Articles by Steven Gilchrist

Framingham, MA. -  Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (June 9, 1877 - March 18, 1968) was a prolific African-American female sculptor. Fuller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was also a prominent painter, poet, and theater designer. Fuller started her artistic career at the Philadelphia Museum and School of Industrial Art. After graduating in 1899, she moved to Paris, France to study at the Academie Colarossi. While in France, Fuller was mentored by American civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois, American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Rodin, often considered the founder of modern sculpture, inspired Fuller's passion for natural and emotive forms. During the Harlem Renaissance, Fuller was described as one of the most imaginative African-American artists of her generation.  Meta Fuller Collection - Danforth Art Museum Fuller died at the age of 90-years-old in Framingham, Massachusetts. The Danforth Art Museum, which is located in Framingham, i...

T his past February, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, displayed works of art by 10 African American artists in honor of Black History Month.   Edmund Barry Gaither, the director of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, hosted the African American Artists Tour.   To see an online tour of the exhibit visit: http://www.mfa.org/explore/multimedia-guide/african-american-artists The exhibit included artistic works from the early 19 th century to the present.   The artwork was spread out across different sections of the museum.   I was able to locate all of the works in the exhibit through a self-guided tour.     Some of the artists represented were Norman Lewis, Archibald Motley, Art Smith, and Kara Walker. In 1963, Lewis was a co-founder of Spiral – an artists’ discussion group that was involved in the Civil Rights Movement.   Smith (1917 – 1982) created jewelry “characterized by flowing organic forms that show the inf...

On Thursday, March 10, I attended a gallery talk & reception at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery. The art on display was for Ekua Holmes: Pieces of a Dream – A Solo Retrospective Exhibition . Holmes spoke for about fifteen minutes before fielding questions from BHCC students, art enthusiasts, and members of the public. Holmes explained that through this exhibit she seeks to honor her family, friends, and community. Holmes has not spent her entire professional career as an artist. Holmes explained that she used to work for the Massachusetts state welfare department art division. She quit her job there to become a full-time professional artist. As her career has developed, collage has become Holmes’ primary medium. “Most of these [collages] are not quick endeavors,” she said. At the gallery, several of Holmes’ most recent pieces of art were on display. The idea for “Sufficient Grace,” a collage on paper piece, came from a woman Holmes saw at a Legal Sea Foods restaurant....

S everal months ago I visited the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts. The gallery displayed an exhibition called Body & Soul, which featured artwork of primarily African American artists working in the figurative and spiritual forms of artistic expression. During the month of February the gallery had selections from several artists including: Walter Clark, Jeff Chandler, Fern Cunningham, Fritz Ducheine, Karen Eutemey, Keitha L. Hassell, Jennifer Hughes, Lou Jones, Paul Goodnight, Ekua Holmes, L’Merchie Frazier, Lolita Parker Jr., Sabrina Pilet Jones, Hakim Raquib, and photos by Alex Rivest from Blue Kitabu Projects. T he various artists featured at the exhibit incorporated a variety of visual techniques to convey their messages of artistic expression. Jeff Chandler, who is a self-taught sculptor, illustrates themes of relationships between mother & child, man & woman, and man & nature. Keitha L. Hassell, a Boston based photographer, focus...

               In celebration of Black History Month, the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery presented an exhibit titled: Paint: Black on Canvas .  The free exhibit highlighted selected works of art by several African American painters from the Boston area.  I had the chance to visit the gallery last month and I was quite impressed!  A total of eleven African American painters had there work on display at the BHCC Art Gallery.  The exhibit, which included over twenty paintings, was on display from January 20, 2009 to February 28, 2009.                  Upon entering the gallery, the first painting that could be seen by onlookers was Obama (oil on canvas 2009) by Ralph Beach.  This painting is a portrait of President Barack Obama.  The portrait of President Obama is the focal point of the painting.  However, below the president there are smaller images of several African Americans including: Mary McLeod Bethune, Charles Drew, W.E.B. Du Bois, George Washington Carver, Ma...

The Boston Public Library was one of three locations in the city of Boston to display the art work of longtime Bostonian and artist Allan Rohan Crite. Beginning in the fall of 2007 until February 3, 2008, the BPL, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists exhibited collected works of art from Crite’s storied career in The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite: 1910-2007 . Funded in part by the Boston Public Library Foundation, the exhibit offered onlookers a view into Crite’s lengthy artistic career. When I visited the exhibit on January 19, 2008, over fifty collages, drawings, paintings, and sketches adorned the Wiggins Gallery in the McKim Building of The Boston Public Library. Crite was born on March 20, 1910, in Plainfield, New Jersey. In that same year, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Crite would later make Boston his home as an adult. Over the course of his distinguished career he promoted visual art as a lecturer, p...