Lucus, Crystal McKenzie, Dindga McCannon, Kay Brown, Modu Tanzania, Jeanne Downer, Priscilla Taylor, Emma Zuwadi, Akweke Singho, Linda Hiwot, and Saeeda Stanley

by Abramson, under whose direction selected couples met over a three- month period to create an artistic and platonic mating ritual. Photographer Coreen Simpson, a main contributor to the exhibition, recorded the couples work, and the results appeared in the WWAs brochure of the exhibition. This powerful photographic sequence, simply titled Spirits, captured a noteworthy collaborative effort. The exhibition, one of the WWAs crowning achievements, led to numerous requests for the collectives exhibitions. Soon afterward I resigned my position as president and executive director of the WWA due to family reasons. Carol Blank then became its president and Dindga McCannon its vice president. This change in leadership ushered in a new evolutionary cycle for the group. After the success of Joining Forces: 1 + 1 = 3, the WWA artists involved themselves in more

shows featuring installation artwork. In 1988 Rafala Green took over as president and encouraged the new art form, which was basically three- dimensional and incorporated objects that viewers could quickly identify with, such as books, desks, tables, window frames, fragmented doors, dolls, clothing, photographsany physical element that could be found in or outside the home yet that presented a creatively striking viewpoint. The displays were carefully arranged, adhering to basic design concepts, to inspire everyday objects with a sense of awe, which viewers would experience once they stepped into the exhibited scene. Such conceptually innovative, cutting- edge installations further distinguished the singular achievements of the WWA artists. During the late 1980s, under the leadership of Green, Blank, and McCannon, new bylines were developed, annual dues applied, and the groups

126 Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art 29 Fall 2011

artistic concepts expanded to include a graphics communication curriculum that Crystal McKenzie taught to prison inmates. Also developed were agendas addressing housing for the homeless and filmmaking. Additionally, Janette Burrows offered an exciting workshop in fabric printing to seniors in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. By now the Amsterdam News regularly covered the WWAs activities; Mel Tapley, in particular, reviewed the works and exhibitions of contemporary black artists in a weekly column. Other news media also covered the exhibitions. Adaptation Innovation Black Women Artists, a traveling exhibition created by WWA artists, was presented during this period, with Priscilla Taylor serving as program coordinator and Los Mailou Jones as the featured guest artist. Jones was a highly regarded former art professor at Howard University and one of the best- k nown black artists prior to the Black Arts movement. This celebrated exhibition, still another triumph in the history of the WWA, yielded a brochure featuring Jones on the cover with her paintbrushes and surrounded by her artwork, including an exquisite African- related painting and portraits of certain personages. This brochure is today a treasured possession of art enthusiasts of the period. She Is, yet another outstanding traveling exhibition, celebrated the unfolding of Onnie Millar, an original WWA artist considered one of the queens whose tiaras were made from cowrie shells instead of diamonds, as Linda Cousins wrote in the brochure introduction. The brochure enclosed comments by me; Ernest Crichlow, cofounder of the Fulton Art Fair; Khalif Brathwaite, director of the New Muse Community Museum of Brooklyn; Otto Neals of Weusi; Marcia Goldman, a board member of the WWA; and Empress Akweke Singho, by this time its executive director. By this period, there were now thirty active members, including Carol Blank, Jennifer Bowden, Brenda Branch, Sharon Brittan, Cecilia Bryan, Linda Cousins, Pat Davis, Stephanie Douglas, Jeanne Downer, Miriam Francis, Rafala Green, Linda Hiwot, Robin Holder, Dindga McCannon, Crystal McKenzie, Stella McKeown, Madeline Nelson, Millie Pilgrim, Charlotte Richardson, Hurtha

Robinson, Akweke Singho, Saeeda Stanley, Gail Steele, Modu Tanzania, Priscilla Taylor, Ann Wallace, Joyce Wellman, and me. Fortunately, the WWA sustained its momentum over the next two decades, exhibiting throughout the United States and overseas and providing leadership for the cultural vision of black women artists in future generations. In view of the WWA goal to empower ourselves to gain economic and artistic equality, some members have moved on to gain a livelihood by teaching art. However, the basic mission of the sisterhood was to teach, inspire, and change the state of its people. In this respect, the Where We At artists were successful. Although the group is not as active as it was during the 1970s and 1980s, its legacy has continued to inspire vital exhibitions. For example, in February 1999 Entitled: Black Women Artists, curated by Brenda Branch, a former WWA member, opened at the Skylight Gallery in Brooklyn. The show included other former members, among them Robin Holder, Jamillah Jennings, Nzinga Kiaga, Howardena Pindell, and Bianca Dorsey, who has almost completed her college thesis on the WWA. lived but significant The WWA was a short- experiment in black womens activism in the arts. Since then, some members of the group have passed away. Several others continue to be active on their own, participating in exhibitions in galleries and independent spaces. Some have risen to great fame, such as Faith Ringgold, who has become an important figure in American feminist art, known mostly for her performances and signature quilt paintings. However, the legacy of the WWAs activism, even more than the artists specific work, has opened doors for younger black female artists to be recognized by the mainstream art world. Kay Brown, in addition to her active life as an artist, has published two novels, including Willys Summer Dream (1989), based on her youngest sons experiences.

Brown

Nka 127