Black Folk Art Issue 02

Black Folk Art

HIGHLIGHT

ARTIST

In Conversation with Brandon Clarke THE ART OF COMMUNITY

By NeFesha Ruth THE RESURRECTION OF Wayne Hall Just

Brandon Clarke

WITH

Janiece Brown Clarke

The Fear of Transparency, Brandon Clarke

The Art of Community

To me, community is the heartbeat of art making. I love to step out to a festival and smell the scents of Black culture. Incense burning, shea butter and oils aligning tables; the food of the soul being soul for plates and platters that warm your spirit. A farmers' market or festival is where we can all come to a place and breathe the empowering air of our diverse culture. The sounds of djembe drums and conga’s send us back to the continent. We give head nods as greetings as we walk past men and women and embrace them as kings and queens.

“As so much traditional black folk experience is lost and forgotten, as we lose sight of the rich experience of working-class black people in our transnational corporate society, many of us are looking to art to recover and claim a relationship to an African American past in images.”

Art on My Mind, bell hooks

Then there is the art and creative expressions. People making jewelry and selling handmade clothing. The colors are as vibrant as the multiplicities of auras in attendance. A block or a town can be turned into a magical paradise with just the gathering of our community. Freedom and peace is what we all are hungry for. These expressions are indelible imprints in our memories.

In the first issue of Black Folk Art Magazine, I wrote about the origins of Black Folk Art. I also shared my journey of growing up on the east coast and visiting cities like New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. After moving to the West Coast four years ago, I’ve wanted to visit some of the Black communities here in California and am finally getting a chance to see more of the communities that have such strong foundations and powerful individuals that worked hard to build creative spaces for the Black community.

Recently, on a visit to Leimert Park in Los Angeles, I met some of the artist that are continuing the traditions of our ancestors. In this article I would like to highlight some of these individuals. I first heard of Leimert Park in a book. A mentor of mine gave me a book that since receiving, I have read faithfully every year. It is one of my favorite books, Raising Fences: A Black Man’s Love Story by Michael Datcher. I was a poet living in New Jersey at the time and I felt transported reading his book. I dreamed of this space. I read about poetry nights at The World Stage and the drums outside full of life, inviting souls to dance to their ancient rhythms. This visit was a full circle experience for me.

I met a friend of mine, who is a staple in the community, to show me around. His name is Carlos Spivey. Carlos is a master artist with various mediums from painting to textiles to mosaics to ceramics and he often mixes these medias in his beautiful art pieces. He is an artist in residence at the infamous Watts Towers. I met Carlos when visiting the Craft Contemporary Museum in Los Angeles. His quilts were on exhibit. I stopped by the museum before making my way north, to Fresno, CA. I learned that he was teaching a quilting class and I was able to join it that day. We met and I am glad we stayed connected. He would be my tour guide for my day at Leimert park.

NeFesha Ruth, Founder of Black Folk Art Magazine

Artist, Carlos Spivey

I got to Leimert Park early on a Sunday morning to sit and write. I found a cafe that was full of life, both inside and out. Hot and Cool Cafe sits as a hub, a Black owned vegan cafe located in a place that, like many Black neighborhoods, has historically been known as a food desert. Much respect to its founders, Tony Jolly and Tina Amin. As I sat, alternating between my smoothie and my tea, writing, and enjoying the God curated array of people stepping in and out of the cafe, the barista, Honey Blu, shared with me her music that she had been working on and an album that

which is full of textiles, sculptures, art, jewelry, body care products, and crafts, all reflecting the African Diaspora.

As we walked, Carlos introduced me to the fashion designer and artist, Buna Diagne. Buna and his wife own the company Wolof Wear. Beautiful pieces of clothing were on display,

exploration and met the master jeweler, Douglass Designs. Douglass had an array of handcrafted jewelry. I commissioned him to create a piece for me right there on the spot. He made a beautiful ring and I got to see and experience the production from start to finish. I was able to choose my own stone. I chose the beautiful purple, calming stone, amethyst.

she had just finished. I went to her SoundCloud and listened to her music as I continued my writing.

As Carlos showed me around, he introduced me to Sika Dwimfo who is known as the Godfather of Leimert Park. Sika owns a store affectionately named “Sika”

@wolofwear presenting like an African quilt with pieces of fabric sewn together full of the colors and diversity that represent his native home, Senegal, Africa.

We continued on our

Our journey ended with us sitting and eating outside next to the sounds of djembes and social interactions. We ate one of my favorite cuisines, Jamaican Food. The restaurant Ackee Bamboo has been servicing the community of Inglewood since 2004. It was the perfect completion of a perfect day. We ate and laughed and enjoyed the community that inspired the art that we see and enjoy. This art is worn and hung

Douglass Galleries @douglassdesigns

Inside Hot and Cool Café, 4331 Degnan Blvd. Los Angeles, CA @hotandcoolcafe

Sika Dwimfo, founder of Sika, located at 4330 Degnan Blvd. Los Angeles, CA @sikadwimfo

and read. This art is used for cooking and decorating. This art warms our souls and comforts our hearts. This art cleanses and heals. This art invigorates our minds and most of all, this art brings a oneness to our diasporic community. It is the true reflection of our spirits and the spirits that have gone before us. With this article, I honor the artist that do the work to share with the world who we are as a people and the culture that will continue to live on many generations after us.

Walk

I am trying to learn to walk again… all tensed and trembling I try so hard, so hard…

Not like the headlong patter of new and anxious feet or the vigorous flailing of the water by young swimmers beating a new element into submission… It is more like a timorous Lazarus commanded to take up the bed on which he died…

I know I will walk again into your healing outstretched arms in answer to your tender command…

I have been lost and fallen in the dark underbrush but I will arise and walk and find the path at your soft command.

NeFesha Ruth is the founder of BlackFolkArt.com and zine.

Frank Horne

Brandon Clarke

Painting a New Language

Interview

by NeFesha Ruth

Atlanta, GA. I was living there for a short period of time. I had just moved from Miami, FL. Brandon would come to my sister and brother-in-law’s church, and I remember his creativity and uniqueness. I kept track of Brandon over the years as he married his beautiful wife and had children. I always knew him as an architect. Then, after the Covid 19 epidemic, which caused the entire world to shut down, I saw Brandon Clarke online with pictures of his art in galleries and at Art Basel in Miami, FL. I never knew him as a visual artists, but I was not surprised when I saw his art embracing gallery walls.

Brandon is a graduate of Hampton University with a degree in Architecture and a graduated from Auburn University with a master’s degree in Integrated Design and Construction. His architectural mind has allowed him to methodically imagine his place in the art world and he is building his home to stay.

So, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? You currently live in Miami, right?

Brandon Clarke: So, for me in a nutshell, I'm a coast-to-coast guy. I was born in California. I lived in Delaware, went to college, went to school, got married and then moved down to Miami. I studied architecture and I practice architecture currently. So, you know, I juggle being a father, being a husband, having a career and then having a passion.

How does of all that works?

I'm an architect and I'm an artist. I find it funny that I learned to be an architect, but I was always an artist because my grandma, who was 100 years old, painted, and she was here in Orlando when I was living up north. You know, I would come with her to her house. I would paint with her. She did oils. The cool thing about my grandma was that she would paint her memories. She would paint scenes of where

So, I would paint with her, and I didn't think much of it. I was just having fun with my grandma and that's what it was. But then you know, it switched to architecture, and I was like, “I want to do houses.”

So, I was doing architecture. You know, the professional grind and I had an hour and a half, one way commute to my office. I did that for like eight plus years. So, it would be like three hours of my day that I couldn't claim to do anything.

I'm a byproduct of Covid. I guess I needed something like Covid to kind of swing the pendulum. So, when I gained all that time back, I had more opportunity to do something with my time. However, I didn't channel it until my wife helped me out.

The story is: we're in the house and there's all this turmoil going on in the world. I had a little bit of depression because I was in the house and my home wasn't

a sanctuary anymore because it's now where I work and play. So, it was a weird feeling, a lot of injustices that were going on. By the time George Floyd happened, the conversations were swirling around.

“What do you do with Black Children?”

“How do you raise Black Children?”

I have 3 beautiful kids now, 8, 5 and 4. People were just starting to have these real conversations and my wife, and I were having these conversations and we talked about our experiences.

It was really heavy. It was more than I thought because I try to live a little carefree. Not a lot of stress, but there are some things I couldn't avoid. So, I was having trouble sleeping one night and it was around like 2 am in the morning. I was keeping my wife up and she was like, “you need to go do something.” So, I had a blank canvas in the garage, and I just started painting.

It was a time where I didn't understand. Painting was a different type of way of communicating. At that time, I didn't care what it looked like. I didn't care if it was balanced. I didn't care if there was a certain symmetry or if it looked good. I was just putting down how I felt.

This was my first-time taking objects and having them represent something on a surface. I would take my son's notebook and I would just like rip out words or cut out words of like fear and hate, trying to be this love letter you know, if daddy’s generation doesn't understand this, then that’s what he's going to learn? That's what he's going to inherit. And then I would find newspaper clippings like the March on Washington, to stamp the time of what was going on.

When I finished, I was like, “Maybe I have something to say.” From there, I wondered how far I could take this thing. I started getting canvases. I wanted to create an impact, but I didn't know how.

I would surround myself with people who did know. I would go to art fairs. I remember one time, I was talking to this one artist. I just happened to see their work in some window, and they had their contact information. I called them and I kind of felt myself like the Pursuit of Happiness. You know, skip everybody on the list and just go straight to the top. I called the artist and was asking her questions. She said she was not going give me the answers because the journey was my journey and I had to live my journey.

So, from there, I began digging. I began getting all the practical and logistical things together. I started a business, created a website, etc…What really happened to me was something that I didn't expect. It was like the canvas started talking to me. So, when I started painting, the canvas would start asking me questions of like, “What do you want to say?”, “What do you want to do?”, but it also started to tell me, some things that I was scared about in my life. I was really scared to make

Grow by Brandon Clarke, 2021

a mark on the canvas because it felt permanent, and I didn't want to mess up and I fe lt that translated and correlated into my job. In architecture, you have a limit to being wrong because you're dealing with multi million dollar projects. I was being fearful. I had to change my definition of what a mistake was. You know I'm a mess. You're a mess, but we make beautiful messes.

I didn't know how to be authentic. So, my opinion started to turn more inward. I started to examine what the actual physical canvases represented. So, I started flipping the canvas on the back and I started working on the back side of the canvas. What I show people in front is maybe a nice suit, charisma, whatever it is. I want to project whatever color or shape and I want to be okay with myself. I really want to love myself. So, who am I on the back?

When I flipped over the canvas, the rules changes. Same thing with the materials, when you paint on the wrong side of something there are different rules. The paint flows differently when you're on the wrong side. You can't control it as much. I started to get all these revelations, while I was painting, of who I am.

My last piece, I had like a shower curtain put over top of the back as a representation, to be vulnerable like when you're naked. It's your most vulnerable state.

However, I learned that when I would create these pieces and then present them, the conversations I had with people from any culture were really deep. They were really rich. I've had people tell me things that were locked up. People would be crying. Art does do that. Everybody's story. My art is healing for me and I find it very cool that other people can kind of grasp that. Honor your Brokenness.

Painting was a different way of

Brandon Clarke on his First Solo Art Show

I remember when I hung everything up for the first time, I just sat in the middle of the room and I just took my time because it's my first time seeing everything together. It was my first time being in the space and experiencing it. This body of work was so personal to me. I just had to sit in it, and it was a beautiful moment.

What was the theme of your exhibit and this body of work that you've more recently created?

It was called Canvas of the Heart and it was a representation of visual work to get people to understand and name and honor their brokenness and vulnerability, to be authentic. A lot of the canvases were about pulling, tension, ripping, stretching, covering, flipping, rotating, turning...using every surface of the canvas as some reference point to a condition that we all face.

I tried to make statements that were simple but profound. I was proving to myself that I could create a language and that language is forever. Some of my pieces have color. Some of them are just black and white. The ones that have black and white I chose specifically because I wanted to make it as simple as possible to resemble how we understand truth. The color is a representation of how beautiful we are, the many things inside of us. You'll notice some of them have, shower curtains which is about transparency and authenticity. As artist we are just giving somebody a language to something that they were looking for and that's where the most powerful stuff came in for me.

communicating.

Brandon Clarke

Brandon’s Grandmother, Janiece Brown Clarke

Let LOVE Grow, Brandon Clarke

The Resurrection of

Wayne Hall

Interview by NeFesha Ruth

As issue 01 of Black Folk Art, Art and Culture Magazine was shared, I received an email from a woman named Patricia Pelehach, founder of Gallery Wah Wah in Corsicana, Texas. Patricia connected me with David Searcy and Nancy Rebal who connected me with Wayne Hall. Most of my correspondence before connecting with Wayne, was with the writer, David Searcy. David sent me over pictures of Wayne’s work and an article that he had written on him in the Oxford American. I was excited to connect with Wayne and hear more about his story. At the time Wayne was in the hospital dealing with what he called, his disability. You will read a bit

about that in this interview. I am thankful for the village that connected me to Wayne. If you are in the Corsicana area, please be sure to visit David and Nancy at their art studio. They have an artist residency that I recommend you check out at www.corsicanaresidency.org. Now, let’s get into my conversation with the artist, Wayne Hall:

You’re from a town called Corsicana, Texas, is that correct? How long have you lived there?

Well, virtually my whole life really. I was born in a small community right outside of Kerens County called just like

Samaria, like in the bible. And yeah, it's really small. I mean it's like maybe 200 people. So, everybody knows each other. Kerens is the town, so, if you wanna go shopping or anything, you have to go to Kerens.

Do you know how you all migrated to Texas?

My mom’s side of family are from Zimbabwe. I went way back with my geneology. I found all of this out when I went to school. I went to School at West Texas A&M and I used their database. Years of research. For our people, anything before the Civil War is hard but it can be done if you keep at it.

Photos of Wayne Hall holding his pieces by Noel Camardo, noelcamardo.com

I like to look up some of the old funny stories, you know that you’ll hear.

Like the folktales?

Oh yeah. Some make you kind of wonder. There was one that my grandfather was telling me one time. He said that him and two other of my relatives went out to this field when somebody told them that they buried some gold one time and in the process of digging for the gold, there's an old wivestale that says if you're digging for gold and you hit it and somebody uses an expletive, then it sinks further. And so, they hit it. And one of them said, “Oh S !” And it started sinking and they kept digging for it and digging for it and it went farther. Then the next day they went out to dig for it and a big red bull showed up and so they gave it all up, all together.

So, years later I was at a friends house and there were people at that house that did not know who I

You know my grandfather told me about a relative we had who was a slave. He said that the master used to whoop Jake whenever he did wrong. So, one day he had Jake in the time square and he beat him until he was almost at an inch of his life. So, Jake’s son came to him and he looked at him and said, “Son, I love you. Bye.” Then, my grandfather said, Jake left and went to Canada. It was sad but at the same time, Jake was saving himself.

It's hard to believe stuff like that would actually happen

And the stories seem to be endless. People that had to leave to go north. You keep digging and you’ll find more and more.

Yes, I love history and I hear a lot of these stories, like the guy that mailed himself to the north, and it really touched me because people went through stuff like that and found unique ways to get themselves out of it.

And yet, we can’t find the simplest way to get out of things.

Yes, you have to get innovative. There seems to be a complacency in our culture. I’m 36 years old and I am from New Jersey but my family on my mothers side are from the Gullah Geechee people and on my fathers side, they came up from the Maryland eastern shore. My dad’s side are descendants of Harriet Tubman. So, we have this very fruitful heritage and I feel it like a weight on me to go back and document and talk to our people. I feel that stories like yours that are important, I do not want them to go and wither, and not be told. You have gems to share with the upcoming generations. So, thank you for being willing to talk and share some of those gems with us.

I really want a lot of our people to understand. I had a young

Courtesy photo/ Noel Camardo

Black lady that I talked to one time, and I asked her about the movie Harriet, had she seen it, and she asked me how I could see Harriet Tubman as a hero. She said, Harriet killed people. And I asked her, “What version of history did you read?” But a lot of people will tell you, “don’t read that part of the book,” and many are just happy not to read that. It’s in the books. We are complacent. Don’t be complacent. We’ve done that all of our lives.

When did you start making art?

I started in 2010. I did it really as a way to get my motor dexterity going. It was something that my mom liked, and she would tell me to keep it up and then David ended up seeing it and it was born. It was more fun than anything.

You can definitely feel that. There is a sense of play in your creations. What did you study at West Texas A&M?

Everything! Psychology, Theology and Forensics. I’m a deacon, so theology was natural. I grew up in the church as a Baptist Christian. You know, the thing about it is that Christian is what we call it after Christ died but before Christ, it was called The Way.

Do you feel like your environment has influenced your art?

It has. Since I haven’t really been anywhere outside of Texas and I have a lot of thoughts of places outside of Texas in my mind. Like being able to go to different places in

Texas and meet different people from different states and different countries, they’ve given me different visualizations. A lot of different views of life and it has shown me that there are so many things that we don’t know and so many ideas of people that we think we know.

What did you do for work?

When I was younger, I was a security guard. I was a librarian. I worked in a computer lab. You name it I’ve done it. Now, I’m disabled. I have hydrocephalus. What that old people used to call, “water in the brain.” I still do art but when I am in the hospital I just sketch, and I to write. I love to write. I love to write poetry. I’ve been writing poetry since I remember learning how to write. My sister used to take my work to school and tell people that she did it.

When did you meet David and Nancy and how did y’all meet?

Corsicana was the first place on this side of the Mississippi river where they found oil and they celebrate it every April 30th with a festival and fair. I was selling my art and I wasn’t doing that great of a job and so I figured I’d pack up and go. Then there was this man that looked like of like my version of John the Baptist, and he wanted to buy this and that, and those and these. He came back and he purchased a couple hundred dollar’s worth of stuff. They have been great ever since. They have a little exhibit of my work behind their house and people can go in, look around, and buy a bit if they want to.

Where was your first art show?

It was downtown Corsicana at Nancy’s art gallery. It went well! It went a lot better than I expected. I think all together I sold 13 pieces. Next thing I know, I’m known in New York. It was like I fell asleep and woke up and all of a sudden, all these different people know me. It makes me feel good.

What is your creation process like?

My favorite thing to work with is macaroni because when it is wet you can bend and mold it in different ways and let it dry. I also like to use scorpions. I actually use them while they’re alive. Early in the morning I will go out and turn over boards or stones and because they sort of hibernate at night, I spray them while they’re still in that waking up stage and by the time they wake up they’ve suffocated and so I can take my fingers and mold them however I want and I can spray them or mold them however I want.

My dogs like to bring up turtle shells and what I do with them is find fire ants and bury the turtle shell near them. The fire ants will clean it up and dig it back up a few weeks later and they are clean. If you find a snake or lizard you can do the same thing. They’ll clean it up and take care of the body for you.

I basically put things together and find unique ways of doing it by mix matching parts. My art is like putting together a puzzle and I make pieces fit. I relate my art to my disability because I

look at it as, my disability is something that was given to me, and I had to find a different way to use the same thing that is already there and that is how my art is. The stuff that I use, like old cans and things like have to repurpose it and use it for something else.

Have you always had such a positive outlook on life?

Oh yea. There have been times where it gets tedious but when it I think about all the people that I have rooting for me. Life is too short to sit up here worrying about what you can’t fix. Why not let God fix it and I just take care of the little

That’s where faith comes into

I’ve thought many times hard and long about life and the small things that we have and it could all be gone any minute. You don’t know how long you’ve got. Why spend the time on this earth worrying about “Am I going tomorrow or the next 5 minute.” It’s not in your control. You never can tell. God has pulled me back from the brink of death. I can’t even tell you how many times. Just the last year. There was one time where David and Nancy could tell you, they thought I was going and to tell you the truth, I kind of did myself but I was able to make it through, back doing my artwork

Wayne Hall’s art can be found at www.nancyrebal.com

Outside Out by Wayne Hall

Lord, to be out outside again its like: a win when you haven't been playing; Its like; a bounty hunter rewarded for a bounty he didn't know was wanted What can I say?; Thank you, Lord, but that ain't nearly enough; How about my life is given to you. well, it is his already. I feel like Casey at the bat except that I hit 2 homers in every inning our team is winning and still I'm coming up short I humble myself before his court and thank him for letting me out to go outside and I will continue to do all I can rather

What is right according to his plan to get in the inside. I've followed his charges as best I can stood the aches and breaks of being a man and even when I was let down as long as it upheld his name the hurt or shame is nothing compared to what awaits beyond those celestial gates.

I cherish being out; I Love being outside enjoying both of your so(u)nds but the day will come when I go out of the outside back into the inside, well...

The old outside will be the new inside therefore outside will be no more.

I waited many times in this life to get out just so, I could go outside but the day that I step in the inside the day that out becomes in not only I; BUT we all win

ALL by Wayne Hall

(to my friend Abbas and family)

For a man to have a mind is normal

For a man to fill his mind with knowledge is right But for a man to share his mind is wisdom; the first step toward truth and understanding. Communication of the minds, hearts, and souls of all peoples Can create a better today and give birth to a stronger tomorrow, but selfishness and greed feed the things that strangles us that entangles us in our own nets but if we take notice before the regrets get to far out of hand, off course, out of focus we can fix it…. Not just me, not just you: but all hands on deck!

When a man shares his mind, he tends to find that life has a rhythm and when we come together the interrupted flow finds that missing harmony; that harmony that has been here all along but never seen by looking out of the window instead of the mirror anger, hatred, and aggression moves farther away as peace and understanding draw nearer. Let men understand themselves before trying to understand others; Let him first question his actions before trying to question the actions of the world.

If a person enjoys attaining knowledge of the world instead of registering complaints about the world; if a person helps place a little knowledge in the minds of our sons and daughters; these daily slaughters can decrease, and peace can become more; than just a perspective it can become more than just an elective; it will be the reality of ALL.

Janiece Brown Clarke With Gratitude

By Brandon Clarke & NeFesha Ruth

During my conversation with Brandon Clarke, he spoke so proudly of the influence that his grandmother had on him, that it inspired me to honor her in this section, “With Gratitude”. I have been deeply influenced and inspired by the Black culture that raised me. I know that I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and desire to continue to honor and acknowledge them in all that I do. Black Folk Art will always give thanks for those that came before us and made a way out of no way for us to have the opportunities that we have today. So, here are some of Brandon’s word on his Grandmother who paved the road for him to become the artist and father that he is today:

“As far as art she never took an art lesson. She received her piano lessons by drawing charts and diagrams for a neighbor who was a teacher. This teacher taught her how to play the piano. She always wanted to work with archeologists and draw the skeletal remains as they were brought in.

She never wanted to sell her paintings as others had told her. She chose to give them away and have it as a visual diary to pass down to generations

When she paints or sketches people it’s usually based upon her childhood friends, neighbors or situations she experienced growing up in the segregated south.” Brandon Clarke

This magazine issue is dedicated to the artist and mother, Janiece Brown Clarke, born December 27, 1920. With gratitude, we honor you.

Photo’s Courtesy of Brandon Clarke

If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors. -African proverb.