'Common Ground' tells story of African American art

Three Michigan art museums have joined forces to tell an American story, a story that's had a long, slow journey to museum walls.

"Common Ground: African American Art from the Flint Institute of Arts, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and the Muskegon Museum of Art" begins Aug. 21 with a free preview, reception and talk by Tracee Glab, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Flint Institute of Arts. It will run at the KIA until Nov. 15, and arrive in Muskegon Dec. 10.

"These three Michigan museum collections, by coming together, were able to show a pretty comprehensive view of the history of African American art," Glab says. Works in many media from the early 1800s to this century will be displayed, photos to abstracts, sculptures to oils. "All that art is in our own back yard," Glab says.

Vicki Wright, KIA director of collections and exhibitions, says that "this show is about the journey that African American artists have taken over the past two centuries."

It will be grouped in chronological themes, starting with "Gaining Access," going back to 1815-1820, when artists had the greatest struggles and barriers "to be accepted as professional artists," Wright says.

Artists like Robert Seldon Duncanson, who became an expatriate in Canada and the United Kingdom during the Civil War. In his time, he was declared a master of landscapes in Europe. His 1871 pastoral "Heart of the Andes" is a highlight for Glab, she says. "Just a beautiful landscape." Part of the KIA's collection, it wasn't able to travel to Flint "because it's so rare. I'm excited it'll be in the Kalamazoo installation."

In the 19th century and the start of the 20th, by working in popular styles and subject matter, African American artists tried to break into the only art world there was--the caucasian one. Into the 20th century "they really began to develop their own identity, really look at African American life as a subject matter," Wright says.

Each piece tells a story. Some are stories are clear and vivid:

Renee Stout's "Marie Laveau," 2009-2013 color pencil drawing over lithograph proof, from the FIA, shows the fabled New Orleans voodoo queen's green eyes casting a spell from behind a fan, her skin darker than how the Creole woman is usually shown. Stout's mixed-media work looks at southern folkloric practices of conjuring and voodoo, in a 21st century light.

Roman Johnson's "Dad," 1943, oil on canvas, FIA, is the artist's aging father, face scrunched-up in joy, pipe in teeth, old hat on head. "But it's a composite portrait," Glab points out. The house in the background is where the artist was born. At the time of the painting, the house was long gone--in the background, a memory of childhood.

Gordon Parks' "American Gothic, Washington, D.C.," 1942, gelatin silver print, KIA. A photo of a woman with her tools, a broom and mop, the U.S. flag in the background. Parks took the photo while working for the Farm Security Administration. His assignment was to shoot life around the capitol, but on his first day in Washington, according to a bio on the Photo District News magazine site, Parks kept getting stopped by barriers due to his race.

He retreated to the FSA building, where he met charwoman Ella Watson. She told him of a life of bigotry and misery. Parks' FSA boss told him the shot would get all FSA photographers fired since it looked like "an indictment of America." Instead, it got on the front page of the Washington Post and became an early iconic image of the Civil Rights movement.

Even an abstract work has a story. Mary Lee Bendolph's "Hope," 2010, aquatint on paper, FIA, has red, white and black shapes that seem to be on their way to forming letters. It looks modern, but it's actually folk art. Bendolph is out of the Gee's Bend quilt maker's tradition. "They were thinking outside the box," Wright says. In a tiny rural community southwest of Selma, Al., women "started creating these vibrant, abstract quilts, all on their own. They were before their time, mirroring some of the movements and some of the modern art that was coming out of New York."

Together, the pieces tell a much larger story--the development of many unique voices reflecting life and struggles.

What's striking to Glab is "the diversity of art. Even though what unites them is the African American experience, the artwork itself is so diverse. You can't put it into any single style or category."

Access to museum walls

The KIA's first work by an African-American artist (Richard Hunt, internationally-known Chicago sculptor who turns 80 this year) went on display in 1970. The FIA's first was a few years earlier, sometime in the '60s.

Over the years, they and museums around the country have worked to bring diversity to their collections, but it's been a slow process.

"Unbeknownst to each other.... each of these three Michigan museums separately decided at some point that they wanted to expand their collection of American art to better-include representations of work by African American artists," Wright says.

Thanks to local benefactors, they  have grown their collection.

Glab says that each institution has different strengths, because "each institution has different donors and different interests of what their public is interested in, and also, is able to buy."

But it takes some effort from the top.

The KIA's new director, Belinda Tate, who began her post in September after Jim Bridenstine's 23-year run, told South West Michigan Second Wave in January that the museum will be "focused on stronger community engagement, reaching more sectors of the Kalamazoo community"

Tate says "Common Ground" exemplifies "the unique contributions and commitment of three Michigan museums to expand their holdings and represent the full landscape of American art.... Of course, one of our goals at the KIA is to extend our reach, and this timely and educative exhibition has the power to help everyone find meaning and relevance in the lives of others, with art and artists telling stories that everyone can relate to. It’s an exceptional celebration and insightful commentary on American history and culture; I hope everyone will participate."  

They've even called Friday, Aug. 21, "Everyone's a Member Day." Gallery admission is free from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., including the preview reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The KIA is working "to be more welcoming to all people from the community" in both exhibits and other programs, Wright says.

The museum received a $2 million gift in March from Kalamazoo's Rosemary and John Brown. It will all go to the Kirk Newman Art School, a portion going to scholarships for people who might not be able to afford classes. It's led to "an influx of new people to the KIA, so we're really excited about that," Wright says.

"We have the same challenge in Flint, we want to make the museum accessible to everyone," Glab says.

One of art's main jobs is to reflect the world, and a museum needs art that reflects the diversity of its community.

"We want to stay relevant and we want to stay engaged," she says. But diverse collections only happen "when you have the people there to give it, and when you have the people there who are interested in giving money to purchase it." What is needed are "both institutional leadership and a community who's actually buying or giving a work of art," she says.

From museums around the country, "there's been a great effort in the last couple of decades to correct that lack of art."

To put things in perspective, Glab looks back to the early days of American art museums in the late 1800s. Then, railroad barons and other captains of industry of the Gilded Age were fueling museums' collections. Not only were they blind to African American art, they weren't considering any ar by Americans.

"What were they interested in buying? They were interested in going to Europe and buying French art," Glab says.

"Common Ground" tells a story closer to home, Wright says. "There is a lot of storytelling going on in this show, which is neat."

Wright adds, "no single institution could have displayed the kind of show that 'Common Ground' is, in its complexity, in its ability to tell the story about the journey African American artists have taken."

"Common Ground" runs Aug. 21-Nov. 15 at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. More information can be found here.  

Aug. 21 is "Everyone's a Member Day," with free admission, discounts at the Gallery Shop and on registration for fall classes at the Kirk Newman Art School and "Common Ground" reception.

Reception is at 5:30 p.m. Curator's talk by Tracee Glab is at 6:30 p.m.

Mark Wedel has been a freelance writing covering arts and entertainment in the Kalamazoo area since 1992.