For the past 18 months, I've been in an introverted mode. I've shifted more towards lecturing and teaching, and I've been intensely doing research to support this shift and the production of new research-based artwork. At this moment, I have artwork on exhibit at two locations; (1) The San Bernadino County Museum (a group exhibit curated by the legendary artist Charles Bibbs) and (2) a fantastic exhibit curated by Susanna Meiers at the El Camino College Art Gallery with three of LA's finest-fine-art, artist-storytellers; Lezley Saar, Mark Greenfield, and Umar Rashid. (Click here for information). Artists reception on Thursday evening, February 21st and Artist Talk on Tuesday afternoon, February 26th.
Counter-clockwise from top left corner (mostly detail shots). Artwork by Zeal Harris, Umar Rashid, Lezley Saar, Zeal Harris, Zeal Harris, and Mark Greenfield. Image in the center is artwork by Zeal Harris. All artwork currently on exhibit at El Camino College Art Gallery.
To these shows and to my home studio, I encourage visits by curators, gallerists, writers, set decorators, interior designers, and potential collectors. Any acquisition of artworks at this current time will go towards funding my first trip to Ghana, Africa, and a summer of creating artwork full-time. In August I'll be in Ghana attending the Chale Wote Street Art Festival. This year, the festivals's theme is "The Year of Return". Exactly 400 years ago, the first slaveship to Virginia (where the United States of America began) arrived in my hometown in 1619. Wherever people were enslaved, there were always runaways. My new artwork, "Bantus of the Black Atlantic" is a visual dissertation about ancestral mothers in mystical spacetime as they journey to find promised land. This story begins in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia. I'm seeking outlets to exhibit this artwork and welcome leads. Click on the photo of me below to read a lovely and lengthy article about my new work written by Bondo Wyszpolski.
Another series that I've begun, "I Be Livin' Black Love", is a quirky illustration project that will become an artist's book about contemporary daily life through black feminist observations. Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to read about my humble happenings.
Oh! and P.S....Please join me for an art workshop I'll be leading at the California African American Musuem on March 23rd. Come and turn YOUR story ideas into fine art!