Some Artists in Newark

 Tonight I was watching Antiques Roadshow, a PBS program where ordinary people wait in long lines at historical sites to show their treasures to professional educated evaluators, to see if they are actually worth anything, and what the estimate is.  Sometimes the objects are just junk, and sometimes they are quite valuable, and of course there is a lot of in between.  Tonight's show (recorded somewhere in Maryland) involved two people who brought art by names I know well.

Back in 1994 I participated in a small works show at Montclair State, which in itself was an unusual show in that the jurors were asked to attend the opening where artists could confront them about their choices for what got into the show and what won prizes.  I did that part once myself, as I was usually in Illinois when the show actually happened.  Didn't talk to the juror that time, but her reasons for giving prizes were pure nonsense (she clearly didn't know the subjects of the art she was looking at, yet chose prizes based on those) At the time of this show, my parents were still living near there, and so my mother went to go pick up my works after the show ended.  At that time she was asked to donate one of my pieces to a fundraiser show at Aljira, a non-profit gallery in Newark, and she agreed.  What they wanted was a diptych of prints from my Fourth of July series, in this case October 12th and 13th, which were some bees and a giant cribbage board made by one of my fellow grad students as part of an art project.  Later that fall I got a program from the show.  If I recall, people who bought tickets to the show got their choice of one of the donated works, and some bigger name artists also donated works, which where raffled off for more money.  I was familiar with one of the names from seeing a postcard on another grad student's studio door.  A friend back home was very impressed when I mentioned some of the names on the list of big artists.

Finally I remembered where I had seen that first name and asked the grad, a friend named Suzanne, if I had seen a postcard with the name of that artist, Faith Ringgold, on her door.  She confirmed this and wondered why I asked, so I told her.  She asked if there were any other big name artists in the show, and I mentioned another one, Elizabeth Catlett.  Suzanne asked me, "Do they think you are black?"  I didn't think so.  She asked if there was anyone else in the show.  Yes, I think Jacob Lawrence is part of it.  "ARE YOU SURE THEY DON'T THINK YOU'RE BLACK?!"  Again I said I didn't think so, since they knew my name and it was my mother who was there to pick up the work.  Suzanne, who was African-American, was more concerned with this kind of thing than I was.  I have no idea what happened with the show, meaning how much money was made, or who ended up with my print.  I don't remember if I was in any other shows at Aljira or not.  They closed in 2018, but I was in other shows in other locations in Newark over the years, at least four I can think of off the top of my head.  

Anyway, the reason I was thinking of this story tonight was that two of the people who brought things to be evaluated had art- watercolors by Faith Ringgold, and prints from Elizabeth Catlett.  All acquired cheaply from people who needed to make some money immediately, and now worth a whole lot more money than they paid. I've seen work by Ringgold and Lawrence in art history textbooks I have taught with, though as far as I know I haven't been in any texts yet.  I've had students write reports and things about seeing my work in exhibitions at their schools, so for now I have to settle for that.  My work was shown on a local PBS recently, but I don't think anything has ever been on the Roadshow.  But at one time we were all hanging in a space together in Newark, and I have a printed program that proves it.