Staff members from varying departments gathered for the opening night of its annual, The Faculty Art Exhibition Friday at the Foster Tanner Fine Arts Gallery. Nine artists, including one FAMU alumnus, are featured in this year’s showcase.
This gallery displayed some pieces that dated back more than 20 years ago. This is important to the Visual Arts program because it captures its historical essence.
Tatjana Lightburn, a junior fine arts junior student from Ft. Lauderdale enjoyed the fact that she can interact with professors, alumni, and classmates.
“It’s nice to be able to see people and interact to get there opinion on the art pieces” Lightburn said.
Considered a small program, the Visual Arts Program has faculty and administrators that have made an enormous footprint in the world of artistry.
One of the goals of this exhibit is to, “Understand the prominent art figures that have impacted African-American art and have a sense of pride for the department and the arts.” said Roache.
There were two floors of work that attendees viewed during the event.
One of the featured artists, Kendra Bryant, a FAMU English professor, displayed her collection whose focus was on police brutality against African-American males and the shooting of Mike Brown and the grand jury's failure to indict.
"I did the art work for Mike Brown first,” Bryant said. “I did it in response to the failure to indict Officer Wilson. I did it based off of the various of feeds I was reading on Facebook, Twitter, and conversations, and immediately the Black Panther came to mind,"
Another display of Professor Bryant was her tribute to President Barack Obama's history making deal with Cuba called, “Es no facile”. In this piece, she wanted to show President Barack Obama's strength and wisdom through watercolors and acrylic paint.
Both faculty, students, and guests enjoyed the room and shared their thoughts and opinions with each other about the arts.
Bryant said the visual arts department wanted to demonstrate, "how art can change conversation, (how) we can express ourselves whether it's sorrow, grief, and excitement or happiness it can be an escape.”
Their artwork will be on displayed until Feb. 20th at Foster Tanner Fine Arts Gallery open to the public. Open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.