Black History On Display At City Hall

PHOTO: “Jewel, the mixed-media portrait by Sankofa board member and Cleveland artist Gary Williams is one of more than 20 original works of art on display at Cleveland City Hall in honor of Black History Month.”

Black history on display at City Hall: Sankofa Fine Art Plus hosts exhibit of original works by local and national African-American artists through February!

Feb. 6, 2012 (Cleveland, OH) – Sankofa Fine Art Plus is celebrating Black History Month with the City of Cleveland in the way it has always celebrated Black History: through visual arts.

For a special exhibit on display in the Rotunda and on the second floor of Cleveland City Hall, Sankofa is contributing more than 20 original works by 10 local and nationally known fine artists which portray their individual interpretations of Black History.  Naturally, President Barack Obama features prominently in the artists’ visions of what Black History means to them.

The exhibit will be on view through Feb. 29 at City Hall, 601 Lakeside Ave.

Sankofa is especially proud to display among the works Kadir Nelson’s “Frederick Douglass,” the oil portrait of its namesake as a young man which debuted as the commemorative print for its 2011 Cleveland Fine Art Expo.  Nelson, who was selected as the featured artist for the annual fine art showplace, is an award-winning visual artist, author and illustrator whose vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Shirley Chisholm, Jackie Robinson and Rube Foster, founder and president of the Negro National Baseball League.

Two other Nelson portraits join a variety of paintings and mixed-media works by fellow former Sankofa Expo featured artists Paul Goodnight, Jerome White, Akron sculptor and painter Woodrow Nash and Cleveland visual artist Neal Hamilton, whose acrylic portraits of President Barack Obama and The First Lady will be on display.

A host of talented local and national artists whose works are also part of the exhibit are Cleveland artist B. Reid, with pastel portraits of President Obama and slain hip hop star Tupac Shakur; Philadelphia visual artist Robin Robinson; Cleveland artist Ricky Smith; Santana Stokes, of Cleveland; Cleveland painter Bob Walls; Sankofa board member and Cleveland multi-media artist Gary Williams; Cleveland artist Garner Lewis; and Lorraine Johnson, another Cleveland talent with an acrylic portrait of President Obama.

Hamilton’s, Smith’s and Stokes’ works are on view on the first floor.  All others can be seen on the second floor, outside City Council Chambers.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during the hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing, educating and advocating for African American and other underrepresented visual artists through community collaboration.  Sankofa receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Kadir Nelson Premieres ‘Frederick Douglas’ Print

“In keeping with its tradition of selecting a featured artist and commemorative work to represent the annual Fine Art Expo, Sankofa Fine Art Plus has selected San Diego visual artist and famed NAACP Image Award-winning children’s book illustrator Kadir Nelson and his newly released portrait, “Frederick Douglass.” Nelson’s vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Frederick Douglas and Jackie Robinson.  He also has been commissioned to complete a series of stamps for the U.S. Postal Service in honor of the Negro Leagues Baseball.”

Rare portrait depicting young Frederick Douglass Selected as

Commemorative Print for Cleveland Fine Art Expo

Limited editions of featured artist Kadir Nelson’s oil work available

for special price only during Sankofa’s free fine art event

July 8, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) – Sankofa Fine Art Plus has selected a portrayal of a young, optimistic yet determined Frederick Douglass to represent the theme of the 11^th annual Cleveland Fine Art  Expo, “Reaching Higher (Inspire & Innovate).”

Expo featured artist Kadir Nelson’s Frederick Douglass, the depiction of abolitionist and human rights champion Douglass as a man younger than commonly portrayed, is one of many heroic African-American historical figures brought to life in Nelson’s soon-to-be-released Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (HarperCollins Publishers).

The limited edition prints by the award-winning oil painter and illustrator will be available for  special Expo-only pricing exclusively during the expo, a free two-day event held Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 13 and 14 in the Liberal Arts Building of the Tri-C Eastern Campus, 4250 Richmond Road in Highland Hills.

Nelson joins the fraternity of acclaimed fine visual artists who have been named as Expo featured artists since the first fine ethnic art fair in 1999.   Previous featured artists have been Annie Lee, Paul Goodnight, Synthia SAINT James, Anthony Armstrong, Monica Stewart, Larry “ Poncho” Brown, Kelvin Henderson, Charles Bibb, and Akron sculptor Woodrow Nash.  Their commemorative works also have been the artistic representations of past events.

Nelson’s vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of other African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Jackie Robinson and Harriet Tubman.  Nelson’s authorial debut, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, is a New York Times best-selling tribute to the Negro Baseball Leagues which he crafted over a period of almost eight years.

Throughout the Expo, the San Diego painter and NAACP Image Award-winning children’s book illustrator will sign his books and prints and also offer talks about his career, his process of writing and painting, and the makings of Heart and Soul.

Attendees at this year’s Expo may also shop the fine paintings, sketches, sculptures, wearable art and other finely crafted wares by artists and artisans of color from around the country amid a vibrant backdrop of music, dance, fashion, children’s art activities and celebrations of local artists who stand out for their achievements.

Admission to the Expo is free.  Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday Aug. 13 and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday Aug. 14.  For more information, including an application to exhibit at the Expo, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration. Sankofa receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Beauty In Flight

(PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHER, DONALD BLACK JR.)

Sankofa Fine Art Plus features local artists to show in newest exhibit at Cleveland Hopkins airport!

July 6, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) –  The works of 10 local artists who responded to a call by Sankofa Fine Art Plus will adorn the walls of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport as part of the airport’s newest installment of its CLE Temporary Art Exhibition Program.

The paintings and photography on view reflect the theme of the new exhibit, “Learning from the Past, Looking toward the Future,” on view in the airport’s Concourse A through July 25.  Participating artists are: Donald Black, Jr., Jack Coville, Gabriel “Gabby” Gonzalez, Vincent Irizarry, Ronnie Pyles, Jennifer Rynbrandt, Paul Schuster, Irene Sukle, Angelos Vlahos, and Jose Vasquez.

Raland Hatchett, interim executive director of Sankofa Fine Art Plus, said this exhibit’s theme is especially fitting, as it reflects the meaning of the ancient Sankofa bird that has been adopted as the organization’s logo when it was founded in 1999.

“The centuries-old West African symbol which depicts the Sankofa bird flying forward yet looking back has stood for the idea of going back to the past in order to go forward,” Hatchett said.  “Loosely translated, the symbol means ‘it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.’  This has been a constant theme of our mission here at Sankofa, which is to continue providing venues for the expression and education of fine ethnic art so that future generations can carry forward what their predecessors in art started.”

Sankofa Fine Art Plus, a Cleveland-based art nonprofit, is one of many regional arts organizations who have been invited to exhibit their collections of original artwork and photography in the airport.  The CLE Temporary Art Exhibition Program is a free initiative available to artists. The purpose of the program is to showcase the diversity of arts and culture of greater Cleveland. Museums, cultural institutions and individual artists have been invited to exhibit their collections of original artwork and photography in the airport’s showcase.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration.  Sankofa receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.  For more information about Sankofa, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Sankofa Fine Art Plus Awarded $50,000 Mural Project Grant From JP Morgan Chase Foundation!

Karamu House alum, actress Ruby Dee to be immortalized in portrait by

famed muralist Kent Twitchell.

June 14, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) – Cleveland ethnic arts nonprofit Sankofa Fine Art Plus was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation to support its ArtOhio Project – Muralist Training Program.

For the project, famed mural artist Kent Twitchell will work with up to a dozen local artists to complete a life-size portrait of Ruby Dee, an actress with Cleveland roots whose early days were shaped by Cleveland’s historic Karamu House theatre.

Twitchell, of Los Angeles, has earned a following of art enthusiasts, celebrities and community arts advocates for his signature mural painting style.  He pioneered a process which uses silk or polyester parachute fabric as an interface material.  He then uses a conventional grid system and parachute cloth method.  His mural installations across the country have depicted notable celebrities and national heroes including basketball star Julius Irving, opera great Marian Anderson and late pop star Michael Jackson.

The project will begin this month and will include a series of workshops led by Twitchell offering step-by-step instruction on mural making techniques including wall preparation, design enlargement, paint application, the cloth method and sealing the completed piece.  The mural portrait of Ruby Dee is expected to be completed and installed at Karamu House next spring.

Twitchell’s visit and workshops are part of Sankofa’s long-standing mission to support ethnic art education programming.  This project combines the curriculum and hands on experience of the

ArtOhio Project and Sankofa’s Community Art program.

Karamu House officials agree that the collaboration between Sankofa, Karamu House and Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation seemed to be the perfect matching of the three organizations’ missions to promote artistic expression – both visual and performance.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Sankofa Fine Art Plus and JP Morgan Chase Foundation to bring Kent Twitchell’s cutting edge work to Cleveland,” said Karamu House Executive Director Gregory J. Ashe. “The proposed larger-than-life mural of Ruby Dee will at once celebrate her considerable legacy and raise awareness for Sankofa’s and Karamu House’s community based programs as we come upon our centennial Anniversary.”

The JP Morgan Chase Foundation supports highest-need neighborhoods and communities across the globe. In 2010, the foundation gave more than $150 million through grants and sponsorships to thousands of not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and worldwide.

For more information about participating in Twitchell’s workshops or the mural project, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration.

11th Annual Cleveland Fine Art Expo

Free Cleveland Fine Art Expo Returns, “Inspired” to “Reach Higher”

Famed children’s book illustrator Kadir Nelson named featured artist at favored annual ethnic art showcase!

June 14, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) – That familiar buzz, energy and vibrancy will once again fill the  halls of the Tri-C Eastern campus this summer as it hosts Sankofa Fine Art Plus and the return of its 11^th annual Cleveland Fine Art  Expo.

The Cleveland nonprofit arts organization took a break from the popular art expo last year to return inspired and empowered to bring local ethnic artist and art enthusiasts a new and improved art and culture event of the year.  The free two-day event, whose theme is “Reaching Higher (Inspire & Innovate),” will be held Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 13 and 14 in the Performing Arts Center of the Tri-C Eastern Campus, 4250 Richmond Rd. in Highland Hills, OH.

As always since the first expo in 1999, attendees will descend onto the campus to shop the fine paintings, sketches, sculptures, wearable art and other finely crafted wares by artists and artisans from around the country amid a vibrant backdrop of music, dance, fashion, children’s art activities and celebrations of local artists who stand out for their achievements.

Sankofa Fine Art Plus is keeping its tradition of selecting a featured artist whose commemorative work will be the artistic representation of the event.  This year’s featured artist is San Diego visual artist and famed NAACP Image Award-winning children’s book illustrator Kadir Nelson. Cleveland Fine Art Expo Returns, “Inspired” to “Reach Higher”,

His vibrant and striking oil images have brought to life the pages of contemporary children’s biographies of African American heroes such as Louis Armstrong, Frederick Douglas and Jackie Robinson.  Nelson’s authorial debut, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Jump at the Sun/Disney), is a New York Times best-selling tribute to the Negro Baseball Leagues which he crafted over a period of almost eight years.

Sankofa Fine Art Plus will soon announce the Nelson work to be named this year’s commemorative piece and, as is tradition, limited edition prints will be offered for sale at a special expo price during the event.

Event organizers promise that this year’s expo will make the wait well worth it for art lovers who missed the fine art and cultural marketplace last year.

We are excited, fired up and ready to kick off what I think will be one of the best Fine Art Expos yet,” said Sankofa Interim Executive Director Raland Hatchett.  “We have planned lots of new, fun and exciting features this year that are sure to please everyone from the devoted fine art enthusiast and collector to families who enjoy exposure to cultural expression.”

Expo hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.  For more information or for an application to exhibit, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration.

Check back for an update on the 12th Annual Cleveland Fine Art Expo!

Women Cookin’ For The Arts

From power suits to aprons: Greater Cleveland women leaders in business, community heat things up for Women Cookin’ for the Arts.

Oct. 6, 2010 (Cleveland, OH) – Women are moving up in the American workforce —and quickly.  A recent report revealed that women surpassed their male counterparts in earning doctoral degrees from U.S. universities last year.

Yet, even with those notable accomplishments, women leaders of Northeast Ohio have proven they can earn in a power suit or dawn an apron and burn – in the kitchen – especially if it’s for a worthy cause.

Greater Cleveland’s leading ladies will once again share their other skills for the fifth annual Women Cookin’ for the Arts, a fundraiser sponsored by The Cleveland Clinic for Cleveland ethnic arts nonprofit group Sankofa Fine Art Plus.

Several notable women will offer up their culinary specialties for hungry art lovers at the event, held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 1950 Richmond Rd., Lyndhurst (former TRW facility).  True, the chefs will be serving their specialties for a good cause, but that competitive edge which makes them successful in the workplace will come through, as they’ll also be ‘burning’ to beat out fellow chefs for votes of approval from attendees and guest judges who will pick a winner in each category.

The event has grown in popularity and attendance since it was initially conceived, and has become a fun-filled evening of not only good food, but good company, good music and an overall good time, said Donna Flynt, president of the Sankofa Board of Directors.

“When we held our first Women Cookin’ for the Arts, it was well-received, but we were only hopeful that it would continue as a unique fundraiser event for Sankofa,” Flynt said.  “With live music, prizes, a fun atmosphere and the friendly competition among the chefs, people can’t wait to come back the next year.

“I dare say Women Cookin’ for the Arts is becoming one of Cleveland’s social events of the year.”

One leading woman to sign up as a chef so far is Sen. Shirley A. Smith, Ohio’s 21st Senate District representative. More women are still needed to show their culinary skills for the fundraiser, which supports Sankofa’s year-round programming and activities, including the popular Cleveland Fine Art Expo, Northeast Ohio’s largest multi-cultural visual and performing arts event for the last 10 years.  Registration is still open for those who want to cook their special desserts, main dishes, vegetable dishes, salad, or rice or pasta dishes.

Sankofa is repeating a popular recent addition to the event by inviting special celebrity chefs to offer cooking demonstrations and tips.  Last year’s guest chef was Loretta Paganini, the founder of the prestigious Loretta Paganini School of Cooking known for her “Tips from the Kitchen” seen on WKYC-Channel 3.

The evening will again feature lead sponsor Cleveland Clinic’s Executive Chef Jim Perko offering healthy cooking demonstrations. New guests this year are The American Heart Association, The American Diabetes Association and Kaiser Permanente, who will also provide healthy cooking tips.

Tickets for the event are $45 for individual admission and $100 for corporate admission.  For tickets or to sign up as a chef, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration.