Laurie Cooper is a Philadelphia based fine artist interested in showing the beauty of the black race. Her main goal is to show the inner and the outer beauty. Such as the inherent strength of character, richness of skin color, and the strong unique facial features those lies in the black race. Ms. Cooper is able to reveal these aspects in an academic style of painting, which is why she is one of the inspiring upcoming artists of today. Education 1984-88 University of Pennsylvania-BA in fine arts 1990-93 University of the Arts- BA in fine arts Exhibits 1989 Gallery 500, Washington 1989 The Mocha Gallery, Philadelphia 1991 The Lucien Crump Art Gallery, Philadelphia 1994 Collectible Art Gallery, Philadelphia Permanent collectors of her work include Dr. Pete Smith, Dr. Samuel F. Quartey, and Dr. Carey Tucker. Colorworks Gallery in Maryland, and Collectible Art Gallery in Philadelphia.Ms. Cooper hopes to reveal to all races the special qualities of the black race.

"I try to interrelate through art. Most people who see my work are reminded of things They have experienced. I try to paint things that are familiar. "  "My earliest influence was my first grade teacher --- she encouraged my progress as an artist," says Ernest Watson. "For some reason, my ponies were better than those in the rest of the class." This anecdote exemplifies how Watson's elementary teacher's praise and encouragement gave him the self-confidence he needed at an early age. "I don't even know if my work was better than the other children's, but I believed I had a gift. I always thought of myself as an artist." After his graduation from Central Piedmont College in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a degree in commercial art, Watson worked as an illustrator and draftsman for 3 years. "I had toyed with the idea of becoming a fine artist, but I went into the commercial end of it basically for monetary reasons," he says. In 1981, at the age of 28, Watson became a professional artist. "Most of my work is Of a social nature," Watson says. He tries to capture people interacting in certain Situations: in nightclubs and in churches, for instance. "Monday Morning on Commerce Street" depicts downtown Charlotte during the mid1970s, when it was thriving metropolis of black businesses. "It has since moved," says the artist. "That was a very important part of my life." Speaking of another of his poster images, Watson says: "'Nightlife at the Studio' is a particular place that a brother of mine ran for a couple of years in Shelby [North Carolina] called Studio 52." Ernest Watson captures a feeling in his works that draws people and turns them into collectors.

GAMBOA grew up in the states of Durango and Chihuahua, Mexico, where her talents became evident when she was very young. Her earliest childhood memories are of painting, "My mother says I was born with a paintbrush in my hand," GAMBOA fondly recalls. Her grandmother, Mexican artist Consuelo Ferrera Gamboa, was her namesake and mentor. After completing her formal education in Mexico, GAMBOA moved to Canterbury, England. In Canterbury she studied watercolor and portrait techniques that have become part of her trademark. Two years later GAMBOA moved to Paris where she attended the Ecole du Lourve for three years studying Art History. GAMBOA settled in the United States in 1978, making Southern California her home. In l981 she married and now has two daughters who follow her talents in art and music. It was also in 1981 that GAMBOA began publishing her art. In 1987 she formed GAMBOA Publishing and her visibility escalated. GAMBOA'S formal training and natural skills communicate her ability to understand the true feeling of any subject she paints. With this natural ability GAMBOA'S art has been accepted throughout the world.

Welcome to the world of Artist Michael Anthony Brown…where realism and surrealism combine to create lush, historical dreamscapes empowered with cultural images from our ancestral past to inspire our visions of tomorrow. From Michael’s hands come people and places of uncommon beauty, spirituality and pride. The colors, textures and passions so abundant in his trail-blazing works make Michael one of the most exciting and innovative icon-warriors in the vanguard of African-American renaissance. A native of Washington, DC, Michael is graduate of what is now the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and Maryland Institute College of Art. His works have been featured in major museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including Manchester, England; Port au Prince, Haiti and Bahia, Brazil. Just when we think we know the parameters of Michael’s art, he astounds us with bronze sculptures that reflect power and freedom while paying tribute to the greatness sleeping in us all.

Joseph Holston's cubist abstractionist style has evolved over a fine arts career spanning twenty-five years. Born in Washington, DC, he studied and pursued a career in advertising art before committing himself fully to painting and printmaking. Years of self-study were augmented by study with renowned artists Macros Blahove and Richard Goetz. He also attended Howard University and Montgomery College in Maryland. He enjoyed invaluable advice and encouragement from Harlem Renaissance artist Lois Mailou Jones and James Wells. Mr., Holston has exhibited at numerous museums and institutions, including the Butler institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio; the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, Philadelphia; the APEX Museum, Atlanta, Georgia.

"I’m concerned about the future of the black artist; the lasting effect of our work on our own children. It’s important that we, as artists, make some statements to affect change." Frank Frazier is largely a self-taught artist whose concerns revolve around the movement of black art galleries and Black art in America. His work is influenced greatly by world events. For instance, he began a piece called "War Another time" two days after the war in the Persian Gulf stated. A collage and watercolor, it projects Frazier’s questioning of a U.s.> military role in the Middle East during the Gulf War versus what he feels was the United States’ ambivalence toward apartheid in South Africa. The Subject of war is familiar to the artist, who served in Vietnam. In fact, his first professional art exhibit, in 1971 featured oil paintings detailing his experiences in the war. His new series of monotypes, a medium he has been exploring for the last 5 years, reflects the crisis in the U.S., namely the impact of drugs and teenage pregnancy on our society. In addition, he will be producing a series on Africa at Hands-on Graphics in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Originally from Harlem, New York, Frazier left home when he was 16 years old to become an artist Courses at the New York Art Students League, Nassau Community College, and Hofstra University helped shape his creativity. In 1980, He moved to Dallas where he began exploring the silkscreen medium. Frazier’s publication of prints has made his work more affordable to more people, an important goal for him to achieve. He has been working with collage on and off for about 7 years, incorporating "Pieces I pick up from my trips to Africa." Frazier says. He uses swatches of vibrantly colored Kente cloth and figurines from countries such as Ghana and Upper Volta, and from the Ashanti tribe. His company is called "Visions in Black Gallery", run by his wife, Judy. Frank Frazier’s work has been featured in books, films and television and movies like, Waiting to Exhale, Coming to America, Frank’s Place, and Bustin’ Loose. Exhibitions of his art include shows at the African American museum, Hempstead, New York; Armour J. Blackburn Gallery, Howard University, Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King Jr. Library, Dallas; and the Brooklyn Museum.

James Denmark was born in Winter Haven, Florida. His grandmother, a wire sculptor and quilter, and his grandfather, a bricklayer who made molds, exposed him to color and form at an early age. Spurred by the creative exposure he received in this loving environment, he began a lifelong pursuit of what he loved best, art. Winter Haven had no museum, just conscientious people and a good high school art department. He won a countywide sculpture contest in seventh grade. In high school, his teachers recognized James' maturing talents and purchased art equipment for him. Pretty soon, he was responsible for all the posters and bulletin boards done in the school. He became known as "the artist." He was able to attend college by virtue of his sports ability, which earned him a Florida A&M University scholarship in track. There, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Then, Denmark felt the pull of New York City. He began studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, while teaching basic art courses in the metropolitan New York school system. Living in the Pratt community, he met other artists and grounded himself in the basics of composition. He was influenced by abstract expressionism and the work of Earnest Crichlow, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden. "So much richness reinforced my natural talents," says Denmark of his growth at Pratt. He likens it to picking up a baton and carrying it to the next leg - his collages. The energy of New York feeds the artist's creative forces-. The city represents the good, the bad, and the ugly, allowing Denmark to feel triumph and tragedy on a daily basis. The collage medium allows him to stay close to his early exposure to art by his grandparents. It is also an art form that gives the impression of three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional surface. The work of James Denmark is included in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the High Museum, Atlanta; the Minneapolis Museum of Art; and the San Francisco Museum of Art, among other places.

Ted T. Ellis is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. Growing up in the city of New Orleans, one known for its style and artistic exuberance, has inspired him to capture the essence of his subjects in all the glory of its rich cultural heritage. With an extreme Dedication to his craft, his style stems, in part from a childhood that exerted an enormous influence on all his paintings. "I prefer to paint subjects that are representative of many facets of American life. Among my many favorites to paint are portraits, landscapes, and seascapes." As a self-taught artist, Ted's style is a blend of realism and impressionism. His artwork is nostalgic and uplifting. From an outdoor baptism, an afternoon tea with friends, or a lawyer arguing his case before a jury, his art celebrates the traditional values of his culture. Drawing and painting has been a lifelong fascination for Ted. After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Dillard University, he could not escape his creative desire to paint and express himself on canvas. "Such great artists as Edward Bannister, Henry 0. Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Anna Torregano, Arthello Beck, Frank Frazier, Claude Monet, John S. Sargent, and Albert Shaw are but a few whose work I admire and respect, and by which I am deeply moved. Each of these artists, in the way they represent life on the canvas, has contributed to the African American culture. This, too, is my goal." "To be excellent, to dare to be great at what I love to do, and to make a substantial contribution to the lives, of people who are touched by my art is my dream. I take pride and pleasure in capturing the essence of a particular subject and manifesting it on canvas, knowing that it will last as an eternal memory."

Drawing since the third grade, Earl Jackson realized his interest and talent for art at an early age. Jackson, who was born in 1948 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in Willow run, a small village 32 miles west of Detroit, attended Wastenaw Community College before transferring the Eastern Michigan University to purse art studies. Jackson had to work full time, however, and could only study art in his off hours, and so He had to forego finishing his art degree. For the next 15 years, he did continue to develop his skills working as a professional picture framer during the day while drawing and painting late into the night. Jackson’s first public show came in 1970 at the Ann Arbor Street Art fair, which led to Eight years of exhibiting in art fairs. But Earl had bigger dreams and decided it was time to pursue a different avenue and learned black and white printmaking over a five-year period. However, it was not until two journey’s to Africa (Senegal) in 1985 and Kenya in 1988 That he was inspired to paint "Following the Path." It was a turning point in his life, because it helped him achieve his lifelong dream only a few months later, When he began working as an artist full-time. Jackson’s art has since been exhibited in the African American Museum of History in Detroit Washtenaw Community College, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, and the National Gallery of Art in Dakar Senegal. Each year Jackson gives back to his community by visiting schools and sharing his art With the students. He has been a member of the National Conference of Artists since 1983 and the Ann Arbor Art Association, and he is a founding member of the new African American Cultural and Historical Museum in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area.

Annie Frances Lee was a Chief Clerk in the Engineering Department of a railroad. Today, she is an internationally acclaimed artist and gallery owner known to art collectors the world over as "Annie Lee." As an adult, one Monday morning at five o'clock as Annie tried to get it together, she came up with "Blue Monday." She wondered if anybody else felt as bad as she did having to go out on that cold winter morning to catch the bus to work. Annie Lee is a humorist and a realist and her style has been referred to as "Black Americana." She will tell you her secret to success is her faith in God and a willingness to help others. God did this through me. You have to have faith. I never thought I would leave the railroad, but it was the best thing I ever did. It was hard to leave the security, but you have to take a leap of faith."

 

Diversity is the key to Albert Fennell. He is as proficient in oil as he is in pastel or ink, creating depth, dimension and illusions of exemplary quality. Born in San Diego, California, Fennell's talent came at the early age of five when he started drawing in-depth pictures of cartoon characters. As a young man in the 6th grade at Ocean View Elementary School, his landscape done in tempera paint was selected in a district-wide competition and was exhibited in the San Diego Museum of Art. He studied fine arts at San Diego Mesa College, commercial drawing at San Diego City College, and refined his skills at Alexander's School of Drawing, Printing, and Design. Fennell's artwork has been seen on the television series, "Generations", and he has received commission from Rosa Parks, Anita Baker, Jesse Jackson, and Father Clement. Fennell states, "Through my work, I try to create a communication level between all people dealing with truth, pride, and compassion. I thank God for the talent He has given me and the opportunity to present it to you."

 

The world of Charles A. Bibbs reflects spirituality, consciousness, strong ethnic pride, texture, movement and energy; characteristics that are recognized as hallmarks of fine art. These characteristics describe the zenith of fulfillment sought by all artists; they are comfortably embodied as the nucleus that forms the soul of Charles Bibbs. A native of the Los Angeles Bay area and second child of a family of ten, Charles grew up with a host of love and a desire to succeed. Charles’ father, Arthur, recognized his son’s gift in early elementary school. He encouraged his gifted son to display and perfect his talents while exploring numerous ways of expressing his artist ability. His talent was further fueled by the works of Charles White, R.C. Gorman, Frank Howell, Earnie Barnes and Nathaniel Bustion, just a few of our most celebrated contemporary masters. Bibbs expanded his intrinsic ability by attending Long Beach City College, California State University, and Los Angeles Harbor College. Throughout his career, Bibbs has persisted in exploring new avenues of expression. His range of versatility extends from mixed media drawings and painting to clay vessels and masks. His bold and powerful visual statements and his unusual style of fusing acrylic paint and ink move most of us. This style coupled with African and contemporary African American themes creates stimulating and sensitive spectacles, all flowing, rhythmically and interweaving. Positive and sensitive imagery best describes a consistent overall feeling. Nobility and strength in the rendering of his figures is characteristically and recognizably the Bibbs trademark. His mix of realism, fantasy and ethnicity has been nationally and internationally celebrated. Charles has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, radio shows and television appearances. He has received countless citations and awards. With each contact he bridges all forms of the arts to form a common spirit within us. As Bibbs states, "my most important goal is to make profound aesthetic statements, that are ethnically rooted and simultaneously arouse spiritual emotions within each of us."

"I let the art control me." Paul Goodnight is known for his somber palette and figural works. His culture is an important inspiration- "An enlightening thing that I can pass on." "I am culturally motivated by my own experiences," says the Boston-based artist, "Places I’ve been, Places I’m going." Goodnight has traveled throughout the Caribbean, to Central America ("especially Nicaragua"), southern and western Africa, Japan, Russia, the U.K., throughout the U.S, and Brazil. Goodnight was born in Chicago in 1946. His mother and he moved to Connecticut and then to Boston when he was a boy. "I always drew," he said. "I was always able to express myself through drawing." He says he started painting "out of necessity, in order to communicate." Because of the trauma he experienced as a soldier in Vietnam, he was unable to speak upon his return to the United States Art helped him to regain his speech. He first attended a small community art school in Vesper, Georgia, and eventually graduated with a B.A. from Massachusetts College of Art in 1974. Goodnight says he is always working, motivated by "knowing that I’m passing something on that was passed on to me."

Keith Mallett has been creating paintings for the fine art print market for over fifteen years. A prolific artist, his subject matter ranges from still life to abstracts. In recent years he has concentrated his talents on themes that portray the love and strength that exists within the African American family. Born in Pennsylvania in 1948, Keith studied painting at the Art Students League, Hunter College in New York City, and L.A. Valley College in Los Angeles. His painting "Harmony" was chosen for the cover of Sisterfire, a collection of poems by Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Terry McMillan, among others. He was recently honored with a commission to paint the only official limited edition print commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson's historic breakthrough into major league baseball. "The Earth Angel Suite", a series of limited edition prints depicting the four seasons as guardian angels, has been chosen by the Franklin Mint to be made into collector plates. Keith Mallett stated, "As an African American artist it is my desire, through my artwork, to depict the positive aspects of the African American experience. If I can show but one child the strength and beauty of her past or the bright hope of his future then I feel I will have done my job."

"I have spent my whole life looking at the world as an artist. The images of my art are found in the life around me. I was once advised to ‘paint what you know,’ and I strive to reflect my heritage and vision through my paintings." Lavarne Ross received little formal training in the arts and believes his talent is "God given." He has made images for as long as he can remember, as a child using the pages of the newspaper help wanted advertisements as his drawing paper. Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, where he still resides, Ross frequently spent his childhood summers at his grandfather’s horse farm in Rison, Arkansas. Watching the horses and mules provided him with e course in anatomy. "The world of country living was a striking contrast to the city neighborhoods of Flint which I returned to each fall," Said Ross, "with the people, factories, movement, and increased problems of a developing city." The artist transfers those mentally captured impressions of each place on canvas. "Because I have lived through a transition of the people and the city from on time period to another, as an artist and a messenger, I feel obligated to record these events and changes on canvas," Ross said. Through a series of one-man shows and joint exhibitions, Ross’s work has been shown Throughout the country. His paintings are in the collections of General Motors, Delco Electronics, AC Rochester, and the Labor Museum of Flint.

"I try to paint things that everyone can relate to --- children at school, walking to church, family reunions, baptisms, doing chores on the farm, picking cotton --- it gives people time to find themselves in the painting. I try to bring them into the painting." Ruth Russell Williams was born 60 years ago in a little place called Townsville, North Carolina. 'It's out in the country,' says Williams. "It's probably not even on the map because there's only about 500 people there.' Townsville and her adopted home in nearby Henderson, North Carolina, are the source for much of the folk artist's scenes. For instance, a nearby 100 year old two room schoolhouse serves as subject material in some of her anecdotal school paintings. Williams began painting almost 20 years ago after three of her children had gone to college and her youngest was in high school. "I had a lot of time on my hands," Williams says. "I went into a room and started doing a little something." She was teaching a ceramics course at the nearby community college, but painting ceramics made from molds was not creative enough for her. So she got into an art class and tried painting landscapes immediately. "I didn't see anything that I could relate to," says Williams. The instructor said Williams would never become a painter unless Williams learned realism and abstraction. "I decided to show her. I said, 'I'm going to paint the landscapes and the type of art that I have inside of me."' While on a trip to New York City with her husband, Williams purchased art supplies and books by well-known artists like van Gogh and Matisse. She went home and studied them and began to paint in acrylics and oils. "When I started painting, I was trying to paint like every other artist. I didn't know about folk art, about Grandma Moses." The seeds of her "child-like style" were in all her early work, but she rejected this element until members of the local Watercolor Club encouraged her to exhibit in Henderson's Color Fest. Since then, she has studied perspective, color, and shading with Nell Chatwick in Raleigh, North Carolina, and, as part of group of 50 international artists, with Foster Caddell in Voluntown, Connecticut. In Caddell's live location painting workshop, Williams was the only untaught artist. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me," Williams says. Caddell was so pleased with her work that he used one of her paintings in a later course. In February 1993 (Black History Month), Russell Williams's "Baptism' was featured on the cover of Associate magazine, published by the Smithsonian Institution for its Resident Associates program..

Cynthia Saint James a self-taught artist and author was born in 1949 in Los Angeles. Saint James is an internationally recognized fine artist. You'll find her work on over 50 book covers, (which includes books by Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, Iyanla Vanzant and Julia Boyd), and on many licensed products. She has 7 children's picture books currently on the market, two of which she wrote, "The Gift's of Kwanzaa" and "Sunday." She also has 2 books of poetry and prose, "Girlfriends". And "Can I Touch You, Love Poems and Affirmations", an audio book

 

To work creatively and sell my work as a successful artist is the fulfillment of a life long ambition. Now, the wonderful reception and demand for my work is a new stage, with an exciting complement of rewards and challenges." A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Brenda Joysmith in 1968 began her formal training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then continued at the University of Chicago where in 1974 she received a BA degree in Fine Arts. Determined to achieve a professional artist's career, Ms. Joysmith came to the San Francisco Bay Area where she began exhibiting in local art shows and working as a portrait artist. She studied independently and at local colleges, traveled, and worked constantly at her easel as her creative skilled improved. Gradually expanding her list of patrons and exhibitions, Ms. Joysmith opened her first studio in 1980. Her work has received national exposure on the sets of such popular television show as, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Amen, Family Matters, and Sinbad.

Larry Poncho Brown is a native of Baltimore Maryland. He pursued his art education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1984. He started his first business at the age of 17 as a songwriter, and has been a full time artist ever since. Much of his early sign work was featured on television commercials and movies including Barry Levinson's "Avalon." He is the youngest honorary member of Art 2000, a national multi-cultural visual arts association. Among his convictions, is educating young artists. He is the founder of "The African American Youth Art Exhibition" which has been sponsored in Baltimore annually since 1990."My goal is to provide and outlet for young artists to express themselves, as well as enlighten them on the importance of art in our culture." Admirers often site rhythm, movement, and unity, as favorite elements in his work. Poncho's unique style combines past and present art stylization to create sense of realism, mysticism, and beauty, which gives his art universal appeal.

Samuel is a realistic artist whose work expresses his personal experiences and encounters in the inner city, as well as in his travels. He translates the impact of his vision into his artwork, which depicts the tender, innocent and emotional side of children, women and elderly. Abstracts are also a large part of Samuel’s artistic endeavors. Recently, he has undertaken the task of combining realism and abstract into one creation to obtain the proper mood in his drawings and paintings. Since childhood, Samuel has loved and created art. Inspired by his family to pursue his dreams, Samuel’s art has become renown. His works have traveled throughout the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and even Brazil. Samuel has won many awards and prizes for his art. His artwork has appeared on TV shows such as "Generations," "Different World," and "The Cosby Show."

 

Leroy Campbell's newest series, "Black eye Peas," portrays a different view of Southern life than his previous work. Based on the life of a sharecropper, it is a painful yet noble study of the quiet strength and gripping tenacity of farmers in relentless pursuit of "a dream deferred." The artist's work is characterized by his rich use of color and his mixing of media. Pastel, ink, acrylic, fabric, and charcoal are his favored materials. He has pursued his artistic vision for 10 years, seriously dedicating himself to creating art since 1984. A self-taught artist, he is influenced by his birthplace, Monk's Corner, South Carolina. Campbell revisits the rural South in his "Neck bone" series, inhabited by Joe-Neck bone, Joe Neck bone, Jr., and Grandma Corrie. His subjects, proud, God-fearing, and self-reliant, are the backbone of the African-American community. Campbell's "Love Dance" and "Moon Glow" sets are inspired by dance and jazz, respectively. In addition to having his work shown at Phillip Morris and the Chemical Bank in New York, the Brooklyn, New York, artist has created commissioned pieces for Bacardi Rum, Seagrams, and Honey Entertainment Records.