February 19 - June 20, 2010
The exhibition’s visual and thematic referencing of the past while being rooted firmly in the present connects the art work of Amalia Amaki, Lillian Blades and Beverly Buchanan to the historical-tinged quilts by African American women in the exhibition. The use of textural materials, color, found objects, building shapes and cultural images balance delicacy and strength while evoking the individualized stories and shared histories of the diaspora of African Americans, Africa and the Caribbean.
Their work reminds the viewer of specific memories, direct experiences or exposure while looking at the miniature churches, houses and shack sculptures of Beverly Buchanan both colorful and starkly devoid of color, the ornate and delicate fans, candy and treasure boxes of Amalia Amaki and the large-scale mosaic styled mixed media wall hangings of Lillian Blades, no matter the background of the visitor. In addition, the artists collectively share an interest in the African American southern experience with each maintaining homes and work studios in Georgia, although only Blades currently lives in the Atlanta area year-round. All of the contemporary work dovetails and resonates with the African American quilts which will be on loan to CAM by the Mississippi Museum of Art from their newly acquired collection for this exhibition.
This exhibition is organized by the Cameron Art Museum and will include approximately 78 works. The exhibition’s programs include an opening reception scheduled to tie-in to the NC Black Film Festival, formerly Cine Noir (March 18-21, 2010 at CAM), during the run of the exhibit screening of the thirty minute documentary Beverly Buchanan will be scheduled.
The Artists
Amalia Amaki was born Linda Faye Peeks on July 8, 1949 in Atlanta, Georgia. Amaki developed a love for script writing, drawing, bold colors and textures at an early age. Amaki attended Georgia State University and majored in journalism and psychology. She also obtained her B.A. degree from the University of Mexico in photography and art history and worked as a museum assistant at the University Art Museum for two years while she pursued her degree. In 1974, she changed her name to Amalia Amaki. In 1985, Amaki went to France as an Emory University Foreign Study Fellow. She also became a contributing writer to Art Papers and an art critic for Creative Loafing; papers local to the Atlanta area. Amaki earned her M.A. degree in modern European and American art and a Ph.D. in twentieth century American art and culture from Emory University in the Institute of Liberal Arts.
Amaki’s art captures the lives of African women of the diaspora through media from everyday life (photography, quilts, buttons, boxes and household items). Her work redefines the lives of past and present African American heroines and heroes and contrasts their depiction in the mainstream media. Her solo works, Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons and Blues have been on exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Lillian Blades was born in 1973 in Nassau, Bahamas. She received a BFA in Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MFA from Georgia State University. She also studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and Caversham in KwaZulu Natal South Africa. Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, the Bahamas, Trinidad, Germany, and South Africa. Her work has been commissioned for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and The East Atlanta Library and is in the collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.
Beverly Buchanan is an African American artist noted for her exploration of Southern vernacular architecture through her art. Buchanan was born in Fuquay, North Carolina, but grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina where her father was dean of the School of Agriculture at South Carolina State College, which was then the only state school for African Americans in South Carolina. In 1962 Buchanan graduated from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina with a degree in medical technology. She went on to attend Columbia University, where she received a master's degree in parasitology in 1968 and a master's degree in public health in 1969. Although she was accepted to medical school, Buchanan decided not to go due to her desire to dedicate more time to her art. In 1971 she enrolled in a class taught by Norman Lewis at the Art Students League in New York City. During the 1970's Romare Bearden became her friend and mentor. Buchanan decided to pursue art exclusively in 1977 and moved to Macon, Georgia.
In 1980 Buchanan was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In 1990 she received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in sculpture. She was chosen as a Georgsia Visual Arts honoree in 1997. In 2002 she received an Anonymous Was a Woman Award. In 2005 she was a distinguished honoree of the College Art Association Committee for Women in the Arts. She currently divides her time between studios in Athens, Georgia and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
