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:
Tennessee Arts Commission, ETSU,Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts and Tennessee Craft
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
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
Tanasi
Black Tennessee in Appalachia
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
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 and SouthArts.
