COLLECTIVES
" (Art) is the highest and greatest spiritual expression of the world-tradition which constitutes our most valued heritage. It is great because it surges from the people; it is collective, and our own aesthetic aim is to socialize artistic expression, to destroy bourgeois individualism.
We repudiate the so-called easel art and all such art which springs from ultra-intellectual circles, for it is essentially aristocratic.
We hail the monumental expression of art because such art is public property.
We proclaim that this being the moment of social transformation from a decrepit to a new order, the makers of beauty must invest their greatest efforts in the aim of materializing an art valuable to the people, and our supreme objective in art, which is today an expression for individual pleasure, is to create beauty for all, beauty that enlightens and stirs to struggle.”
-Manifesto issued by the Union of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors, 1922
NORTH CAROLINA BLACK ARTISTS FOR LIBERATION
Logo designed by Chris Watts.
NORTH CAROLINA BLACK ARTISTS FOR LIBERATION IS A COLLECTIVE OF BLACK ARTISTS AND ARTS WORKERS THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The signed North Carolina-based working and originating Black makers, performers, and artists are committed to building an equitable arts and cultural sector. It is our labor, dollars, sweat equity, and culture that make both burgeoning and prestigious North Carolina organizations culturally viable. As educators, volunteers, artists, and essential workers, we recognize that the moment for systemic change is now.
While we understand that culture alone cannot fix systemic racism, culture is strongly connected to racism’s material effects and the violence used against us as Black artists and makers. This is your opportunity to really be the change that we need to see.
You, your organization and your colleagues can contribute to The NC Black Artists for Liberation Project by making a donation H E R E.
But your investment must go beyond your cash donation. Please sign the petition H E R E.
WOMEN OF VISIONS
Logo designed by Chris Watts.
Co-founded in 1981, by a diverse group of African American women in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Women of Visions Inc. is the longest-running collective of Black women visual artists in the United States. The organization was incorporated in 1990 and achieved non-profit status in 1995. Originally established to create opportunities that had not been afforded to them in the traditional art world, WOV, Inc, over subsequent decades has sponsored, curated, or been represented by members and former members in hundreds of exhibitions, many of national and international acclaim. In addition to community outreach, through collaborative programming, and progressive arts opportunities, the collective has enriched all generations ranging from K-12 to senior adults.
Members of Women of Visions, Inc. work in a variety of artistic mediums, which include: Painting, fiber art, collage, mixed media, printmaking, photography, ceramics, jewelry-making, graphics design, murals, and three-dimensional works. Nearly half of our members act regularly as teaching artists and are registered with our host organization, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts School, and registered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In 2022, WOV, Inc was named a Cultural Treasure by the Ford Foundation and Heinz Endowments.
We envision that in the next decade, we can create a visual record that places us in the annals of American art history.
BLACK LADY CAUCUS
Website designed by Jennie Crichlow.
Led by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Arts Administration graduate students, Jaleesa Wells, Jennie Crichlow and Jessica Moss, The Black Lady Caucus began as a weekly open discussion forum about black women in today’s society. From 'Making Black History' to the Sunday Home Series [SHS], programs generally investigate and contemplate current events and popular culture and focus on issues from media representation to hyper-visibility.
Educated and motivated to expand the boundaries of the box in which black women are continuously placed within, the challenge of the Black Lady Caucus is to actively confront issues that appear to be intangible and yet directly impact each and every one of us. The Black Lady Caucus aims to combine the ideas, creations, and personal experiences of participating members in a critical discourse and to empower that network.
Logo designed by Hilary Burt.
SPHERE SERIES
The SPHERE SERIES is a collaboration of a group of arts leaders, Jen Sudul Edwards, Neely Verano, Jessica Gaynelle Moss, Liz Faison and Hilary Burt, supported by our partners in the Charlotte creative community. The group is dedicated to bringing innovators in the arts from all over the globe to engage in thoughtful and relevant discussions on how arts and creativity can spark life-changing dialogue and promote necessary social change.