Enduring spirit
Updated: Feb 24
This drawing was last seen at the Neema Art Gallery in Charleston, SC under the care of Meisha Johnson. The Gallery Curator, Ms. Johnson shipped it to Swann Auction House for sale. It was damaged in transient. Ms. Johnson informed me that she was in settlement talks with the shipping agent and would settle soon. Soon turned out to be a lifetime and Ms. Johnson is no where to be found. A previous drawing was sold at auction by Neema but no payment to the artist was ever made. Tough learning lessons about the trade. The drawing above is being listed as stolen. Please let me know if you happen to see it somewhere. The drawing at Swann Auction House sale was a misappropriation of funds that were owe to the artist. This is the Gallery and its owner's track record with a number of the artist that she represented. Beware and stay clear. No good can come from an association with Neema Gallery and its owner, Ms Meisha Johnson. You are warned.
Columbia Museum of Art | May 2016-17
I was born a long long time ago in Anniston, Al. I was raised in a family of former share croppers from the deepest regions of Georgia. My mother, the oldest of ten children andthe family, was uprooted by my grandfather in a move that relocated the family to Anniston, Al. My family until approximately 50 years were largely uneducated beyond grade school. My mother left school like her sibling, in the third grade and used that and common sense to educate two of her three children.
She, like her sisters, spent most of her life as a domestic worker in the homes of both southern and northern white families. My grandfather and his sons performed many different jobs as skilled but low paid worker. Most of the males in the family struggled one time or another with weekend alcohol addiction but for the most part took care of their families. Growing up in Alabama in the household and neighborhood where I lived was a complex and difficult endeavor. We were poor but not destitute. I never went without food or clothing. My environment was a small community of poor black surrounded by Jim Crowe on all sides. Growing up in Alabama with the racism and the poverty would have and did destroy many Black families.
I was lucky. I was never alone or unprotected. I was always surrounded by strength and determination. My grandmother, my aunts and later my sisters were women of great strength that watched the children in our community with a protective blanket that kept most of the monsters away until we came of age and could invite the demons in ourselves.
My friends and I were watched night and day by a community that valued us long before they could explain their feelings. I lived in the present of great strength and fortitude. It was always around me.
These were the people that shaped my growth and created the solid foundation that supported my journey as I walked the path looking for a life that they always taught me that was rightfully mine. Their spirit influenced me, molded me and and picked me up when I stumbled. So as I was searching for just the right titled for probably my most important exhibition,
I looked back to those days when I was surrounded by the protective umbrella of a strong extended family. As it has always happened in the past, the incredible memories of their lives and commitment to family reminded me of who I was and how in spite of the odds, manage to reach one of the high points of my profession. I chose the title Enduring Spirit.
