Crafting Blackness
Crafting Blackness
African American Craft in Tennessee Since 1920
The 100-year history of black craft artists in Tennessee 1920-2022 research project by BIPOC art historian and curator Karlota Contreras-Koterbay covers a century of history of craft making by African Americans in the state of Tennessee. The Research product includes a compendium: Quilted Narratives: Black Bodies Making Form with an image-rich database of Black Tennessee artists, a collection of Bibliography with artists’ statements or Q&A/ Video Narratives; culminating into a series of exhibitions with public engagements focusing on Black Tennessee Craft Artists and craft-making in Tennessee.
Crafting Blackness is supported by:
Presented by Crafting Blackness Initiative and Tennessee Craft with support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, ETSU Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts, East Tennessee Foundation’s Arts Fund, ETSU SAAC and SouthArts
Remembering:
Resist, Revel, Reclaim
University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery
106 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
May 31 – August 2, 2025
Receptions: June 6, 5-9 pm | July 11, 5-9 pm | August 1 5-9 p.m.
Gallery Hours:
Wed-Fri 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. || Sat: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Remembering is the rich currency of memory. A currency that deals solely in story, much like stitched-together fragments of a person’s life after they have passed. Recalling a loved one’s words can help us form a picture of who they were and how they lived. Remembering serves as a connective thread, linking lineage, legacy, and identity between individuals, families, and communities, reminding us of who we are and where we came from. Remembering is a link to an object or idea, offering comfort, honing our will to persevere, or tapping our mettle. Remembering provides an abundance of knowledge, wisdom, and insight.
“REMEMBERING: Resist, Reveal, ReClaim” is presented by Crafting Blackness initiative, a five-year collaborative research, publication, and exhibition series to advance the visibility of Black Craft and African American artists in Tennessee since 1920 up to present. Exhibiting artists include Omari Booker, Ashley Buchanan, Brittney Boyd Bullock, LaKesha Calvin, Kimberly Dummons, Eric Echols, Genesis The Grey Kid, Barbara Hodges, Leroy Hodges Jr., Edwin Jeffery, Desmond Lewis, Carl Moore, Elisheba Mrozik, Althea Murphy-Price, Ashley Seay, Jamaal Sheats, Lorenzo Swinton, Gary White, and Donna Woodley.
The exhibition is co-curated by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay, Director of Slocumb Galleries at East Tennessee State University and Director of the Crafting Blackness Initiative, and Dr. Cynthia Gadsden, Associate Professor of Art History at Tennessee State University, whose research areas include the visual arts, the lived experience, and the ways knowledge is transferred across generations via culture, relationships, and story.
Curators
Dr. Cynthia Gadsden, Tennessee State University
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Embracing Blackness
Diasporic Union
Customs House Museum & Cultural Center
200 South 2nd Street, Clarksville, TN 37040
May 10 – July 29, 2025
Reception: Saturday, May 10, 5-7 p.m.
Panel & Performance: Thursday, July 10, 5-7 p.m.
Gallery Hours:
Tues-Sat: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. || Sun: 1 p.m. –5 p.m.
The multimedia exhibition ‘Embracing Blackness: Diasporic Realities’ is part of the Crafting Blackness Initiative in partnership with the Tennessee Craft, ETSU Slocumb Galleries and Customs House Museum & Cultural Center that celebrate work by artists of African descent based in Tennessee whose diverse multicultural heritages influence and visualize the Black identities and experiences.
The curatorial focus revolves around inclusion, assertions of the vital reality of Blackness’ inclusive capacity to embrace cultures, amalgamations of various hues in its veins, intertwining black, brown, yellow, red and white in all its glory… without diminishing their value but rather enriching them to their highest potentials. The exhibition explores the Black identity coalesced around intercultural influences, forged by displacement, interracial unions, and geographic mobility rooted from Africa. Featured artists identify as Black creatives as descendants, as they experience, living with, and being with Black culture that collectively defines Blackness in its myriad ways. As curators, we envision this project as resistance to the aesthetic of exclusion, that has plagued the country’s history and social dynamics.
Co-curator Carlton Wilkinson emphasizes, the “Black pigment in the physical definition includes the presence of all colors” as he adds, the combination of “parts of red, green, and yellow will make the color black.” Thus, he asserts, “people described as black can cover many cultures and nationalities,” and this becomes central focus of the exhibition that look at identity as fluid, constructed and dynamic. In the United States, a country of migrants borne out of colonial enterprise, its Black people share lineages with many cultures and groups worldwide. Blacks who identify their lineage from the formerly enslaved groups, to labor and academics who came as migrants, refugees or scholars, are as many shades and narratives intertwined made visible, understood and embraced, “a tightrope, balancing their recognition and subsequent acceptance.”
He added, “The enslavement narrative has dominated the explanation of how the identity of Black people is defined. The one-drop rule in America was based on the notion that a single drop of ‘black blood’ makes a person black,” as enacted “in 1911, Arkansas passed Act 320 (House Bill 79), also known as the ‘one-drop rule.” This law had two goals: it made interracial “cohabitation” a felony, and it defined as “Negro” anyone “who has… any negro blood whatever,” thus relegating to second-class citizenship anyone accused of having any African ancestry.” Resurgence of White supremacy with its blatant disregard for justice and equality, through violent acts of racial discrimination haunts not only the Black communities but also Latine, Asian, Indigenous and other marginalized communities. The politics of exclusion has been steady and powerful strategy to ensure disparity and continued systemic oppression in the BIPOC communities. Strides in access to education, excellence in the creative arts, commerce and sports have alleviated the plight of these various communities and have provided solidarity platforms for discourse. This exhibition is part of that endeavor to celebrate inclusion as proof of the Black resilience and continued efforts for redefining more empowered identities within the embrace of ‘Blackness.’
There are two sections in the exhibition, one gallery focused on ‘Visages of Blackness’ featuring a wall of photographic portraits of multiracial individuals and communities juxtaposed with mixed media works by Black craft artists whose work embody and reveal the nuances and complexities of their diasporic journeys. While another gallery continues to celebrate the diversity of cultures with focus on the ‘Embrace of Black Sisterhood.’
Interracial marriage/unions were made legal in 1967 with the unprecedented Loving vs. Virginia that provided tectonic shifts in social acceptance and mobility. This opened the reexamination, and spread open possibilities of what is considered interracial and its realm.The evolution of ‘bi/multi-racial’ or interracial from the derogatory term ‘miscegenation’ have expanded the inclusion of racial identities, allowing cultural, national, tribal, and regional influences co-mingle within the American psyche. This welcomed the celebration of various identities as cornerstone of what Blackness may be considered. The exhibition assembles arts and craft practitioners who reflect the various cultures of what is considered part of the quilt of Blackness in America. These Tennessee-based artists address the cultural influences and origins of Black Americans and visualize them into form further expanding the definitions and embrace of Blackness in America.
Artist list
Ludie Amos, Alice Aida Ayers, Seyi Babalola, Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun, Marteja Bailey, Omari Booker, LeXander Bryant, Jane Buis, Brittney Boyd Bullock, Landry Butler, Bill Capshaw, Gail Clemons, Tina Curry, Samuel Dunson, Kimberly Dummons, William Edmondson, Amanda Ewing, Jason Flack, Cynthia Gadsden, Earline Green, Bessie Harvey, Alicia Henry, Barbara Hodges, Leroy Hodges, Tobertha Jackson & Wokie Massaquoi-Wicks, Alexis Jones, Henry Jones, Ted Jones, Wilson Lee, Gediyon Kifle, Rod MaGaha, Hattie Marshall-Duncan, Aundra McCoy, Armon Means, Lester Merriweather, LaKesha Moore, Andrew Morrison, Elisheba Mrozik, Michael Mucker, Althea Murphy-Price, Sammie Nicely, Xander Payne, Greg Ridley, Christine Roth, Deneen Coleman Ruff, Ashley Seay, Thandiwe Shiphrah, Lorenzo Swinton, Betty Turner, Maya Turner, Gary White, Ramona Wiggins, Carlton Wilkinson, Donna Woodley, and Kevin Wurm.
Curators
Co-curated by Karlota Contreras-Koterbay and Carlton Wilkinson
The traveling statewide exhibitions are presented by the Crafting Blackness Initiative and Tennessee Craft in collaboration with Customs House Museum & Cultural Center and various institutional partners with support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts, East Tennessee Foundation’s Arts Fund, ETSU Slocumb Galleries, SAAC & MBMSOTA and SouthArts.
Press
Customs House presents ‘Embracing Blackness: Diasporic Unions’ with upcoming panel, performance: ClarksvilleNow.com (06.23.35)
LOVINGLY
Black, Queer, Interracial Tennessee in Craft
Arrowmont Downtown Gallery
110 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902
March 7 – 29, 2025
Gallery Hours:
Wed/Thur: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. || Fri: 2–9 p.m. || Sat: 12–5 p.m.
Reception: March 7, 2025, 5-7 pm
LOVINGLY highlights the creativity and resilience of Black LGBTQ+ and interracial artists in Tennessee. The exhibition draws inspiration from the landmark Loving v. Virginia case, which struck down laws banning interracial marriage and celebrates the power of craft to challenge societal norms and amplify marginalized voices. Through diverse artistic expressions, LOVINGLY explores the intersection of interracial marriage and LGBTQ+ identity and incorporates themes of race, love, identity, and resistance, inviting viewers to engage with stories often overlooked in mainstream narratives.
Artist list
Ericka Basille, Ashley Buchanan, Kelsie Dulaney, Pam Faw, Jason Flack, Karena ‘Kidd’ Graves, Doniqua Joyner, Rahn Marion, Wokie Massaquoi-Wicks, James McKissic, Elisheba Mrozic, Jeremy Myles
Curators
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Karen LeBlanc Sullivan, UMOJA Board Member as well as Advisory Board Member for the McKinney Center
Lyn Govette
Rug Tufting Workshop
by Black Master Craft artist– Jerry Machen
Langston Center
Johnson City, TN
March 8, 2025, 1-5 pm
Rug Tufting Demo by Black Master Craft artist– Jerry Machen
Free and open to the public.
East Tennessee State University Art & Design
Johnson City, TN
March 17-20, 2025, 1-5 pm
Rug Tufting Demo by Black Master Craft artist– Jerry Machen
Free with materials provided, limited youth and community, reserve a spot with Govette[AT]etsu[DOT]edu
Exhibit & Film
Showing
Troy F. Reid Center – Eastman Center
Kingsport, TN
March 13, 2025, 5-7 pm
Featuring Tanasi: Black Appalachians of East TN
Indelible Appalachians film screening at 6 pm
Reclaiming
Soil as Justice and Presence’
Martin Public Library, Martin, TN
– November 15, 2024
Reception: September 5, 2024, 5-7 pm
Crafting Blackness Initiative and Martin Public Library with Tennessee Craft and Weakley County restoration Project proudly present ‘Reclaiming: Soil as Justice and Presence’ exhibition at the Martin Public Library in Martin, TN currently on display until November 15, 2024. A public reception and panel are scheduled on September 5, Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. in collaboration with the SoyBean festival.
‘Reclaiming: Soil as Justice and Presence’ aim to celebrate Black creativity and address historical omissions. Inspired by the Weakley County Restoration Project (WCRP)’s efforts to collect soil samples from lynching sites all over the state, the exhibition employs soil as tactile reminder of the history and memories of Black Tennesseans as well as symbolic media to reclaim conversations on social justice and empowered presence of disenfranchised communities.
Artist list
Akintayo Akintobi, Lynn Bachman, Jane Buis, Bill Capshaw, Tina Curry, Kelsie Dulaney-Hayworth, Kimberly Dummons, Samuel Dunson, Pam Faw, Jason Flack, Forms Meet Function Collective, Lurlynn Franklin, Cynthia Gadsden, Willard Hill, Chuck Johnson, Doniqua Joyner, Rahn Marion, Jerry Machen, Hattie Marshall, Aundra McCoy, James McKissic, Taylin Meneese, Elisheba Mrozik, Jernicya Onyekwelu, Shai Perry, Jackie Schlicher, Dawn Smith, Roger Smith, Shamek Weddle, Gary White, Nija Woods and Martin’s treasured artists Robert Nunley, ALaSonna, Clint Higgs and collaborative community quilt with Vera Shanklin.
Curators
Dr. Cynthia Gadsden, Tennessee State University
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Tanasi
BlackTennesseeinAppalachia
Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap, TN
-September 12, 2024
Reception September 12, 2024, 5-7 pm
Crafting Blackness Initiative and Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) Center for the Arts, Cumberland Gap, with Tennessee Craft, ETSU Slocumb Galleries and FolkFest proudly present ‘TANASI: Black Tennesseans in Appalachia’ exhibition at the LMU Center for the Arts Gallery currently on display until September 20, 2024. A public reception and artists talk is scheduled on September 12, Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. Co-curated by Crafting Blackness Initiative Director Karlota Contreras-Koterbay, of East Tennessee State University’s Slocumb Galleries, and Karen LeBlanc Sullivan of UMOJA Unity Fest with Lyn Govette.
Artist list
The exhibition features influential Black master craft artists from East Tennessee – Jane Buis, Bill Capshaw, Tina Curry, Jerry Machen and Calvin Nicely with Roger Smith and Aundra McCoy. Together with them are Jane Buis’ mother-in-law Helen Buis, Wokie Massaquoi-Wicks, Barbara Hodges, James McKissic and regionally renowned contemporary artists Isaac Duncan, Sean Clark, Gary White, Althea Murphy-Price, Jason Flack with Black Appalachian Highland artists Akintayo Akintobi, Ericka Basille, Paul Braxton, V. Kelsey Ellis, Tramel Fain, Pam Faw, Dexter Greenlee, Debbie Grey, Taylin Meneese, Donna Olujani and Shai Perry.te
Curators
Karen LeBlanc Sullivan, UMOJA Board Member as well as Advisory Board Member for the McKinney Center
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Lyn Govette, Johnson City Public Arts Committee
Black Bodies Making Form
100 Years of Tennessee African American Artists
Middle Tennessee State University – Todd Art Gallery
March 1 – March 23, 2024
Reception March 19, 2024, 5-9 pm
Bodies Making Form: 100 Years of Tennessee African American Artists, features influential and contemporary Black Craft artists from across Tennessee including historical figures like William Edmondson, Bessie Harvey, Greg Ridley, Fritz Massaquoi, and Sammie Nicely; Governor’s art awardees Hattie Marshall-Duncan and Bill Capshaw are also included in the stellar line up of this unprecedented project. Sullivan describes the project as “works memorializing history, celebrating protest, venerating faith, and honoring family. We came across works that encompassed, celebrated, elevated, and revealed Black Life through craft.” The exhibition will be on view from March 9- March 23, 2024 at the Todd Art Gallery at Middle Tennessee State University, with a public reception on March 19, 2024 from 5pm- 9pm CT.
Artist list
Akintayo Akintobi, Ludie Amos, Lynn Bachman, Jane Buis, Bill Capshaw, Tina Curry, Kimberly Dummons, Samuel Dunson, William Edmondson, Arthur Eubanks, Pam Faw, Jason Flack, Forms Meet Function Collective, Lurlynn Franklin,Cynthia Gadsden, Dexter Greenlee, Bessie Harvey, Willard Hill, Barbara and Leroy Hodges, William ‘Bill’ Johnson, Doniqua Joyner, Elise Kendrick, Rahn Marion, Jerry Marchen, LueElla Marshall, Hattie Marshall-Duncan, Wokie Masaquoi-Wicks and Tobertha Jackson, Michael McBride, Aundra McCoy, C.E. McGruger, James McKissic, Janaya Meredith, Elisheba Mrozik, Jimmy Mumford, Althea Murphy-Price, Donna Olujani, Jernicya Onyekwelu, Shai Perry, Greg Ridley, Jackie Schlicher, Dawn Smith, Roger Smith, Viola Spells, Andrew Travis, Shamek Weddle, Gary White, Carlton Wilkinson, Nija Woods
Curators
Karen LeBlanc Sullivan, UMOJA Board Member as well as Advisory Board Member for the McKinney Center
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Inside Blackness
Illuminating the Black Psyche in Interior Landscape
Tennessee State University – Hiram Van Gordon Gallery
February 26- March 28, 2024
Reception March 20, 2024, 5-7 pm
Inside Blackness: Illuminating the Black Psyche in the Interior Landscape offers a nod to the essence and existence of black interiority. The exhibition aims to make space for diverse conversation about, around, and through blackness from an inside perspective. In addition, the hope is to present a multifaceted dialogue about the diversity, richness, and abundance of the black interior space. Inside Blackness strives to provide unique insight into the African American experience through the interior experiential lens. The exhibition will be on view from February 26 – March 28, 2024 at the Hiram Van Gordon Gallery at Tennessee State University, with a public reception on March 20, 2024 from 5pm- 7pm CT.
Artist list
Omari Booker, Sean Clark, Tina Curry, Kimberly Dummons, Samuel Dunson, Kelsie Dulaney-Hayworth, Alicia Henry, Barbara & Leroy Hodges, Elise Kendrick, Desmond Lewis, Michael McBride, Aundra McCoy, Carl Moore, Lakesha Moore Calvin, Charlie Newton, David Quarles, Jessica Scott Felder, Gary L. White, Carlton Wilkinson, Nija Woods, Kevin Wurm, with poet Nikki Giovanni.
Curators
Cynthia Gadsden, PhD, Associate Professor, Art History, Department of Art and Design, Tennessee State University
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay, Director, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University
Karlota Contreras-Koterbay
Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay is an Appalachian-based Filipinx curator, artist advocate and arts administrator. She is gallery director for the ETSU Slocumb Galleries and its satellite venue in Downtown Johnson City, Tipton Gallery. She has organized and curated numerous exhibits both nationally and abroad, juried regional exhibitions and has lectured in the Philippines, Japan and the United States. Contreras-Koterbay graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines with a B.A. in anthropology and an M.A. in art history.
She is former director of the MidSouth Sculpture Alliance, and member of the IKT International Association of Contemporary Art Curators, International Council of Museums, Southeastern College Art Conference, and International Association of Aesthetics. Grant recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission APS and ABC grants, Hope in Action and Arts Fund of East Tennessee Foundation, Tennessee Craft and SouthArts as well as the Andy Warhol Legacy grant. Contreras-Koterbay received the ETSU Distinguished Staff Award in 2013 and the Jan Phillips Mentoring Award in 2015.
She is the Director of the Crafting Blackness Initiative, a five-year collaborative research, publication, and exhibition series to advance the visibility of Black Craft and African American artists in Tennessee since 1920 up to present. Her BIPOC and diversity art programming received numerous awards from the Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM).
Institutional Partners
Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg
Arts Build, Chattanooga
Arts Memphis, Memphis
Carl Van Vechten Gallery, Fisk University, Nashville
Case Antiques, Knoxville
Customs House & Regional Center, Clarksville
Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis
Edmondson, UMOJA and Cumberland Gap Festivals
Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Hiram Van Gordon Gallery, TSU, Nashville
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville
Locate Arts / TN Triennial, Nashville
Martin Public Library, Martin
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis
New Gallery, Austin Peay State University
Orange Mound Gallery, Memphis
Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM), Nashville
Tennessee Craft, Nashville
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville
West Tennessee Regional Art Center, Humbolt
Presented by Crafting Blackness Initiative and Tennessee Craft with support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, East Tennessee Foundation’s Arts Fund, ETSU SAAC and SouthArts.
