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Art & Culture – Important art around Florida
HISTORIC MOTIVATIONS
A ROUNDUP OF SUMMER ART HAPPENINGS IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY
BY TRINA RYAN
On May 27, the City of Sarasota made its first big move toward preserving the rich history of its Black residents, by uprooting—quite literally—the historic Leonard Reid house to its new location in Newtown. Previously residing in the Rosemary District, formally known as Overtown, the 1,400-square-foot, single-story clapboard house will serve as the neighborhood’s first African American museum and cultural center, an initiative headed by the nonprofit Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition (SAACC). The 2.6-mile journey of the Reid home, transported via flatbed truck, took roughly two hours, and now sits on the corner of Orange Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Built in 1926, the Reid house was the anchor of Overtown, Sarasota’s first Black community, which Reid helped establish. An entrepreneur, trailblazer and pioneer, Reid was often referred to as “the righthand man” of John Hamilton Gillespie, Sarasota’s first mayor. Reid and his family also dedicated themselves to educating Black youth. Reid would give away books on his front porch to children as they passed by, while his daughters, who both became teachers, taught thousands of schoolchildren in the community.
Now, the significance of the Reid house, as well as Overtown’s African American history, will live on. The cultural center will reside in the Reid house starting later this summer until construction of a new building on the property is complete
From left, Sarasota Vice Mayor Kyle Battie, Selby Gardens VP for Diversity and Inclusion Walter Gilbert, SAACC President and CEO Vickie Oldham, Leonard Reid Descendant Mary Mack and her son Tyrone Mack.
Vendors sold products at the celebration.
Guests listened to live music. The Reid House took two hours to move to Newtown.
Over the past two years, the nation has witnessed the beginning of a wholesale change in recognizing a greater need for diversity, equity and inclusion. One such effort includes commemorating June 19, 1865—now designated Juneteenth—the day the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free. Juneteenth became an American federal holiday in 2021, and this year, festivities abounded across the country, including in the Tampa Bay area at the Tampa Museum of Art, which held its first annual Juneteenth Cultural Celebration.
The free family-friendly event featured a variety of art activities, live music, and— something no celebration would be complete without—food trucks. The celebration also welcomed programs from several community partners and free onsite health screenings by Moffitt Cancer Center and CAN Community Health, to promote social and health equity. Inside, visitors enjoyed exhibition tours of artworks by prominent Black artists, informative talks about Black art, interactive art making, family portraits, and live music. The event was held by the Museum, Moffitt Cancer Center and HORUS Construction. ONYX Magazine was a sponsor. "Today, we elevate the voices of people who maybe have been marginalized historically, in their viewpoint in their histories, and in their lives," Michael Tomor, the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art, told 10 Tampa Bay WTSP the day of the event.
ERNIE BARNES’ MOST FAMOUS PAINTING, ‘THE SUGAR SHACK,’ SELLS FOR AN ASTOUNDING $15.3 MILLION
This May, at Christie’s auction house in New York, Ernie Barnes’ 1976 iconic painting, “The Sugar Shack,” sold for a whopping $15.3 million—76 times its high estimate of $200,000. After 10 minutes of 22 bidders jockeying to claim the piece, it finally went to hedge fund manager Bill Perkins, who wrote in an Instagram post that owning the artwork was “a childhood dream come true.”
Barnes, who died in 2009, is the only notable athlete turned painter, and his works—vibrant and kinetic, with figures often featuring lithe, elongated limbs—heightened attention to Black artists at a time when few were recognized, let alone celebrated. “The Sugar Shack,” which depicts an exhilarating dance hall scene, drew wide acclaim after appearing in the closing credits of the TV sitcom “Good Times,” and on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s album “I Want You.”
Perkins plans to lend “The Sugar Shack” to a museum, so other people can enjoy it, before making it the pièce de resistance of his home—where, as he told The New York Times, “I can see it every day and soak up the memory dividend and the happy absurdity that I can own it.”
Ruby C. Williams painting and preaching LaVon Van Williams in his studio in Lexington, KY. Sugar Shack
FOLK ART FROM LOCAL BLACK ARTISTS HAS A PERMANENT HOME IN SANFORD
Jeanine Taylor, the eponymous owner of Jeanine Taylor Folk Art, a gallery located in the heart of downtown Sanford, has long recognized the importance of elevating Black creativity. For more than two decades, Taylor has provided a space for Black artists to express themselves through nontraditional techniques.
Contemporary folk art differs from what some would call “fine art.” First, the artists are not classically trained, and second, they use whatever materials are on hand—such as mud mixed with Coca-Cola, a technique of the late folk artist Jimmy Lee Sudduth. “They created from practically nothing because they had an intrinsic desire to create,” Taylor told ONYX Magazine.
More than half the artists represented throughout Taylor’s gallery are African American. A few of these include: LaVon Van Williams, Jr., a basketball star turned wood carver; Dr. Charles Smith, whose work honors African American Vietnam veterans; and Ruby C. Williams, known for her vibrant signs adorning her produce stand in Bealsville, Fla., a town her great-grandmother, a freed slave, helped found.
Since the death of Trayvon Martin, which spurred the now-ubiquitous Black Lives Matter movement, the African American arts scene in Sanford “has exploded,” Taylor said. She’s glad folk art is having its well-deserved time in the spotlight, but balks at the idea of distinguishing it from fine art. “To categorize art as fine art or folk art, there’s something discriminatory about that,” she noted. “It’s all art.”
KINSEY COLLECTION LANDS IN PANAMA CITY
After being delayed by COVID-19, the world renowned "Treasures from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection," opened at Florida State University Panama City in April and will show throughout July. "The story is not a Black story; it's an American story," said Bernard Kinsey, whose collection with his wife, Shirley, spans more than 40 years. "We are really proud of our work and believe it's the kind of work America needs right now." "We are honored to have an exhibit of this caliber coming to FSU Panama City," said Dean Randy Hanna. "This collection not only documents American history but also the tremendous contribution Black artists have made to American culture."
Trina Ryan is a freelance writer in Orlando who writes Art & Culture for ONYX Magazine.
"The Cultivators," Samuel L. Dunson, Jr.
