Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
From left, Anina Major received the inaugural Future Perfect Prize in design. | Courtesy The Future Perfact; ANINA MAJOR, “Off Spring,” 2024 (soda-fired glazed stoneware, seaglass, sand, 10 x 12.25 x 8.75 inches). | © Anina Major
AWARDS & HONORS
Ceramic Artist Anina Major Received Design Prize
The sculptural clay work of Bahamian-born, New York-based Anina Major evinces straw weaving. Major is the inaugural recipient of The Future Perfect Prize recognizing emerging talent in contemporary design. The Future Perfect is a design gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The honor includes a $20,000 cash prize and an exhibition of new work at The Future Perfect gallery in New York in 2025. In September, Major also won the 2024 Pommery Prize ($25,000) at the Armory Show in New York and earlier this month was profiled in the New York Times. (11/13) | More
APPOINTMENTS
African Art Museum Added Board Members
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Africa Art in Washington, D.C., announced seven new board members: Olugbenga (GB) Agboola; Emmanuel Akyeampong; Anita Blanchard, M.D.; Pulane Tshabalala Kingston; Sengal Selassie; Victor E. Williams; and Donna Sims Wilson. Based in the United States and Africa and representing a variety of professional fields, the group joins 10 existing board members. (11/12) | More
GLOUCESTER CALIMAN (G.C.) COXE (1907-1999), “Exodus #4,” 1985 (oil on canvas). | Courtesy Speed Art Museum
EXHIBITIONS
Coming Soon: First Museum Exhibition of Louisville Artist Gloucester Caliman Coxe
Next summer Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum is presenting “Louisville’s Black Avant-Garde: Gloucester Caliman (G.C.) Coxe” (June 19-Sept. 1, 2025), the first solo museum exhibition of G.C. Coxe (1907-1999). An “abstract painter who experimented with form, while often using unconventional materials,” Coxe is considered the dean of African American artists in Louisville. The exhibition is the third installment in the Louisville’s Black Avant-Garde series bringing attention to the founders of the Louisville Art Workshop, the 1960s collective of Black artists. (11/14) | More
MAGAZINES
Amy Sherald Covers Cultured Magazine
Cultured magazine’s inaugural Artists on Artists issues features Amy Sherald and Jon Batiste on the cover. Inside, the painter and musician are in conversation. Sherald is known for her poetic portrait paintings. The issue coincides with “Amy Sherald: American Submlime” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the artist’s largest-ever museum exhibition. The show features nearly 50 paintings and is accompanied by a new catalog. The magazine’s Winter 2024/2-25 issue also paired artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby with filmmaker Malcolm Washington and artist/filmmaker Titus Kaphar with tennis champion Venus Williams. | More
LIVES
Remembering Harlem Renaissance Poet/Illustrator Gwendolyn B. Bennett
A poet and illustrator, Gwendolyn B. Bennett socialized with Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Jessie Fauset, and Richard Wright during the Harlem Renaissance. She illustrated covers for The Crisis and Opportunity magazine, went to Paris for a year in 1925, and became director of the Harlem Artists Guild in 1936. Delayed nearly half a century, the New York Times recently published an Overlooked obituary of Bennett. Born in 1902, Bennett died May 30, 1981, in Reading, Pa. She was 78. (9/6) | New York Times
Prince’s Sister Tyka Evene Nelson Died
Tyka Evene Nelson, the only full sibling of Prince (1958-2016), died on Nov. 4. She was 64. A singer-songwriter in her own right, she released four albums. When Nelson’s first album debuted in 1988, the Minneapolis Star Tribune likened her Anita Baker and Sade. (11/5) | New York Times
Elizabeth Nunez Died, Author Explored Immigrant Stories
Trinidad-born author Elizabeth Nunez, died on Nov. 9, in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was 80. Nunez published several novels exploring legacy of colonialism and the challenging experiences of immigrants, including “When Rocks Dance” (1986) and “Prospero’s Daughter” (2006). Her 2014 memoir was titled, “Not For Everyday Use.” (11/14) | New York Times
CT
SPORTS | Last Thursday, all 30 NBA teams unveiled their 2024-25 City Edition uniforms. Made in collaboration with Nike, the special uniforms are intended distinguish each team by highlighting its unique story and history and the culture of its city. In Ohio, the Cleveland Cavaliers partnered with the Cleveland Museum of Art on their Nike City Edition uniforms. The design is inspired by the museum’s architecture. The collaboration includes museum and team programming and a special home court design at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. A few other franchises had artful approaches. The Los Angeles Clippers worked with artist Jonas Wood. KAWS partnered with the Brooklyn Nets for the second year in a row. Also in New York, the Knicks turned to the design brand Kith. (11/14) | Video by Cleveland Cavaliers
