The newest exhibit at Ohio Wesleyan University’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum is a first-of-its-kind showcase of African American artists curated by Bettye J. Stull, former longtime curator for The Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex in Columbus.
Stull’s “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” display includes 30 regional artists highlighting the talents of those who are emerging, established, or no longer with us.
“The exhibition provides a broad range of how art continues to evolve from established artists to emerging and new artists,” Stull says in her artist statement. “The artists selected are some of the most important African American modern and contemporary artists working in Columbus.”
“In the late ’60s and 1970s, renowned artists such as Robert Stull, Elijah Pierce, Pheoris West, Aminah Robinson, and Mahler Ryder were forerunners to emerging artists Kojo Kamau, Queen Brooks, Barbara Chavous, Ben Crumpleer, Ed Colston, Walt Neil, Larry Winston Collins, Gilda Edwards, and Smoky Brown to name a few, and to exciting new visionaries including Omar Shaheed, Talle Bamazi, April Sunami, Antoinette Savage, Wendy Kendrick, Nora Musu, Percy King, Shelbi Harris Roseboro, (and) Kenya Davis,” says Stull, whose work as an arts educator has earned her the Greater Columbus Arts Council Award as well as the Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Ohio Craft Museum.
“Each artist’s approach to cultural and social identity is different yet similar in form, color, patterns, and styles communicating a ‘spirit’ of harmony with one another,” she says of the artists featured in her “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” exhibit.
During the academic year, Ohio Wesleyan’s Ross Art Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM; Thursday from 10 AM to 9 PM; and Sunday from 1 PM. to 5 PM. It will be closed March 9-18 for spring break. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. Call (740) 368-3606 or visit www.owu.edu/ross for more information. Follow the museum of Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RossArtMuseum.
