Visual Voices: In Praise of Dunbar: Yesterday and Today
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Visual Voices, an annual assemblage of African American artists, returns for “In Praise of Dunbar: Yesterday and Today,” continuing through March 31 at the EbonNia Gallery.
Curated by Willis “Bing” Davis, the exhibit, which opened Feb. 12, is a collection inspired by Dunbar’s literary works or aspects of his life that speaks not only to yesterday but to the social concerns of today. The goal is to allow viewers to see, feel and appreciate how Dunbar’s legacy mirrors today’s perspectives on family, community, work, crime, war, race, history, love and death.
The exhibiting artists are: Abner Cope; Andrea Walker-Cummings; the aforementioned Davis; Clifford Darrett; Craig Screven; Derrick Davis; Dwayne Daniel; Erin Smith-Glenn; Gregg DeGroat; Greg Changa Freeman; Horace Dozier; James Pate; Kevin Harris; Morris Howard; Reginald Harmon; Ronald Duckett; Yvette Walker-Dalton; and Lois Fortson Kirk.
The gallery is located at 1135 W. Third St. in Dayton.
Clarice Moore’s work
Remembrance is at the heart of one of Beavercreek artist Clarice Moore’s paintings— she’s putting the forgotten on display all the way over in Chicago.
Moore’s work was selected for the Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition, the nation’s longest-running African American art exhibits, at the Museum of Science+Industry in Chicago.
“Ascension of Souls,” her oil on canvas representation of the “unavenged and forgotten” as they ascend to heaven, has been hanging in the museum for a few weeks and will remain in the exhibit until the gallery closes April 23. The 16-by-20 inch canvas only took Moore a few painting sessions to bring her vision to the canvas.
“The inspiration for my painting came from the sad news we get so often of people’s lives being cut short without accountability,” Moore said. “The painting gives [a] voice to the voiceless— that they’re not forgotten!”
Her work can also be found at the Dayton Metro Library - West Branch at 300 Abbey Ave. in Dayton.
HAIRitage: A Cultural Journey & Experience
The Dayton Society of Artists is highlighting the history and cultural impacts of hair in its latest exhibit.
“HAIRitage: A Cultural Journey & Experience,” a collection created and curated by artist Erin Smith, will be a “celebration of hair and adornment culture, hair as a community resource, Black hair history, BIPOC hair as a form of protest and of course, hair as art,” according to the DSA.
Smith, who is a professor of art at Central State University and a small business owner, was awarded the Dayton Region Arts Renewal Grant funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and administered by Culture Works last fall. She was one of 22 arts who received the grant in support of jobs in the arts in the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The exhibition will run until March 31, and the gallery, located at 48 High St. in Dayton, will hold a live hair performance by loctician Teasha from Tastefully Loc’d as she demonstrates her work on a model.
Trash Talk
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Increased toxicity from politics to the environment inspired the art exhibit “Trash Talk,” slated until March 25 at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in downtown Dayton.
Featuring the work of artists Paul Kroner and Devan Horton, the exhibit intends to “shine a light on trash and its literal and metaphorical implications.”
“I’m excited to have the ‘Trash Talk’ exhibition travel to Dayton and the Edward A. Dixon Gallery,” said owner Ed Dixon, in a release. “Raising awareness on important issues and hopefully sparking action is always one of the gallery’s missions.”
Kroner’s series, entitled “Box News,” takes on the toxic and nonstop news cycle. Using corrugated boxes found curbside on trash day as his canvas, he invites a deeper discussion on how these boxes have become a capitalistic symbol.
The Edward A. Dixon Gallery is located at 222 North Saint Clair St. in Dayton.
Becky Suss: Home
See for yourself the work of Philadelphia-based artist Becky Suss’ “Home” series at The Contemporary Dayton through March 26. It’s the first Midwest exhibit of the artist’s work; most of the paintings are on loan from private collections.
The largest gallery is filled with vivid images of “home” that a lot of visitors will find familiar. Many of the paintings capture Suss’ childhood bedroom over the years and the layers of memories that room evokes.
In addition to a number of rooms on view, there’s also a section of the exhibit devoted to paintings of well-known books including “The Runaway Bunny,” “Salvation” and “The New Moosewood Cookbook.” The books sometimes appear in the larger paintings as well.
Suss says she sees the books as part of an index of small things that shape memory and, by proxy, consciousness and identity – both familial and individual.
Because the theme of the show is “home,” the exhibit is designed to give gallery visitors the experience of walking through a home from another perspective.
You can view the collection at The Co, located at 25 W. Fourth St. in Dayton.
New Beginnings: An American Story of Romantics and Modernists in the West
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
The Dayton Art Institute opens its 2023 Special Exhibition season with this travelling exhibition featuring art from Taos to Santa Fe presented in collaboration with The Tia Collection.
“New Beginnings: An American Story of Romantics and Modernists in the West” features more than 150 works by 85 artists. During the 1920s and 1930s, Santa Fe and Taos were recognized as two of the most important art communities across the country and around the world.
The exhibit, which opened Feb. 18, is on display through May 21.
The Dayton Art Institute is located at 456 Belmonte Park North in Dayton.