Liu Nan surprised his students during the Faculty Show in the FAMU Foster -Tanner Fine Arts Gallery.
Nan, a member of the fine arts faculty, made a life-size painting of five of his former students. The picture featured fine arts students Moise Dorcelin, Cory Williams, Natascha Holmes and Leitoya Snelling, and a graduate of the fine arts program, Edmund Royster.
Friday marked the opening reception for the second art exhibit in the Fine Arts Gallery this semester. The first exhibit, named the Student Art Exhibition/Competition, was on display for a month.
Some of the gallery art includes life-sized black-and-white hand drawings of Marvel superheroes such as Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. There is also handmade pottery and a wall of Chinese writing.
Other works, such as Harris Wiltsher’s pieces that blend Civil Rights and other famous African-American images with block printing and silk screening, relate directly to Black History Month.
Jaye Mcnair’s African-centered pieces were in remembrance of African-Americans before they were forced into slavery. In her section, she has a raffia masquerade, a part of indigenous African life, and a piece called “Egun,” a Yoruba term referring to their ancestors.
In “Egun,” there are two handmade cloth figures sitting on a bench. Next to it is a projection of the “Door of No Return” from Ghana’s Cape Coast slavery dungeon with an explanation printed on it.
“I enjoy seeing the professor’s work,” said Royster from Detroit. “Back when I was in school, they usually went so long without showing us what they can do, it always left a weird mystery about them.”
The exhibit, which is free to the public, will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until March 2. For more information, call 850-599-8755.