Artist Talk with Closing Reception for “Black Love Now” a group exhibition curated by Scarlett Wieliczki at Nicole Longnecker Gallery on Saturday, January 21, from 2-5pm.

SYNOPSIS: An Artist Talk with Closing Reception for “Black Love Now” a group exhibition curated by Scarlett Wieliczki at Nicole Longnecker Gallery will be Saturday, January 21, from 2pm until 5pm. The Artist Talk will be at 3pm. Confirmed artists: Lisa B. Woods, Madelyn Sneed-Grays, and Jamie Robertson. The exhibit will remain available for viewing online through www.longeckergallery.com or our Artsy site.

“Scarlett Wieliczki contacted me about curating her second exhibit with us soon after her return from New York City,” said gallery owner Nicole Longnecker. “Her vision for ‘Black Love Now’ connected with me, not only for its focus on Texas artists, but its personal connection to her path back to Houston from New York City. The narratives in this exhibit are compelling and important, and we want to share that with the Houston community.”

CURATORIAL STATEMENT: "If we hadn’t loved each other we never would have survived." James Baldwin

“Black Love Now” is a Texan's meditation on loss and renewal through the lens of the contemporary African American experience. Loss and renewal are core conceptual pillars to the exhibition.The path we choose to recover from the loss is what makes renewal such a potent concept.

The concept of love at large is about achieving “American unity,” as described by James Baldwin in "The Fire Next Time.” My choices for this exhibition focus on black community and black restoration before ever attempting to illustrate a loving community and unity within the breadth of the American landscape.

Texas has been home to free blacks for generations and therefore it’s important as a site for this experience. Often when one thinks of contemporary black communities it reveals a site of trauma, but there is also a chance to be a witness to the restorative nature America can offer from the trauma stories of our ancestral past. The simple task of discovering one's family lineage can be the first step in knowing and loving ourselves deeply.

“Black Love Now” provides a space to reflect on grief and loss. During the production of this exhibition, I endured experiences of deep loss, inevitably pointing to other painful losses. Working through grief is a process of uncovering parts of our lives we routinely avoid acknowledging.

The Texas-based artists bring textile, photography, painting and installation works to comment on and explore loss and renewal; answering questions about how love fortifies our human experience, restores the soul, and new ways of acquiring knowledge in the post-enlightenment age.

ARTISTS SHORT BIOS:

LISA B. WOODS Lisa B Woods uses light, sculpture, and audience participation to examine what we believe and who we are. Evidence of Lisa’s design background and prior career in high-tech can be seen in how she leverages interfaces and sensors to involve the audience into her artworks. Her work has been featured at Texas A&M, SXSW, Hopscotch, and Maker Faire; she has been invited to talk at SXSW, Midwest UX, IBM Design, Land Heritage’s Art-Sci Symposium, and Austin Design Week. Lisa holds an MFA from California College of the Arts.

MADELYN SNEED-GRAYS Madelyn Sneed-Grays is a representational painter born in Dallas, TX. She exercises multiple interests within a variety of series by capturing a desired moment in time and painting the likeness using additional vibrancy, which speaks to the way she perceives color in real time, and plays with blur effects that add to the depth of each painting. Capturing the essence of various countries she’s had the pleasure of traveling to, appreciating the diversity of cuisine and tapping into the disenfranchisement of black people are some of her interests and passions that are part of her current series. Each piece she creates evokes life’s gems and unfortunate realities in relation to her human experience.

LANECIA ROUSE TINSLEY Lanecia Rouse Tinsley is a multidisciplinary artist who splits time between Houston, TX and Richmond, VA. Her portfolio includes a range of abstract painting, photography, teaching, writing, speaking, and curatorial projects for local non-profit organizations.

She was recently an Artists on Site: Series 3 Artist-in-Residence at the Asia Society HTX and the 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence for the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) at Rice University. She is a Co-founding Creative Director for the ImagiNoir Equity Group, an international alliance and community development and equity group of black activists, artists, writers, scholars, philanthropists, and educators. In addition, she is the Director of Justice and the Arts with projectCURATE. Tinsley is a graduate of Duke University Divinity School and Wofford College.

JAMIE ROBERTSON Jamie Robertson is a visual artist and educator from Houston, Texas. She earned a BA in Art and MFA in Studio Art from the University of Houston. She also holds an MS in Art Therapy from Florida State University. She is a former recipient of the American Art Therapy Association's Pearlie Roberson Award and Red Bull Arts Microgrant. In 2022, she was selected to participate in ACRE Residency in Wisconsin. Robertson is also one half of the podcast, Where I See Me, which examines the presence of Black and Brown people in comics and media.

Her creative practice is rooted in the recollection of the personal and collective histories of the African Diaspora through lens-based media; with a focus on the Gulf South. Her work was featured in FORECAST 2021: SF Camerawork’s Annual Survey Exhibition, Flatland Film Festival, Art League Houston, Florida A & M University Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Gallery, 516 Arts, and internationally at Contemporary Calgary in Exposure Photography Festival in Canada. She currently works as a Lecturer at Sam Houston State University.

ANN JOHNSON Born in London, England and raised in Cheyenne, WY, Ann is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, (where she now teaches) and received a BS in Home Economics. She has also received an MA in Humanities from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, as well as an MFA from The Academy of Art University, in San Francisco with a concentration in printmaking. Primarily an interdisciplinary artist, Johnson’s passion for exploring issues particularly in the Black community has led her to create series’ of works that are evocative and engaging. She is a member of the ROUX Collective and is co-founder of the organization PrintMatters and PrintHouston.

Johnson has exhibited at The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX, The Contemporary Art Museum Houston, The Museum of Printing History, Houston, TX, Ruby City, San Antonio, TX, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX, Tisdale Beach Institute, Savannah, GA, Charles H. Wright Museum, Flint, MI, The High Point Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN, The 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, PA, Claire Oliver Gallery in Harlem, NY, and The California African American Art Museum in Los Angeles, CA.

Ann earned the name "Sole Sister" because she paints portraits with her feet (yes her feet). Ann 'Sole Sister' Johnson aspires to leave a legacy of challenging and thought provoking work that will entice the viewer and inspire younger artists. Johnson is represented by Hooks Epstein Gallery in Houston, TX, and Spillman Blackwell Fine Art in New Orleans, LA.

WHAT: An Artist Talk with Closing Reception for the Group Exhibit “Black Love Now"

WHERE: Nicole Longnecker Gallery, 1440 Greengrass Dr., Houston TX, 77008

WHEN: Saturday, January 21, 2022 from 2-5pm. Artist Talk at 3pm.

MORE INFO: www.longneckergallery.com, gallery@longneckergallery.com or 346-800-2780

Nicole Longnecker Gallery is open 11am — 4pm Tuesday through Saturday by appointment.