The Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum is providing the Tampa Bay area with yet another outstanding opportunity to understand the African American experience through art. Starting January 25, long-time museum volunteer Celeste Davis will explore race and culture through the lens of African American artists in a new monthly discussion series called The Curious Collector. We caught up with Davis for a phone interview. Here’s what she had to say about art, the African American experience as expressed through art, and her new Curious Collector series.
IF YOU GO
Colored People: Visions by Carrie Mae Weems and Amy Sherald
The Curious Collector series with host Celeste Davis
Jan. 25, 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m., and then on fourth Saturdays thereafter.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, 2240 9th Ave. S., St. Petersburg.
727-323-1104; woodsonmuseum.org
What inspired you to start this new series?
I’ve done a good bit of volunteering at the Carter G. Woodson. I love the museum. I’m born and raised in St. Petersburg. Actually, my grandparents lived walking distance from the location of the Carter G. Woodson right now, so that’s kind of like home.
I lived in D.C. for a while and studied art. I think you can tell from the information [that] I also studied at NYU for fine art appraisal. So needless to say, I love art. I have a real interest in it.
I’ve been to many exhibits at the Carter G. Woodson, and I actually did one exhibit on Willie Daniels of the [Florida] Highwaymen.
The one thing that makes art really enjoyable for me is to kind of look into the work itself, the artist, and what the artist is expressing and why. As I walked through the exhibits at the Carter G. Woodson, there were times that I would just sit. We would be talking about a piece, and I would say this or that. And if the artist was there, we were actually able to talk about the work, and the inspiration, and all of those details that just bring richness to a piece.
I literally was sitting at the Woodson, and I just thought it would be wonderful to walk around, look at pieces, and be able to have a real discussion about the art, and the artist, and the work and what it represents. With so many African American artists, the work absolutely is a reflection of race and culture. So that’s kind of how the idea came about.
How is this going to work? Will work from the featured artist(s) be on display for you to discuss? Or will these be PowerPoint presentations? Will the artist(s) ever come out?
It’s a very organic process at this time. What I hope is to be able to do a little of all of that.
The first talk is about Carrie Mae Weems and Amy Sherald…they both have taken this approach to race and actual color in what I see as a similar interpretation, and that’s why I call [this particular discussion] ‘colored people.’ I want to look at those two artists. We’ll talk about the different approaches and the different messages that each of them brings, and we’ll find a lot of similarities. And then, of course, we’ll find some differences as well. But it’s just the opportunity to actually look at that.
There are times that I’d like to explore a period in art, like the Harlem Renaissance, where we would look at maybe a few different artists from the Harlem Renaissance.
If there’s a particular exhibit at the Carter G. Woodson where the artist could actually join the talk, then we would [interact] with the artist about the work.
I’m looking at being able to do a number of things every month where we can just explore race and culture as it’s represented through artwork.
What’s the plan for the very first one?
I’m going to have a PowerPoint and there’ll be videos from both artists.
What made you choose to tackle Carrie Mae Weems' and Amy Sherald’s work first?
I had the honor of seeing the Mrs. Obama portrait in the portrait gallery, and it is the most popular portrait — at least at that time that I went — in the gallery. There’s something that’s just so powerful about the image that transcends what I had seen online or read in the newpapers. I kind of got people’s pull toward it, and I started to look into more work from Amy Sherald. I also wanted to understand more about what was in the portraits, so I read about the piece itself. So she’s always kind of been in the back of my mind as a new artist — new to me, I should say — that really kind of held my interest.
With Carrie Mae Weems, I have followed her for a long time. I love photography. I don’t even remember under what circumstances I got exposed to her work, but she’s someone that I really enjoy. I didn’t want to, nor do I think I want to in the future, just tackle one artist and look at one person’s interpretation. I’d like to be able to look at two people and find similarities within them and tackle how African American artists bring their perspective to their artwork in different ways, and in similar ways. So the idea of looking at those two artists together just started to be really interesting…
And the fact that Carrie Mae Weems does most of her work in black and white. I’m going to be doing, specifically, the Kitchen Table series, and that’s black and white. And then the fact that Amy Sherald does the complexion of the African Americans in her work in grayscale is actually a very similar approach with the different media.
What are you hoping people get out of this series?
I hope that people get out of it the richness that really is in artwork, and get a better understanding of the African American experience and how artists depict it.
I know that when I saw the Amy Sherald piece, there was something that drew me to it that I liked very much, and I think that’s something that speaks to a lot of people who see it. But it’s great to talk about and put some words around that thing. And you cannot separate the artist as an African American and her experiences from the work she creates.
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This article appears in Jan 23-30, 2020.