ROBYN GIBSON BIO
ROBYN GIBSON
ROBYN GIBSON is an emerging artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Louisville in 2014, earning a BFA in Painting and a BSBA in Marketing. Since receiving her MFA in 2018 from the New York Academy of Art, Gibson has been developing her multidimensional art practice. She has recently finished a seven-month residency at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
After she started boxing in 2016, Gibson began incorporating it into her art practice. Larger-than-life-sized bold, gestural charcoal figures on canvas, a lyrical writing style meant to pack a punch, and voluptuous vessels inspired by her own curves all convey the movement and force important to her work and inspired by her boxing practice. The act of taking up space and claiming ownership of it is important to her work. As a black artist focused on self-portraiture and the exploration of her own trauma, Gibson grapples with black identity, the depiction, perception and value of black bodies, and what it means to be authentic.
EDUCATION
2018 MFA Painting, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2014 BFA 2D Studio areas of concentration: Drawing and Painting,
BSBA Marketing; Minor: Entrepreneurship University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
RESIDENCIES
2023 - 24 AA Clay, Louisville, KY
2023 Ross Lynn Charitable Foundation Residency, Ruston, LA
NCECA Multicultural Fellowship
2021 BKLYN CLAY, Brooklyn, NY
North Louisiana Virtual Artist-In-Residence Program
2019 – 20 Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL
EXHIBITIONS
2026 Girl Crush, Group Exhibition, KMAC Contemporary Art Musuem, Louisville, KY
2025 Unsettled, Solo Exhibition, Wheelhouse Art, Louisville, KY
2024 NCECA 2024 Multicultural Fellowship Exhibition, Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Richmond, VA
2023 Enfolding: A Study of Margins & Centres, Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, Queens Terrace, St Andrews, Scotland
Five Points: A Convergence of Dreams, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
2022 Life is Weird, Solo Exhibition, Wheelhouse Art, Louisville, KY
Emergence: Identity & Environment Through Emerging Artists of Color, Davines, Brooklyn, NY
Art3 Pop-up Salon, Manhattan, NY
BKLYN CLAY Artist-in-Residence Solo Exhibition, BKLYN CLAY, Brooklyn, NY
Broken, Solo Online Exhibition, Jargonist.org
We Can’t Heal What We Don’t Reveal, North Louisiana Virtual Residency Exhibition, The North Central Louisiana Arts Council Gallery (nclacgallery.org)
2021 Parallels & Peripheries: Practice + Presence, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2020 Young Blood, Space St Barth SOHO Contemporary art Gallery, New York, NY
Armory Art Center Artists in Residence Show, Armory Art Center East Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL
2019 New and Now, Armory Art Center East Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL
Dinner Party, Quinn Hotel, New York, NY
2018 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Buy What You Love, Galerie Richard, New York, NY
New York Academy of Art 2018 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Wilkinson Gallery, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2017 Deck the Walls, Wilkinson Gallery, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2016 #BLACKARTMATTERS, Juried Group Show, The Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, IN
2015 Open Studio Weekend Group Show, Cressman Gallery, Louisville, KY
Our Voices Our Stories, Juried Group Show, Gallery K, Louisville, KY
2014 University of Louisville Fall 2014 BFA Thesis Exhibition, Covi Gallery, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
PERFORMANCES
2022 Journey of the Self: NY Artists Equity Poetry Reading, Manhattan, NY
2020 Heavy, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Different: Poetry Reading, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2022 Guest Curator for the Artist Confluence, Art3 Pop-up Salon, Manhattan, NY
2021 Guest Curator with online gallery space Jargonist, Six Degrees of NYC
Guest Curator with online gallery space Jargonist, Perspective
Assistant Curator alongside Larry Ossei-Mensah, Parallels & Peripheries: Practice + Presence, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
PRESS/PUBLICATIONS
2022 Canvas Rebel Featured Artist, June, 2022
SOFT Qtrly Issue #5
2021 Shout Out LA Featured Artist, October, 2021
Smith, Melissa. “From the Periphery to the Fore,” The New York Times, March, 2021
Becker, Noah. “Parallels & Peripheries: Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah on his Exhibition at the New York Academy of art – in Conversation with Noah Becker,” WhiteHot Magazine, February 2021.
2020 The Untitled Space, Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness: Exhibition Publication, November 2020.
2019 (t)here Magazine, Volume 19, December 2019
2015 Pfalzgraf, Daniel. “It’s in the Details,” ArteBella Daily, May 12, 2015. Web.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2023-24 Wheel and Hand Building Instructor, AA Clay Studio, Louisville, KY
2021 Art and Culture Adjunct Faculty Member, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2020 Drawing and Painting for Beginners Instructor, Urban Youth Impact, West Palm Beach, FL
2019 – 20 Artist in Residence, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL
2018 – 19 Teaching Assistant, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2026 Emerging Artist Award, LVA Honors, Louisville Visual Art, Louisville, KY
2013 – 14 Hite Art Institute Scholarship, University of Louisville
African American Alumni Council Scholarship, University of Louisville
2010 – 14 National Society of Collegiate Scholars
2008 – 13 Cardinal Covenant Scholarship, University of Louisville
2008 – 12 Woodford R. Porter Scholarship, University of Louisville
“My art is inspired by motion and Emotion. It is a representation of all of the MULTIPLE parts of myself. Sometimes these parts are at odds, sometimes they commune HARMONIOUSLY, but they all make up the whole of me. Boxing and meditation are two practices that have influenced my work and have allowed me to connect with my multiplicity. My meditative ceramics are one way that I share my journey with you.” – Robyn A. Gibson
How Louisville Artist Robyn Gibson Turns Boxing Into Art
Meet Louisville artist Robyn Gibson, whose journey through boxing, art, and loss helped her find her creative voice. Now, she's using her talents to uplift Louisville's creative community through the "Art By Volume" podcast. Image: PorchéB Photography
June 21, 2026·By Beth Clayton
From Louisville’s West End to South Florida, New York City, and back home again, art has taken Robyn Gibson on an unexpected journey. Today, the multidisciplinary artist shares her talents through WheelHouse Art as host of the gallery’s Art By Volume podcast, where she explores Louisville’s creative community. We spoke with Robyn about the grief that brought her home, the role boxing plays in her artwork, and her upcoming piece in the KMAC Contemporary Art Museum‘s Girl Crush exhibit.
Meet multimedia artist Robyn Gibson. Image: PorchéB Photography
Who were some of your earliest art influences?
My mom is a clothing designer and seamstress. When I was young, she quit her nine-to-five as a librarian to be there for me, and did her sewing from home. Even if her influence wasn’t intentional, it was osmosis.
I remember playing with her fabric scraps when I was little. Who knows what I was doing? She was in her creative space while allowing me to do my thing simultaneously. She really influenced the way I think about bodies and how I want people to feel comfortable in who they are.
What lured you back to Louisville?
Honestly, trauma and tragedy brought me back home. COVID hit during my residency in Florida, and I took it really hard. Suddenly, I couldn’t go to the studio. The studio is where I feel most myself.
Then I went to New York for graduate school at the New York Academy of Art, where I still couldn’t go to the studio or even be in the same area of the apartment as my roommates, as we were all still social distancing. It was so isolating.
Around the same time, my grandmother passed, and then just a couple of months later, my uncle. I realized my mother and I were both carrying so much grief alone in different cities. It was time for me to come home and be with my mom.
I was fighting an uphill battle with grief. I’m glad to be home. I still don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but I feel more confident that I’m on the right track.
Robyn incorporates boxing figures in her clay vessels, including “The Strong.” Image: Kate Kuligowski
Boxing plays an integral role in your art. How did you get into boxing, and how does it inspire your work?
I always wanted to learn how to box. Shortly after undergrad, a friend told me about a place where I could try a class for free. I guess I took too long to sign up, because he said, “You’re not gonna do it.” That’s all it took. Don’t tell me what I’m not going to do.
I absolutely loved it. It was a place where I could not know what I was doing, and it was okay. I was allowed to be bad at it, and I was bad until I got better. I found a confidence I’d never had before.
Growing up in Muhammad Ali’s hometown, Robyn was inspired by his legacy of activism and self-belief. Image: Robyn Gibson
What is your preferred medium?
I started out wanting to be a designer, but eventually realized fine art was my thing and fell into painting. But with painting, I always felt like everything had to be finished and perfect. When I lived in New York, someone was giving away a big roll of non-archival gray paper that tore really easily. Whatever, it was free. I started charcoal drawing, and realized I was drawing boxers.
It became very therapeutic for me. The same confident man I met in the ring was the person I was drawing over and over. I guess I paint with charcoal now. I also started doing clay vessels during my residency in Florida. A friend taught me the coil technique. I found it incredibly soothing. Charcoal, clay, and boxing have healed me.
Pictured here is Robyn’s piece titled “Float.” Image: WheelHouse Art
You are also a podcast host. How did that come about?
I had a podcast with a friend in New York. It started with us just messing around and talking about life. Then we interviewed another artist, and it accidentally blew up! Life happened, and I moved back home, so that podcast is no more. But since I’d already invested in the equipment, I started the Life is Weird podcast, interviewing friends and family.
Daniel Pfalzgraf, owner of WheelHouseArt, heard about both and asked if I’d be interested in partnering. It all came together in a way that felt organic and needed. I’m hoping to see it grow. Having a voice that shares what’s happening in the art world in Louisville is a big deal. I think it could be a culture changer.
What would you like to see change about Louisville’s art scene?
I’d like to see more support and funding go to less-established artists and artists of color. I know there is money out there, but I don’t always see it coming to the artists who need it most.
I’d also love to see more events that get the public involved, like the trolley hop we used to have on Frankfort Avenue. I’d love to see more art poured into the spaces where people live — and not just NuLu.
There are galleries in other places. And make it free! I cannot express enough that funding should go to those who don’t have access. So many cities have an arts-focused mindset. These things should be considered in city planning and budgeting. Why not put Louisville on the map that way?
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Where in the city do you go when you need inspiration?
I love water. The Walking Bridge is one of my favorite places. I like the water below me, and the breeze at the top. It’s a great place to clear my head.
Robyn’s art adorns the interior of Coach Charlie’s Boxing and Fitness in LaGrange. Image: Robyn Gibson
What’s one thing people are surprised to learn about you?
I always have Play-Doh nearby so I can create with something malleable when I need to.
I lived with my aunt during my residency in Florida, and when COVID hit, I wasn’t able to go to my studio. I slipped into a depression. My cousin said, “I know you really want to make art, but here’s some Play-Doh.” It kept me sane, sitting on the couch watching Netflix and creating with Play-Doh. Now I keep it around all the time.
What’s your best piece of advice?
It’s a lesson I’m still learning. You are the only “you” you’re ever going to have. Making sure you are good with you is so important.
It’s easy to be misunderstood or for people not to like you, but it’s so freeing when you get to a point where you love and accept yourself. You have to come first. We can’t have a real community and love for others if we don’t have love for ourselves first. How can we be honest with other people about what we need if we can’t be honest with ourselves?
LIGHTNING ROUND
What’s your go-to order at The Wine Room? Bonfire Red #102 wine. Man, it just snaps. Something about that smokiness …
The last great book you read? Belle Hook’s All About Love
Favorite podcast(s) other than yours? 3 Black Halflings, World’s Beyond Number, and Not Another D&D Podcast
Clothing item you’ll never get rid of? My hoodie. My mom is trying to make me get rid of it, but it has thumbholes. Who doesn’t love thumbholes? I told my mom I’d keep it in the studio, but I can’t retire it.
Your go-to snack? Popcorn.
Meet Robyn Gibson
Stories & Insights October 12, 2023
Share This Article
We recently connected with Robyn Gibson and have shared our conversation below.
Robyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I’ve been making art since the 3rd grade. I knew back then that I wanted to create, but I didn’t know that I could be a professional artist. I don’t think I really understood what that meant other than being an art teacher. I took art classes all the way up through high school then put the art making aside majored in Marketing my first couple years in undergrad. I wanted to prepare myself for a job that would pay me, but I felt like something was missing. I needed to make art, so I decided to double major in Marketing and Fine Art. I knew I wanted to be a professional artist at this point, but I didn’t really believe it was possible until my second year in grad school in NYC.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a multidisciplinary artist so I work in many different mediums. My favorite ways of creating are drawing and ceramics. I make large scale abstract female figures on canvas using charcoal, different color stains, and gesso. These figures are usually larger than life size and portray movement. The may be engaging in physical alterations, pushing or pulling one another, and often boxing. They also often overlap and fold into one another, becoming part of each other. These figures are self portraits, and I use them to explore my trauma, thoughts, emotions, and changes as I move through life. I began boxing in 2016 and almost immediately started incorporating it into my art practice. I realized I was discovering a new part of myself through my boxing practice. I still box today, and although my practice is different because it doesn’t have the same freshness it had when I first began, it still teaches me a lot about who I am and who I want to be. My boxing practice helps to inform my art practice and vice versa.
As I mentioned before I also love ceramics. I’ve been working in clay since 2019 and I have not looked back. I make vessels that are extensions of my body. When I’m overwhelmed or just feeling too much and can’t contain it all, these vessels are spaces for the excess. I’m almost compelled to make them. Their forms mimic the drawings I make. I also create a line of meditative ceramics that include incense burners. I make and sell two different kinds. One is a multifunctional burner that allows you to burn both incense sticks and cones. The other is made specifically for back-flow incense and allows the smoke to cascade down almost like water. I make teapots with their own small cups as part of this line as well. I’m working on planters and candles to add to the line. I think finding ways to bring peace and beauty into your home is very important, especially these days when peace feels like it’s in short supply. It is my hope that these meditative ceramics will help others, and myself, slow down, breathe deeply and on purpose, and be in the moment. I’m currently working on adding these to a shop on Etsy. Right now my multifunctional burners are available for purchase on Etsy, and the rest of the line is coming soon.
I love the things that I make. I love the drawings, the vessels, and the meditative ceramics. Not only do I love creating them, but I love the objects themselves because they are part of my healing journey, and I want to encourage others to find healing too. I’m very intentional about what I put out into the world, and my art is my way of spreading love in this world that can feel very cold at times.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I am currently going through a season of unknown. It’s a bit frustrating because everything feels temporary right now. It’s forcing me to live moment to moment and do very minimal long term planning. I’m not used to this. I had to move back home to live with my mom. I have two part time jobs that I enjoy, but they don’t fulfill me like my art practice. I don’t have my own studio right now so most of said art practice is on hold, and my financial situation is the worst it’s ever been. I’m not saying all of this to complain, but I’m sharing it all because I’m in the middle of a very interesting learning process and huge life shift, or pivot if you will. Before I moved back home to Louisville, KY I was living a very independent life in New York City. I had a community of artist friends that supported me, a studio, and goals that all involved me staying in NYC for several years. But life happened, and a year ago I had to leave that world behind. I mourned and I’m still trying to adjust, but it put me in a unique position. I’m no longer quite as independent, but I now have a support system that allows me to do what I need to do to start my new business selling ceramics. My two part time jobs allow me flexibility in my schedule so I can prioritize my boxing practice in a way I could not do in NYC. In fact I could not box while I was in NYC for the past few years. It drove me a little crazy. I do not have my own studio, but I am able to work out of a community studio where I make my line of meditative ceramics. I miss my art family in NYC, but I’m growing a community here in Louisville and discovering a part of the city that I didn’t really know about before I moved back. Yes, it’s hard. And everything feels very temporary. At the same time however, that just gives me the flexibility to explore opportunities that I didn’t know were possible and meet people who are expanding my world even further. I am not comfortable, but how often do we grow in our comfort zones?
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I feel like I say this all the time, but it is what it is. The only way that creatives can thrive is if they’re appreciated and properly compensated for their work. Society understands the need for what we create. We all consume content and goods/services that are provided by creative individuals, but there is a disconnect in that consumption. Oftentimes society wants what we make but does not want to see the humanity behind the creation. (Or worse, wants to remove it!) That’s a huge problem. When you forget that people put hard work, time, tears and parts of themselves into what they make it’s easy to lose sight of the value of what we provide. It’s already difficult for many of us to put a price on what we do. So when society tells us that that price is too high or tries to cheapen our work because manufacturers or AI can make/generate things for less money it’s damaging. I need people to understand that creatives are people. When you buy our work you’re getting so much more than something that was quickly assembled by an automated machine. You’re connecting with another human. That’s what art is about, connection. Automation and AI should be used as a tool not a substitute. Creatives thrive when we share the things that we love and discover that others love them too. Plus we have to eat and pay our bills like everyone else. Let’s not forget that.
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Parallels & Peripheries: Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah on his Exhibition at the New York Academy of Art - in Conversation with Noah Becker
Paul Anthony Smith, Midnight Blue #2, 2020-21, unique picotage on inkjet print, oil sticks, acrylic gouache, spray paint mounted on museum board and sintra panel, © Paul Anthony Smith, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
By NOAH BECKER February, 2021
This is a conversation is between myself and the important New York based curator Larry Ossei-Mensah. I was fortunate enough to have Larry join me to discuss his career and his current curatorial project co-curated by Robyn Gibson called Parallels & Peripheries at the New York Academy of Art until March 7th, 2021. He comes from the Bronx and he uses contemporary art as a vehicle to redefine how we see ourselves and the world around us. He comes from Ghana, and he's a cultural critic that has organized exhibitions and programs at commercial and non-profit spaces around the globe, from New York to Rome.
He runs a global collective called Art Noir that I asked him about, which is a global collective of culturalists who designed multimodal experiences aimed to engage this generation's dynamic and diverse creative class. Art Noir endeavors to celebrate the artistry and creativity by black and brown artists around the world via virtual and in-person experiences.
I hope you enjoy the following conversation for Whitehot Magazine.
Noah Becker: I wanted to ask you about the show that you co-curated called Parallels & Peripheries at the New York Academy of Art.
Larry Ossei-Mensah: Okay. So it's an exhibition that I was invited by the Academy to organize, and part of it started with a text that my co-curator Robyn wrote. Robyn is an alum of the Academy - Robyn Gibson. And she just wrote reflecting on her experience as an African-American woman at the Academy, the challenges of that and I think a lot of that really was inspired by the events that happened last summer, the murder of George Floyd and the reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter Movement. I think also it's just a reckoning across industries... I think it's a reevaluation, I hope, across industries, particularly in the art world where institutions really have to look at themselves in the mirror.
Becker: Explain more about how you curated the exhibition...
Ossei-Mensah: Well, the institutions really need to kind of evaluate or begin to evaluate how complicit they've been in a lot of this systematic oppression, systematic racism, even down to things like microaggression - which I think we don't talk about a lot. You know, how challenging is it to be a student of color in an environment where there may not be many students who look like you, professors that look like you - how do you develop the tools to kind of navigate these spaces? And so Robyn Gibson wrote this text and the NY Academy invited me to collaborate with the organizing of this exhibition, meditating on the BIPOC community at the New York Academy of Art. So thinking about alums, thinking about current students, faculty, visiting lecturers - I started there.
So for me, that was an exciting opportunity. You know, one being cognizant that this is an academy's history. Having had friends who've worked there, knowing artists like Arcmanoro Niles, Naudline Pierre and others who are graduates from there in addition to Robin Gibson. And for me, this is an opportunity to ask a question, right? And so Parallels and Peripheries is a series that's been narrative. I launched it in 2018 after seeing, Take Me I'm Yours in Rome. I curated an exhibition and group show in Rome and I was at Villa Medici. You know, I was just reading about that show and I'm like, wow, it's interrogating these same set of ideas, obviously changing the artists who were part of the conversation for like 15 years.
Becker: Are the artists alumni of the New York Academy, or are most of them artists from outside the Academy?
Ossei-Mensah: The majority are artists who have an affiliation with the Academy. So, either they're teaching there currently, either they've graduated, or they're current students. And then we have a couple who are not alum, but were visiting lecturers at the Academy...
Becker: Right, because I was looking at some of the work and it's fairly representational, although maybe I missed some of it, is there some abstraction in the show or is it mainly representational?
Ossei-Mensah: No, it's not really about abstraction because I think the impetus, the subtext is practice and presence and really thinking about this notion of a certain presence in a space where you might not feel like you're seen. Right? And so, for me, as we were going through the process and it was something that we have reflected on. People want to feel seen...
Becker: So you were thinking about the NY Academy in a way?
Ossei-Mensah: Yes, and I think it was also an opportunity for the institution to kind of re-engage those folks - and so it's something I thought about. So it's not something that I glossed over, but I think when Robyn and I were talking about the show, (she has two ceramic pieces in the show), and I think Jean Shin has a sculpture in the show, so we were thinking about where are the opportunities to include other modes of making? David Antonio Cruz has a video piece in the show - so we thought about that. But in my gut, I was like, this, this just makes more sense knowing who the audience is going to be. And knowing that the Academy, that's what they're known for, whether it's sculpture or painting - it's knid of a representational history.
Becker: I've been to a number of the NY Academy galas and have been to the studios with the artists. It's definitely an interesting place and a much needed place for that kind of approach to figuration and that kind of thing. I'm not sure what New York would be like without it actually, it's launched a lot of really interesting artists.
Ossei-Mensah: Yeah and I think it's like, I think about the Academy, I think about the artistry. There's so many artists that I know who have made a career, some I would consider masters, who didn't go to these lauded MFA programs. But went to the NY Academy or went to the Art Students League or other kinds of programs that exist to really kind of just refine their craft and master their craft and I think that's one thing that the Academy definitely has offered to students.
Becker: And the other institutions?
Ossei-Mensah: I think many higher-ed institutions, there's still a lot of work to be done towards equity, creating an environment where you feel seen, and that's just kind of a natural human inclination - and it's been really great. The feedback that I've been getting from all the artists that have been participating, just being thankful, because the reality is that just because you get an MFA does not guarantee you're going to have this like hot shot career, right?
Becker: That's true and I agree...
Ossei Mensah: For some artists, they've been blessed and they're working, and they have things going on, and then others not, and that's just kind of the reality of how MFA's work. There were a couple of dealers that I know who went and they were asking questions about particular artists. And so my hope is that they engage those artists in a conversation and then hopefully that manifests into some type of working relationship or even just inclusion and future profit. WM
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#BlackArtMatters
“Black Beauty” is his name. It is one of many photos that were part of Fahamu Pecou’s #BlackMatterLives gallery. This painting is an acrylic, enamel, spray paint and gold leaf on a canvas. According to the Pecou’s artist statement, this was supposed to reorient angst and despair experienced by Black America through work that affirms the beauty, strength and resilience of Black people.
Tassy Payne, Staff Reporter
March 22, 2017
Life stories and experiences aren’t always easily shared with others through word of mouth alone.
Although some people share their experiences through writing, others share it through art.
With the stroke of their paintbrushes, the sensitive touch of the oil pastel against the canvas or a flash from one’s camera becomes various pieces from different artists who represent black lives through black art.
The #BlackArtMatters, is an exhibit that opened Friday, Feb. 3 at the Carnegie Art and History Center in downtown New Albany.
Dan Pfalzgraf, the curator of the Carnegie Art and History Center, said this exhibit stemmed from the Black Lives Matter movement.
(ABOVE) This is LaNia Robert’s “The Colored Gaze.” Roberts said she read Bell Hook’s “The Oppositional Gaze,” and said it enlightened her.
“It enlightened me how African American slaves were punished if they looked and gazed at their masters,” Roberts said.
She said the gaze meant they had power and that masters didn’t like their power to be questioned. In this piece, she said she created a picture standing over the audience to let them know she is owning the space she’s in and that she wanted to portray having the power.
Pfalzgraf said the goal of the exhibit was to bring forward thoughts and feelings many share with the artists and to develop a sense of empathy with those unfamiliar with these experiences.
He said this show took a few years to pull together and that this was his first full exhibit he curated for the space. He said this was a time for him and the center to assemble putting together space for the community to see the stories of the culture the artists were trying to tell.
There are a mix of national and young local artists featured in the exhibit.
Delesha Thomas, public relations associate at the Carnegie Art and History Center, said she has seen many new faces at this exhibit.
She said the momentum has been good and the center has been receiving a lot of positive feedback. Thomas said she hopes the exhibit smooths out the misconceptions of what Black Lives Matters is.
One of the many experiences shared in this exhibit is self-love.
(ABOVE) In the corner of the center, to the right of Shawn Michael Warren’s “The Promised Land,” are nine 5×5 wood panels of oil paintings, with an iPad on the left of the paintings. Artist Robyn Gibson painted and interviewed nine of her family and friends from Louisville to develop an opportunity for others to learn about their lives and stories, and for others to develop an understanding on who they are.
Lania Roberts, a junior in painting at Syracuse University, Louisville native and one of the artists in the exhibit, said expressing her journey of self-love was a huge part of her art.
Roberts said as a black woman and as a big girl, she is at the bottom of the social hierarchy. But with her art, she said she has broken down barriers of self-hatred and advertisements’ definition of beauty.
She said she found a way to be successful, love herself and share with other people.
In terms of other people’s artwork in this exhibit, Roberts said she hopes others will be open to new perspectives and to see what the world really looks like.
“The American dream is seen through ads [and] power structures but they don’t include blacks inside galleries,” Roberts said. “This [exhibit] shows the negative remnants of effects living inside a dream instead of reality. Take a taste of the reality we are in and realize we’re not in a dream.”
One of the negative remnants of the American Dream is the issue of police brutality.
In an article from the International Business Times, reporter Janice Williams said in Sept. 2016 that 173 blacks were killed by police.
Roberts said this past semester she was distraught and angered by the news of police brutality in the U.S.
She said she went to her mentor and asked what she could do with her art about this.
“I said to her, ‘I don’t think a self-portrait will be good enough,’” Roberts said. “But she told me that something like this is what we need right now.”
Roberts said Pfalzgraf had seen her videos and knew about her being a part of the Louisville Visual Art Associations. In the summer of 2016, Pfalzgraf emailed her that he’d be starting this show and he wanted her to be a part of it. When Pfalzgraf told her what the exhibit was about and that he wanted her to create something, she sent her artwork to him so it could be put in the show.
Roberts is currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy, but she said she hopes those who look at her work will take in her art however they please and take their thoughts home with them. She said if someone looks at her work and says it’s overly confident and shallow, too much self love, she has done her job.
(ABOVE) “In a Promised Land” is a 2-D oil painting created by Shawn Michael Warren in 2015. This painting was to recapture the aftermath of the ruin of Black Wall Street. This is said to be the most deadly occurrence of racial violence in American history.
“My expression gives you the chance to react and you get to take that home with you,” Roberts said. “Take it however you want.”
Robyn Gibson, a Louisville native and first year graduate student in painting at the New York Academy of Art, said she wanted to create something that would combat silenced voices in a positive way during a time when many people feel they don’t have a voice.
In the corner of the Carnegie Art and History Center, to the right of Shawn Michael Warren’s “The Promised Land,” are nine 5×5 panels of oil paintings of Gibson’s family and friends from Louisville.
Gibson also interviewed and recorded the nine people she painted to develop an opportunity for others to learn about their lives and stories, and for others to develop an understanding on who they are. The recording of the interviews are on an iPad, which is on the left of the nine portraits.
Gibson said as far as scale, detail, presentation and interview questions, she wanted to entice the viewer to get close, interact, listen to understand, and really respect each individual she’s painted.
“I believe my work is important not because it gives a voice to those who feel they don’t have one but because it’s a platform,” Gibson said.
Gibson said she just wanted to create a space for each person to be true to who they are and paint them in a way that’s consistent with who they are and draws people in.
With this piece, Gibson wants audience members to be patient and take the time to interact with her work. She said the interviews are important and she wants people to listen to them.
“I want them to get close to the portraits and see the details,” Gibson said. “I also hope that they can kind of see a bit of each person’s personality in the paintings as they listen to their stories. Each person is important, and their stories deserve to be listened to.”
In terms of other artists’ work in this exhibit, Gibson said she hopes the audience will take in the work and appreciate it from an aesthetic point of view, as well as come out of it thinking in a way they may not have before viewing the show.
“The work is both visually appealing and thought provoking,” Gibson said. “I also hope it gets people talking and inspired to create something or participate in the movement through their own form of activism, whatever that looks like to them.”
Gibson said she feels like she is part of something bigger than herself, and contributing to a movement that is both controversial and necessary.
(ABOVE)
“Night Catches Us” by Fahamu Pecou. The other pieces of artwork on the other side of Pecou’s painting are pieces by Ray Dalton. (From left to right) “Ma Dears Children,” “Couple Casado” and “Memory Lane- He said She said.”
“Through these works the viewer can partake in a movement and each artist has contributed to that movement in their own relevant way,” Gibson said.
Pfalzgraf said this was not an anti-white exhibit, but is an exhibit that takes the time to celebrate black lives.
He said compassion and fellowship are keys to overcoming the issues that have given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Celebrating the African American experience hasn’t had enough due shared in the art world,” Pfalzgraf said.
Pfalzgraf said by using the power of art, he hoped this exhibit would become a part of a greater movement to promote growth, love and healing within society.
“Until people see eye to eye with respect. Until we see ourselves in each other, there will be a need for the #BlackLivesMatter call,” Pfalzgraf said.
On March 31 the center will be hosting a panel discussion from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. with Fahamu Pecou, Stephen Flemister and Scherazade Tillet, artists whose work is in the exhibit. The program will explore artists’ histories, ideas of public and private identities, and how current events relate and inform each other’s work. The discussion will be moderated by Kaila Story and Jaison Gardner, WFPL’s “Strange Fruit” podcast team.
This exhibit ends April 8, 2017.
