The artwork is soberly titled “John Lewis”, a pillar of the Civil Rights Movement. Credit: Courtesy of Angela Finney.
“Diversity, equality and love” are the values promoted by the M(art)in Unites exhibition as the King Arts Complex launches the 2021 season with its third annual art show featuring a collection of Black art.
The show was first presented at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Jan. 18 and will run virtually on the KAC website through all of February, Black History Month, until March 12. Lyn Logan-Grimes, curatorial consultant for the KAC, said the exhibition has been a collaborative project with Blick Art Materials since 2019. This year, another partner — Wild Goose Creative, a nonprofit community arts organization — joined the show.
Both partners use their networks to find artists desirous of entering the show. To display their artwork, the artists agree to pay a fee that will eventually go toward art supplies for the KAC’s youth community.
“Not only were we able to reach (out) to a whole new group of artists as well as visitors, but it also helped to have quality materials for youth programming,” Logan-Grimes said.
Logan-Grimes said both the art and the artists reflect the diversity of the show in terms of artistic medium, ethnic background, gender and age. COVID-19 has altered the exhibition’s unfolding, but the KAC satellite space in Easton Town Center still plans to hold an in-person showing Feb 28.
The Best of Show award was attributed to Angela Finney for her remarkable portrait of John Lewis, a staunch civil rights leader. He served 17 terms as a Democratic congressman until his passing last July; Finney said she decided to create her piece at that moment.
“I was really overwhelmed with his personality and how hard he worked throughout his life for civil rights and justice,” Finney said. “I try to make an emotional connection through my art. And within these emotions I try to convey some sense of hope.”
Finney, a former social worker, said she retired early so she could practice art, though she has been taking art classes on the side throughout her life. She participates every year in the M(art)in Unites exhibition, and the medium she used this year is called monotype, which is a type of printmaking.
Using a plate with a layer of black ink, Finney said the white areas are wiped off before a piece of paper is placed over the plate. After applying pressure to the paper and the plate, the ink should transfer the image to the paper.
“I thought it very expressive because you have an image in mind but you’re not 100 percent in control. It’s always a little bit of a surprise,” Finney said.
“American Male,” an oil painting of a posing Black man, received the 2nd runner-up title. The artist, George Leach, said he painted a likeness of a photo — with a couple of tweaks — that had won during the last edition of the show.
“I asked the artist if I could paint the photo. She was thrilled, so I did it. He’s a real figure, a friend of the photographer,” Leach said.
Leach said he submitted two other oil paintings for the show. “Living in Diversity” portrays a block with colorful houses, conveying that no matter their color, people can live together. “Dreamer” shows a grinning boy surrounded by flowers in vibrant colors.
Leach, who is also a judge in the Franklin County Common Pleas Domestic and Juvenile Division, said several of his paintings are displayed in some courtrooms.
“The work I paint does convey messages like diversity and racial systemic problems in our judicial system,” Leach said. “If you come to the courthouse, you will see pictures of juveniles that need help or are in crisis and families that are displayed in our courtrooms. I paint what I see and feel here.”
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Leach’s “America Male” won the runner-up title. This is not correct. The painting won the 2nd runner-up title. The story has been updated.
