Art

African-American Art Show Celebrates 25 Years

HUDSON VALLEY PRESS — Symantha Outlaw will do whatever it takes to complete her art, especially when she is on a roll and in the groove.

Published

6 years ago

February 10, 2019

Oakland Post

By Jennifer L. Warren

BEACON – Symantha Outlaw will do whatever it takes to complete her art, especially when she is on a roll and in the groove.

“I have stayed up all night, until six in the morning just to get a piece I’m working on done,” said the 16 year old artist. “I just can’t sleep until I finish my art.”

It’s that level of passion that could be found among all 20 artists (including Outlaw) at the current Art Exhibit at the Howland Cultural Center: “The 25th Anniversary African-American Artists in the Hudson Valley,” honoring Black History Month. The young Outlaw is marking her eighth year in the Show, one she has shared showing her creations, along with those of fellow artist, her father, Richard Outlaw, the entire time.

“It’s a good experience to see art relating to my history,” pointed out the younger Outlaw, who has two abstracts, “Sunlight” and “Stars,” in the exhibit. “And to be able to do it with someone I love, makes it even more special.”

Her father, who is showcasing three works in this month’s Show, is one of the more veteran artists, marking his 15th year at the group venue.

“I always get a sense of community every time I come here to the Howland Cultural Center,” affirmed the older Outlaw, whose paint pieces include a Chuck Berry representation as well as slavery piece titled “Mother.” “I feel like I am a part of a great history here at Howland, and it, along with my art, are now mainstays in my life that I enjoy sharing with others.”

In addition to the Outlaw’s paintings, the long-standing, popular Show also features sculptures and photography. Saturday, at the exhibit’s Opening Reception, where a tribute was paid to one of the local, young artists, Kyra Husbands, who received a college scholarship to pursue a major in art and music by the Ray Watkins Band filled the aesthetically beautiful Howland Cultural Center, a large crowd was on hand, admiring the wide variety of art while mingling with one another as well as the artists themselves.

One of those talented, local artists was Beacon’s own Oliver Spearman, who is showcasing his art for the third year in the popular February exhibit.

“This Show is so special because we are celebrating artists of the black community from all over and sharing their art and ideas while networking,” said a smiling Spearman, a Beacon resident for the last eight years. “Most of all, it’s so nice to see so much of a diversity of people from all over and everyone getting along while making new friends.”

Eleanor Thomspon, another Beaconite, and the first African-American to serve on the Beacon City Council, also is among the artists in the Show. Featuring two pieces, Thompson has an ink as well as an ink on canvas on display; one is her grandson’s, a budding young artist whose work fills her with pride, as does the very place that is housing the artwork of 19 other artists for the milestone 25 year anniversary.

“This Howland Cultural Center has been like a sanctuary, an inspiration, to me,” recalled Thompson. “I used to come here at 4am sometimes, just to think and meditate years ago, and I truly believe it continues to be the same thing for the community still today.”

The African-American Artists in the Hudson Valley show will run through the month of February, honoring Black History Month. The Gallery hours are Friday-Monday, from 1-5pm with the exceptions of Sunday, February 17 and 24.

This article originally appeared in the Hudson Valley Press.

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Activism

Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

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Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

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Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.