MEMORIES & INSPIRATION: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of Africa American Art By B. L. Eikner
Installation view at the Gilcrease
The primary purpose for collecting any object is love. An unexplainable emotional and spiritual attachment that grows out of the bottom of one’s soul. Collecting is described as a process or action that makes you feel good, reminds you of your mother or a life changing event, or it simply makes your heart sing. Kerry Davis a former military man and retired employee of the United States Postal System, collects African American art of all media because he is touched by the faces and places, the moods and messages, and the signs and spirits on the canvases. He is captured by the interactions with the artists in their studios and his strong and intimate relationships that have developed over the past four decades have created life-long friends and new family. Many of these artists traveled with him on their own dollar to Tulsa for the opening of Memories & Inspiration and had an opportunity to discuss and showcase their creative genius during the exhibition tour. Present were Georgia artists Freddie Styles, Kevin Cole, Cynthia Morrison, Sedrick Huckaby, Brenda Thompson, and Lionel Lofton of Houston, Texas. Kerry’s first purchase was General Toussaint L’Overture by the Internationally known African American painter Jacob Lawrence. Other Internationally known artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, and Charles White are also in this extensive collection. Kerry has loaned his works to community associations, arts organizations,
colleges and universities, and private social groups for classroom and educational support in his home state of Georgia. Showcasing this tremendous collection of works of art, Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art is currently on view at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa and runs through July 26, 2020. This exhibition is part of an extensive collection that the Davis’s started in the mid 1980s in their home, which now has amassed to over 300 pieces. This is the first time that any part of the collection has been exhibited outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The next stops are Richmond, Virginia; Ocala, Florida; and West Virginia (city site not finalized as of press time). The collection at Gilcrease Museum has a total of sixty-two pieces. The works range from collage on board to oil on canvas, sculptures to wood cuts, mixed media to watercolors, and hand colored engraving on copper to photography. The exhibit covers the life experiences, religion and work, positive and negative community triumphs, tragedies, courage, and perseverance of being Black and living in America. A collage on board by John T. Riddle, Jr. (1933-2002) entitled, Stain Glass Windows 1988 provides ghostly images of the four
young girls who lost their lives in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, the Statue of Liberty, parts of the Declaration of Independence, and the dates 1883-1963 which brought back memories of the organized group of terrorists who took the lives of innocent children and a country slow to move legalizing citizenship and the right to vote to all. However, as you move through the gallery, the watercolor of Lois Mailou Jones (19051988), St. Michelle, France 1958, reminds the artist and the viewer that the quiet solace and comforting arms of the French landscape was a reason many African Americans made the decision to travel to the countryside and cities of France and other European countries where freedom to create, live and grow existed in the 1940s, 50s and 60s for all people. This collection moves in many directions and one you must see at least three times to capture the many messages from the myriad images and views of artists with different eyes and spirits on the world in which they live and work. The exhibition includes a video presentation for guests featuring Tulsa teacher, Written Quincy; members of the Black Moon Collective; Poet, Deborah Hunter; Tulsa City Representative, Dwain Midget; Community Partner, Michelle Anderson, of Jack and Jill; and State Representative Regina Goodwin (continued to page 10)
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