About the Exhibit:

NACC Exhibit Curator Ray Robertson in Partnership with the WNY Urban Arts Collective invites people of all ages and backgrounds to experience the 10th Annual Artists of Color, art exhibit.

This year’s special anniversary looks back on the last 10 years of this exhibit and celebrates the collective work by African American Artists in Western New York in new works and works that will return to the NACC for this anniversary show. All visual art genres and mediums – two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

WNY Urban Arts Collective is an organization created to address the need to recognize, develop, educate, support and promote the professional development for visual artists of diverse backgrounds

 

Artists & Artworks in the Exhibition

Arrie Moore UMOJA – UNITY Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #1) 3″ x 4″ $500.00
Arrie Moore KUJICHAGULIA – SELF DETERMINATION Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #2) 24″ x 26″ $250.00
Arrie Moore UJIMA – COLLECTIVE WORK & RESPONSIBILITY Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #3) 8″ x 4″ $500.00
Arrie Moore UJAMA – COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #4) 23″ x 23″ $250.00
Arrie Moore NIA – PURPOSE Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #5) 30″ X 40″ $250.00
Arrie Moore KUMBA – CREATIVITY Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #6) 3″ x 4″ $500.00
Arrie Moore IMANI – FAITH Acrylic, (Kwanza Series #7) 3″ x 4″ $500.00
Arrie Moore THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF KWANZAA (Series) Acrylic, (Kwanza Series 1-7) Varying Sizes $2,500.00
Betty Pitts Foster KIND OF BLUE Oil on Canvas 32″ x 28″ $700.00
Betty Pitts Foster POPPIES IN PINK & RED Oil on Canvas 20″ x 16″ $550.00
Christopher Patton THE TEACHERS OF CHRIST Colored Pencil 32″ x 18″ Price on Inquiry
Christopher Patton BLESSED BE THE EARTH Colored Pencil 18″ x 28″ Price on Inquiry
Dorethea Edwards I SEE YOU Oil on Canvas 24″ x 30″ $1.200.00
Dorethea Edwards LIFE IS A MASQUERADE – Mask Series #5 Oil on Canvas 22″ x 28″ $700.00
Gerald Seals IN CONCERT Acrylic 24″ x 36″ $400.00
Gerald Seals SLICK RICK Acrylic 12″ x 36″ $550.00
James Cooper III AWAKE! Acrylic 36″ x 48″ $1,325.00
James Cooper III BROTHER’S PERSPECTIVE Acrylic 18″ x 24″ $700.00
James Cooper III VAGUE 1 Acrylic 36″ x 48″ $800.00
James Cooper III NORTHWARD Acrylic 30″ x 40″ $850.00
James Cooper III MUSE-SELF Acrylic 36″ x 48″ $1,100.00
Jay Hawkins Sr. JAMES & NINA Acrylic 30″ x 40″ $1,200.00
(The Artist)
Jay Hawkins Sr. A PANTHER PARTY Acrylic 30″ x 30″ $800.00
Jessica Thorpe WINTER TREES Watercolor 19″ x 30″ $225.00
Jessica Thorpe BIG FAMILY DAY Watercolor/Collage 16″ x 20 $750.00
Jessica Thorpe RUST BELT REMEMORY; TRYPTYCH Mixed Media Collage 36″ x 36″ $2,000.00
John Baker JAZZ-FEST II Acrylic 24″ x 36″ $850.00
John Baker JAMM “N” Acrylic 24″ x 36″ $550.00
Kobie D Barber COLORS Oil on Canvas 16″ x 20″ $400.00
Kobie D Barber SHADOWS Oil and Spray Paint on Canvas 18″ x 24″ $550.00
Kobie D Barber TOO SOON Oil and Spray Paint on Canvas 20″ x 30″ $700.00
Markenzy Cesar LA PETITE DANCEUSE Oil on Canvas 40″ x 30″ $550.00
Markenzy Cesar LES BAIGNEUSE (THE BATHERS) Oil on Canvas 36″ x 46″ $550.00
Nicholas Lumpkin VOLCANIC GLAZE Oil Based Acrylic 20″ x 20″ $50.00
Nicholas Lumpkin SPLASHED FLOWER Oil Based Acrylic 20″ x 20″ $45.00
Paula O. Jones FLOWER Colored Pencil 11″ x 14″ $260.00
Paula O. Jones PLANT Colored Pencil 11″ x 14″ $260.00
Paula O. Jones BUSY Colored Pencil 11″ x 14″ $260.00
Paula O. Jones BREEZE #4 Colored Pencil 11″ x 14″ $260.00
Ray Robertson GRANDMA’S HANDS Photo 17″ x 22″ $200.00
Ray Robertson BACK LIGHTS Photo 17″ x 22″ $150.00
Ray Robertson GREEN & YELLOW SUNRISE Photo 24″ x 36″ $250.00
Ray Robertson FOREST LAWN YELLOW Photo 22″ x 34″ $200.00
Ray Robertson MARTIN’S SONG Photo 17″ x 22″ $150.00
Ray Robertson THE BAPTISMAL Photo 17 x 22 Price on Inquiry
Ray Robertson THE BASS MAN Photo 24″ x 34″ $250.00
Ray Robertson GATHER YEE THAT BELIEVE Photo 22″ x 34″ $250.00
Ray Robertson THE FAMILY PICNIC Photo 17″ x 27″ $150.00
Ray Robertson RIVER ROCKS #7 Photo 22″ x 24″ $250.00
Ray Robertson GOAT ISLE RAPIDS Photo 20″ x 36″ $250.00
William Y. Cooper 1934-2016 WOMAN LOOKING FOR HER CAT Oil on Canvas 36″ x 36″ $2,500.00
William Y. Cooper 1934-2016 BLUE CUP Oil on Canvas 36″ X 40″ $2,200.00
William Y. Cooper 1934-2016 (ARTIST AND MODEL) IN THE STUDIO Oil on Canvas 36″ X 48″ $2,700.00
William Y. Cooper 1934-2016 HERE LIES THE N WORD Oil on Canvas 30″ X 40″ $2,500.00

About the Curator:

Born Reginald Ray Robertson in 1949 in Birmingham, Alabama to mother (Elizabeth), father (Nathaniel), sister (Mareatha), who relocated to Niagara Falls, New York in 1952.  I attended local schools graduating from Niagara Falls High School in 1967.  I entered Buffalo State College in the fall of 1967 later transferring to University of Buffalo where I took a B. A. in Philosophy.

In 1968, I met C. Magnus Harrell who had formed the Masten  Community workshop located on the east side of Buffalo, New York.  Magnus saw potential in my incomplete drawings and sketches.  This was the beginning of my art career

As a kid, I had a desire for collecting things, usually natural things such as rocks, leaves, wood, etc.  I would put these things together in unique ways.  I would “collage” them.  I am more of a collage maker than anything else.  My collages have evolved from two dimensional wall pieces of wood, metal, and stone to three dimensional floor pieces of the same material.  The organic form has always fascinated me from childhood.  As a boy I was ashamed to say how much I liked the colors and shapes of flowers and trees.  When I obtained my first car, the world of driftwood opened up to me.  I became an avid collector.  So, today I consider myself to be a multi-dimension painter, photographer, sculptor, and collagist.  I am looking forward to the evolutionary bleeding and bleeding of all mediums I work in.

Exhibiting Artist Statements

My goal is to produce art that is engaging compelling and memorable long after the exhibit. I work knowing that each canvas is my teacher so I am always the student.

-Gerald Seals

My art is an inner visual response to what God created; using beautiful colors with abstract shapes combining in realistic visions of the natural.

-Betty Pitts Foster

I explore a variety of themes in my paintings; In the Mask Series which consists of five canvases speaks to human desires and unspoken fears. The Mask Series: #1 Incognito, #2 Ariel Leaving #3 I See You #4 Serenity #5 Life is a Masquerade.

-Dorethea Edwards

Painting is first and foremost a visual and a visceral experience. Composition is critical to my work. I use it to compel the viewer to stop and contemplate the illusions I create through the relationships of line, form and color. Usually, I am symbolically expressing an idea I deeply care about. The meanings may change with the observer, as each person views the work through the lens of their own experience. My work is not so much about the subject, as it is about how I render the subject. I use symbols to express ideas and concepts. Color, which is never haphazardly selected, shapes the mood of the composition and creates rhythm and harmony.

-William W. Cooper

When I was in Haiti, I remember the house I grew up in had these colored glass windows embedded in the ceiling when the sun shone through it was like being inside a church. Now and then I would go up to the roof and clean the dirt off the glass and I realized now that I was the only one who cared enough to preserve this beautiful moment. In a say, My art is all about me sharing what I consider is precious and noble.

-Markenzy Cesar

When I charge my works with power, they heal.

-Paula O. Jones