Review of the African American Artists of Michigan Exhibit

Featured photo: Martin Turner and his baboon sculpture. Review and photos by L. M. Land unless otherwise noted. When you walk into an art gallery, you don’t expect to find yourself in the Kenyan savannah. Yet, that is one of the thrills of this exhibit. Greeting guests at the front...

Review of the African American Artists of Michigan Exhibit

Featured photo: Martin Turner and his baboon sculpture.

Review and photos by L. M. Land unless otherwise noted.

When you walk into an art gallery, you don’t expect to find yourself in the Kenyan savannah. Yet, that is one of the thrills of this exhibit. Greeting guests at the front door is a silverback gorilla. A lion, giraffes, antelopes and other animals prance around you at 42% of their actual size.

After oohing at the sculptures, don’t forget to look at the walls! Many visual treats await you there as well. The exhibit is open until March 6 at the Greater Flint Arts Council (GFAC), right next to Halo Burger downtown at 816 S. Saginaw St. Admission is free and open to the public.  Hours Monday – Friday are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Courier was able to speak to a few of the artists at the opening reception on February 10, 2023.

Alvin Brown, Jr. of Eyesnap Studios, LLC, shows a series of portraits of Ashley Cae. The series is generally about embracing African heritage and beauty. There is also an underlying depth to the photos that I emotionally responded to.  The model, Ashley Cae, is from Flint.  She has been battling cancer and dealing with the all the emotional aspects of that diagnosis.  Posing for this series was a very empowering experience in her road of recovery.

Alvin Brown, Jr. with his photo series with model Ashley Cae.

Regina Dunn has a passion for abstraction and decoration, which aided her in a career of 36 years as a hairstylist.  When her children were small, she prayed to the Lord to be a stay-at-home mom.  He answered, and as much as she loved being home with her children, she was also a little bored.

When the children were all in school by 2003, she prayed again, “Lord, what should I do?” He inspired her to go shopping (don’t we all dream of our Lord sending us shopping?). Dunn found herself buying acrylic paint and canvases and started painting. She also works in 3-D, which is not on exhibit.

Dunn explained that her work is intuitive and evolves as she paints. It is a benefit to all that Dunn listened to the answer to her prayer, because we, the observer, get a chance to find pleasure in that conversation as well.

Regina Dunn paints using intuition and spirituality.

Gloria Watson won a second-place award last month at the Member Exhibit of the GFAC, and more of her work is shown this month. Shown four to a frame are new works that are evolving into a greeting card business.

Watson explained that “Art is a way of communication, rather than speaking or writing.  It is an overlooked way of expression.”

Watson works in acrylic to create images you can emotionally relate to. She also has a lot of fun in the creation. African American imagery is still a very overlooked market, and Watson hopes to fill in some gaps. Her paintings are about Black history and culture, childhood memories, thanking unsung military veterans, cooking in the kitchen and more.

“I really want my art to speak to people, visually and emotionally,” Watson explained.

Gloria Watson in front of her new greeting card images.

This is the first time Monica Richmond has ever exhibited her work, and she was a little nervous, but very excited too. The power and skill of her charcoal portraits shows a confident artist who will go far and eventually shed those nerves.

Richmond loves doing portraits, capturing different facial structures and capturing emotions. She also does pet portraits, which were not on exhibit.

Each painting is of hand-ground charcoal powder brushed onto the paper.  She uses makeup brushes for some of the applications. A series of 25 portraits are planned for this year.  The “African Princess” portrait was created especially for this show.

Monica Richmond is showing her work for the first time at GFAC.

Martin Turner created the African savanna wildlife. He did his first sculpture at age 5 with aluminum foil and is still using foil today.  As the size of the sculptures grew, the techniques evolved to make larger sizes possible, which involves wire and paint as well. Turner cited his time in the Mott Community College art department as an important step in this evolution.

Other than an 8-year period of time in the Marines, Turner has been making art his entire life. The sculptures on exhibit at the GFAC are on loan from the Urban Renaissance Center, in Flint.  Martin also taught at the Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village, where the children were taught how to make a giant pink hippo.

Martin Turner by the giraffe.

There are also some stunning glass pieces by Verna Shook-Dunn. In addition, she has a powerful collage about Black experience on exhibit, which she created a long time ago. Shook-Dunn is currently working on a new version of the piece, which I look forward to seeing next year.

by Verna Shook-Dunn

There are more artists represented in the exhibit, and I do hope you get a chance to come out and support our local Black talent by viewing this provocative and engaging exhibit.

Conversation around giraffes at GFAC opening

To contact any of the artists for commissioned work, please call the Greater Flint Arts Council at 810.238.ARTS.