Page 18 - index

REFLECTIONS

on the BlackStream R enaissance

Tis book is a written account of what October Gallery Te patrons and artists of the BlackStream Renaissance
(OG) means to us. We attempted to unfold the saga of the purchased and sold art, displayed it at home and at work and
gallery’s evolution over time. In addition, we asked patrons shared it with friends, family, co-workers and the general
and artists alike: “What is the value of African-American art to public. In short, they have made African-American art

you?” Teir personal responses, interesting and insightful, are an indispensable part of their everyday lives. Te African-
included throughout our story. American community is efectively supporting and building an
art industry, perpetuated primarily by its own members.
Our national and international patrons and artists have
witnessed frsthand the creation and development of the Artists, galleries, museums and others in the art business

African-American art industry, which prior to the 1970s was realize that because of proper education, focused marketing
almost nonexistent. Tis group of patrons and artists are part and love of culture, African-Americans have shifted their habits
of what we call the BlackStream Renaissance. and allocated to the visual arts a portion of the more than 750

billion dollars they spend each year. Tis group has invested
Te term “blackstream” was used by Black artists in the
precious time and valuable resources in African-American art
1900s who were denied admission to the art mainstream.
and has thereby continued to give it value.
More recently, fne art appraiser Edward S. Spriggs of Atlanta,
Georgia brought the term “blackstream” to our attention. To be clear, the BlackStream Renaissance welcomes the

Feeling there was a need to identify this important time of mainstream but does not have to rely on it for content,
formative awareness of, belief in and commitment to African- aesthetic validation or fnancial continuance.
American art, we coined the phrase BlackStream Renaissance.
Educator and curator David C. Driskell said,

We further defne this growth period as being marked by “Te boom in Black art has come about not in the market of
a collective community conscientiousness that recognizes the galleries of the auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, but from
creative, cultural and fnancial viability of African-American ordinary Black people.”
visual expression.
Most African-American artists market and exhibit in the

Te interplay between artists, community members African-American community. Successful Black art festivals
and available resources has created a fabric-like cohesion and expos, where artists sell and exhibit, recognize the
characterized by: importance of marketing to this special community. It is in

• Artists willing to create this community where the strength and the value of African-
• A community that can inspire its artists American art begins. It is this community that has provided

• A community that accepts its own cultural the foundation for the Blackstream Renaissance. It is this
creations as having value community that has given us the content, the material, the

• Sufcient community resources to sustain the stories for Connecting People with Art. Tis book recognizes
exchange of value the pioneers of the Blackstream Renaissance.
Momma’s Hands by E. B. Lewis

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