A group of art education students at Northern Arizona University will debut a first-of-its-kind exhibit tonight’s at Flagstaff’s First Friday Art Walk. Onyx: An All-Black Art Exhibition features the work of five local Black artists. It started off as a class research project on cultural competency and evolved into a multi-media art history project to elevate Black artists and recognize the contributions of the Black community to Flagstaff’s history. In this audio postcard, we meet some of the artists and curators behind the exhibit; Zeke Hodo, Grace Castellanos and Stephanie Thompson.
Zeke Hodo:
My name is Zeke Hodo. I’m a digital artist. I’m a sophomore, and I’m an Art Education major.
On Friday, what you can expect to see is five Black artists being highlighted. They’re going to have all the work that they want to show the people of Flagstaff. There’s also going to be a short documentary in front of Heritage Square on a television showing everyone’s artistic process and their statements, but also some of the history here in Flag.
I want this to be something to tell people that, yes, we do exist, and that there’s not only Black history here, but there are currently black artists here. And while we might be in the minority, we still do exist and we are still here. So, I wanted this to be sort of an opportunity to allow, not only myself, but any Black artist to show their work, and we wanted to get people here who would notice, and maybe do something with them. This could be an opportunity to better their own career.
Grace Castellanos:
My name is Grace Castellanos. I am a painter. The work I have in the show is mostly watercolor and pencil drawings. The idea for a lot of the pieces I have is based around the feelings of being overwhelmed and things like that. I usually tend to make pieces more towards my emotions and what I’m feeling at that time.
As we’ve seen throughout basically all of history, Black people and other POC have just not had as much of a platform as they deserve, like, ever. And when they have been included in fine art, it’s always been caricatures or mockery, and I think it’s definitely time to start changing the narrative. That’s not to say that our other White counterparts aren’t still making things that are important, but I think it’s time to give some other people some spotlight.
Stephanie Thompson:
My name is Stephanie Thompson. I’m an Art Education major. My primary artistic mediums are three-dimensional in nature, so a lot of jewelry design, wood workings, a little bit of sculpture.
I came onto this project as a co-creator and co-curator with Zeke. I’ve been doing most of the logistical side of things; organizing resources for the show, building the walls, and doing some of the curatorial work in terms of installation.
I think that it’s vital to have a show like this at this time in history. We haven’t really given the platforms we have in media to put a positive story out about the Black community. I think we are a group of people here who have enough drive to give shine to those artists and not have it really be about the marginalization of Black people, but just give the facts, give the history, show the work, and let the artists be human beings.
I would like to take a moment to say the names of the artists that are showing. I think saying the names of Black people is important. Uplifting their names and marking their names in history as important figures is important, so I’d like to thank and congratulate Zeke Hodo, Grace Castellanos, Malik Bossett, Philip Gabriel Steverson, and Shaunté Glover for being a part of the show and sharing your works in this very important time.
Onyx: An All-Black Art Exhibition is Friday, May 5, 2023, from 4-9 p.m. in downtown Flagstaff's Heritage Square. The exhibit is part of the First Friday Art Walk.