Why DFW Black Arts?
Join us this Saturday, July 16, 6-8 at Pencil on Paper Gallery
Dallas has one of the best Black art scenes in the country right now.
I repeat, Dallas, Texas, has one of the best Black art scenes in the country right now.
So that everyone knows this, celebrates this, supports this, and continues to do the work to make this true - is why we are launching DFW Black Arts this Saturday July 16, 2022 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Pencil on Paper Gallery.
There is an abundance of talent, brimming, overflowing, stealthy, assassin like talent, in every genre, every angle, any way you want it, there is a brother or sister who can do it.
This wasn’t always the case or maybe it was always the case - but in the last five years it has surfaced. They gave us an inch and we took a mile.
There used to be maybe 5 - 10 Black artists with national reputations here, and now there are a good 30, and 20 more who are applying pressure. There are two Black commercial contemporary art galleries that weren’t in Dallas a year ago - Daisha Board Gallery and Pencil on Paper Gallery. South Dallas Cultural Center’s visual art program is expanded under John Spriggins and is nurturing and sharpening Black artists. Pan African Connection is always stellar.
Black folks are getting awards now, getting grants, making public art, showing in galleries, when you are in these art streets - you see us now. I have written thousands of words about how that wasn’t the case - but the past is the past. I’ll take my victory lap about being so right, for so long, later. Today, we outside.
Which brings me to DFW Black Arts. I am helping Miranda McClellan and Cathry McCellan Kelly launch this group of Black professionals to support the North Texas art scene. Because truth be told, you can’t have great artists without having great collectors. And that is where the work is right now. We need more Black people to have a deep understanding of what it means to be a collector.
And it isn’t just about needing more people to buy art. It is about building power for our communities. We need Black collectors serving on museum boards, acquisitions committees, loaning works to shows, advocating for our influence in other parts of the country and world. Starting their own organizations, their own grants, their own prizes and awards. To sustain and retain our artistic talent we need the rest of our community to step up and innovate as well.
You can have $100 and become an art collector. You can have a $100 and be a philanthropist. Too often we look at the finish line and deem the journey impossible without knowing where people started.
DFW Black Arts will exist to educate and help people on their journeys. We need Black artists, Black curators, Black writers, Black collectors, Black art handlers, Black marketers, Black DJs, Black philanthropy, Black politicians, Black power. We need more and more of it. Come join us, bring us your talents, your ideas, your spaces, your knowledge, your offerings. Help us make our whole better.