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Cbabi Bayoc
 Cbabi (pronounced Kuh-bob-bi) Bayoc was born Clifford Miskell in 1973. In
1997 he legally changed his name to his current name (‘Cbabi’ is an acronym for ‘Creative Black Artist Battling Ignorance’, and ‘Bayoc’ is an acronym for ‘Blessed African Youth of Creativity’).
He was born in Fort Dix, New Jersey while his father was in the Air Force and he has lived at Air Force bases in Louisiana and Korea. The family eventually
settled in O’Fallon, Illinois when his father was stationed at Scott Air Force Base there. He currently makes his home in St. Louis, Mo. With his wife, Reine, and their three children.
Bayoc attended Belleville Area College for two years before attending Grambling State University in Louisiana, from which he graduated in 1995 with a Bachelors Degree in Art. After working as a
caricature artist at Six Flags Over St. Louis for a short time, he turned full time to a career as an illustrator. His first big client was Rap Pages magazine where he did a caricature of the feature artist
each month. This led to more work during caricatures on album covers and in music videos, as well as high profiled commissions by companies such as Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, New Line Cinema
and MCA Records, and celebrity commissions by Prince and others.
Keeping a sketch book and pencil with him wherever he goes, Bayoc captures vignettes of daily life
and, as an artist who is also thoroughly immersed in his role as a father, children and themes of family naturally find their way into a lot of his work.
WORKS BY CBABI BAYOC
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Lashun Beal
 Lashun Beal is a native of Detroit in 1962. He knew as a child that he wanted to
be an artist. He is essentially a self-taught artist who, although he lacks formal training has had some art training.
Wanting to see other places in the world, Beal joined the United States Marines
and traveled to Europe, South America and the Far East. Some of the cultures he experienced is reflected in his art and is particularly synthesized in the central
figure in most of his work - that of the “Universal Woman”, as he calls her.
Among his artistic influences Beal lists Romare Bearden, Paul Goodnight and William Tolliver, as well
as African art. The artist has won several awards and commissions and participated in gallery exhibitions across the country. He currently lives in the Houston area.
WORKS BY LASHUN BEAL
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Romare Bearden
 Romare Howard Bearden was born on September 2, 1911, to (Richard)
Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died in New York City on March 12, 1988, at the age of 76. His life and art are marked by exceptional talent, encompassing a broad range of
intellectual and scholarly interests, including music, performing arts, history, literature and world art. Bearden was also a celebrated humanist, as demonstrated by his lifelong support of young, emerging artists.
Romare Bearden began college at Lincoln University, transferred to Boston University and completed his studies at New York University (NYU), graduating with a degree in education. While at NYU, Bearden
took extensive courses in art and was a lead cartoonist and then art editor for the monthly journal The Medley. He had also been art director of Beanpot, the student humor magazine of Boston University.
Bearden published many journal covers during his university years and the first of numerous texts he would write on social and artistic issues. He also attended the Art Students League in New York and later, the
Sorbonne in Paris. In 1935, Bearden became a weekly editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Afro-American, which he continued doing until 1937.
After joining the Harlem Artists Guild, Bearden embarked on his lifelong study of art, gathering inspiration from Western masters ranging from Duccio, Giotto and de Hooch to Cezanne, Picasso and
Matisse, as well as from African art (particularly sculpture, masks and textiles), Byzantine mosaics, Japanese prints and Chinese landscape paintings.
From the mid-1930s through 1960s, Bearden was a social worker with the New York City Department of Social Services, working on his art at night and on weekends. His success as an artist was
recognized with his first solo exhibition in Harlem in 1940 and his first solo show in Washington, DC, in 1944. Bearden was a prolific artist whose works were exhibited during his lifetime throughout the
United States and Europe. His collages, watercolors, oils, photomontages and prints are imbued with visual metaphors from his past in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Harlem and
from a variety of historical, literary and musical sources.
In 1954, Bearden married Nanette Rohan, with whom he spent the rest of his life. In the early 1970s,
he and Nanette established a second residence on the Caribbean island of St. Martin, his wife's ancestral home, and some of his later work reflected the island's lush landscapes. Among his many
friends, Bearden had close associations with such distinguished artists, intellectuals and musicians as James Baldwin, Stuart Davis, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Joan Miró, George Grosz
, Alvin Ailey and Jacob Lawrence.
Bearden was also a respected writer and an eloquent spokesman on artistic and social issues of the
day. Active in many arts organizations, in 1964 Bearden was appointed the first art director of the newly established Harlem Cultural Council, a prominent African-American advocacy group. He was
involved in founding several important art venues, such as The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Cinque Gallery. Initially funded by the Ford Foundation, Bearden and the artists Norman Lewis and
Ernest Crichlow established Cinque to support younger minority artists. Bearden was also one of the founding members of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970 and was elected to the National
Institute of Arts and Letters in 1972.
Recognized as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the twentieth century, Romare
Bearden had a prolific and distinguished career. He experimented with many different mediums and artistic styles, but is best known for his richly textured collages, two of which appeared on the covers of Fortune and Time magazines, in 1968. An innovative artist with diverse interests, Bearden
also designed costumes and sets for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and programs, sets and designs for Nanette Bearden's Contemporary Dance Theatre.
Among Bearden's numerous publications are: A History of African American Artists: From 1792 to the
Present, which was coauthored with Harry Henderson and published posthumously in 1993; The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden (1983); Six Black Masters of American Art, coauthored with Harry Henderson (1972); The Painter's Mind: A Study of the Relations
of Structure and Space in Painting, coauthored with Carl Holty (1969); and Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story, a children's book published posthumously in September 2003.
Bearden's work is included in many important public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston and The Studio Museum in Harlem, among others. He has had retrospectives at the Mint Museum of Art (1980), the Detroit Institute of the Arts (1986), as well as numerous posthumous
retrospectives, including The Studio Museum in Harlem (1991) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (2003).
Bearden was the recipient of many awards and honors throughout his lifetime. Honorary doctorates were given by Pratt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Davidson College and Atlanta University, to
name but a few. He received the Mayor's Award of Honor for Art and Culture in New York City in 1984 and the National Medal of Arts, presented by President Ronald Reagan, in 1987.
WORKS BY ROMARE BEARDEN
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Charles Bibbs
 Charles Bibbs is a native of the Los Angeles Bay area, the second child in a
family of ten. His education included Long Beach City College and California State University. Although he majored in business in college, he always had an affinity for fine art and he also took art classes.
His early artistic influences include Charles White, R.C. Gorman, Frank Howell and John Biggers and the artist’s earliest work were black and white
illustrations that reflected a ‘sixties sensibility. The innovative, ever-evolving artist has over the years developed a distinctive style that fuses African,
Native American and African American cultural themes and is characterized by a bold cross-hatching technique, which utilizes ink and acrylic. His
hallmark is strong, larger-than-life figures, especially women, with exaggerated hands, feet and height. He states his aim: “I want [the viewers] to realize that each piece of art is about them. It’s
about the deep inner feelings of one person being pictured in a way that touches you.”
In addition to being a professional artist, Bibbs is also an astute businessman, gallery owner,
magazine publisher, visionary, artist activist and mentor to young artists. He received considerable press and media attention and been has been the recipient of numerous commissions, citations and
awards. The artist lives in Moreno Valley, California with his wife, Elaine.
WORKS BY CHARLES BIBBS
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Larry ”Poncho” Brown
 Larry “Poncho” Brown is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. He started his first
business at the age of seventeen as a sign writer and has been a full time artist ever since. Some of his early sign work was featured in television
commercial and a Barry Levinson film. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. in 1984.
Brown’s work reflects the artist’s interest in Afrocentric themes, Ancient Egyptology and Dance, as well as his deep reverence for family, community
and spirituality. His highly stylized work is often characterized by movement, rhythm and unity.
His art has been published in Upscale Magazine, Ebony, Essence, and Jet
magazines, among others. His most popular artwork titled “Black is Black”, along with works from his “Egyptian Queens” series have been featured on the former hit TV show “A Different World”. Other
television credits include “In the House” and the HBO mini series “Laurel Avenue”. Collectors of his work include Bill Cosby, Susan Taylor, Dick Gregory and Susan Taylor.
WORKS BY LARRY ‘PONCHO’ BROWN
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Leroy Campbell
 Leroy Campbell was born in Monck’s Corner, South Carolina in 1956 and spent
his childhood there. As a young man he moved to New York City where he submerged himself in the culture of the city, Jazz and the Black consciousness
movement. He never strayed far from his southern roots, however, and it was his experiences growing up in the south that nourishes the work of this gifted
self-taught artist. Campbell’s work articulates a cogent and consistent vision of the heart, soul and strivings of African Americans in the South.
Working in mixed media of collage, pastels, charcoal and acrylic, Campbell has evolved a unique and distinctive style which features figures with exaggerated
necks and physical features. He calls them “Neckbones”. The Neckbones represent the hardworking, god-fearing, salt-of-the-earth, family-oriented folk of his southern childhood.
Campbell’s work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions in the U.S. as well as in Japan and Africa. His prints have been featured on hit television shows such as “Martin”, “Living Single”, “The
Heat of the Night” and “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. He has been awarded a number of commissions including Bacardi Rum, the Phillip Morris Corporation, Joseph E. Seagram and Lucent Technologies.
Press and media coverage include NBC’s Today show, “New Yorkers” on Japan Public Broadcasting System, and Newsweek Magazine.
WORKS BY LEROY CAMPBELL
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James Denmark
 James Denmark was born in Winter Haven, Florida on March 23, 1936 into a
family of artists. He was exposed to color and form at an early age by his grandmother, a wire sculptor and quilt artist, and by his grandfather, a bricklayer noted for his unique custom design molds.
He entered Florida Agricultural and mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida on a sports scholarship. While pursuing a Fine Arts
Degree there he came under the tutelage of the artist and acclaimed African American art historian, Dr. Samella Lewis who exposed him to the great tradition and achievements of the African American art movement.
Upon graduation from FAMU, Denmark moved to Brooklyn, New York and taught art in the public school system. In 1976 he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree at Pratt Institute of Fine Art in
Brooklyn, New York. The artist discovered a natural affinity for the medium of collage and quickly developed his own unique and easily identifiable style.
His work is consistently sought by galleries and collectors. He has had numerous solo exhibitions, including museum shows, and he is represented in prestigious collections, most notably the 20th
Century Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
James Denmark recently moved from Brooklyn, New York to live in Yemassee, South Carolina.
WORKS BY JAMES DENMARK
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Ted Ellis
 Ted Ellis grew up and was educated in New Orleans, a city known for its history,
style, and artistic exuberance. He is a self-taught artist who blends realism and impressionism in his work, much of which is inspired by childhood memories and celebrates traditional values.
He is an artist who is also deeply involved in community and causes - as an artist advocate, educator and contributor of his art to civic projects. He has been
awarded significant corporate commissions by that include Walt Disney Studios, Minute Maid Company, Coca-Cola, Phillip Morris, and Avon.
Ellis has also been featured on local and regional television programs, in magazines such as Upscale, Southern Living, and Newsweek and various newspaper articles. He currently resides in Friendswood, Texas.
WORKS BY TED ELLIS
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Maurice Evans
 The musicians in Maurice Evans’ paintings dance, twist, and sway to
the beat of the artist’s brush. “I’m a musician and I can feel what they’re doing,” says Evans, who plays the guitar. “I can put that into my art.”
Born in Smyrna, Tennessee, Evans’ art career began early. “My mom says I started doodling as soon as I could pick up a pen,” he says, “she would have to follow me around and wipe off the walls.” At the
age of fourteen Evans landed his first professional job as a freelance artist for a commercial art firm. This led to a scholarship at the Art Institute of Atlanta, where he studied fashion illustration. The
exaggerated, elongated human figure emphasized in fashion illustration became a major element of Evans’ style.
After stints in commercial art and medical illustration, Evans need for
self-expression remained unfulfilled. Encouraged by a former classmate to explore the field of fine art, Evans asked himself “what do I have to offer as an artist that is unique?” His fusion of painting
techniques, new and traditional, with his background in fashion provided an answer.
Following a commission for the official 1994 Atlanta Jazz Festival Poster, Evans debuted at the
National Black Arts Festival with his “Colour of Jazz” series. Since then, his paintings have been featured in many group and solo exhibitions, and collected throughout the southern U.S.
WORKS BY MAURICE EVANS
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Albert Fennell (1950-2002)
 Albert Fennell was born in San Diego, California. His talent was evident at about the age of five when he started drawing greatly detailed pictures of his
favorite cartoon character. As a sixth-grader a landscape painting that he did in tempera paint was selected in a district-wide competition and exhibited
in the San Diego Museum of Art. He went on to study Fine Art at the San Diego Community College and Commercial Art at the San Diego City Community College.
Following active duty in the Navy Reserve, Fennell held positions as an Art
Director and Designer, all the time working as a fine artist and developing his unique style. His work covers a variety of subject matters reveling in the
strength, beauty and diversity of his race. In a statement about his work, the artist says, "through my work, I strive to create a path of communication among all people by drawing and painting the
truth, pride, beauty and compassion I see in them everyday. I thank God for the talent given to me and for affording me the opportunity to share it”.
WORKS BY ALBERT FENNELL
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Kenneth Gatewood
 Kenneth Gatewood is a native of Los Angeles, Ca. He grew up in a large family
which nurtured his talent, taught him the value of family and community, and filled his adult years with fond childhood memories. His love for children is readily
evident in his work and in his commitment to working with children in inner city schools.
Gatewood achieved renown for “baby sports” images in which he paints various
sports superstars as he imagines they would have been as infants. His subjects have included Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana, Muhammad Ali, and
many others. He created history becoming the only artist in the world to have his artwork officially licensed by the NBA, NFL, NHL, and Major League Baseball. He has released
limited edition lithographs hand-signed by sports legends Dan Marino, Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, Keyshawn Johnson, and Cal Ripken, Jr.
WORKS BY KENNETH GATEWOOD
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Paul Goodnight
 Paul Goodnight was born in Chicago but grew up in New London, Ct., and in
Boston. As an adolescent he was always getting into trouble and art provided an outlet to express his feelings. He served in the military and did a tour of
duty in the Vietnam War. The experiences of the war had a profound effect on him and convinced him that art was not only his calling, but, once again, his
salvation. Painting gave his emotions an outlet and helped him work through some of the psychological effects of the Vietnam War.
Goodnight attended the Vesper George Art School in Boston and received a
Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1975. He credits many of the teachers at both institutions as influences on his life and art, but his greatest mentor and influence
is the colossal artist and muralist, John Biggers. He gets much of the inspiration for his paintings from places he has visited, including Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, China, Russia,
among others.
Goodnight boasts a number of commissions and awards and holds membership in professional associations such as the National Conference of Artists. His prints have been featured in films and on
television shows such as “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”, “A Different World” and “The Cosby Show”. Hiss work is in private and public collections, which include Hampton University, Howard University
and the Smithsonian Institution. He was cited in a 1988 Black Enterprise article as one of the top ten contemporary artists to watch.
WORKS BY PAUL GOODNIGHT
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April Harrison
 April Harrison’s sweetly sentimental and powerfully emotive mixed media work reveals a sophistication and agility that are at odds with her experience and
years in art. A self-taught artist who only began painting in 1991 after her mother’s death, Harrison has achieved a great measure of success and acclaim
in those relatively short years. She acknowledges her natural talent as a gift that was bestowed on her.
The artist has had a number of exhibitions which include Artisan Center,
Chesnee, SC; The Spartanburg Museum of Art, SC; Greenville County Museum of Art, SC; Pickens County Museum of Art, SC; Native Tongue Gallery, SC; Erskine University Museum,
SC, and the International Art Expo, NY. Media exposure includes PBS-TV and South Carolina’s News4 Featured Artist Spotlight. She also enjoys a significant publishing and distribution contract with a
major national art publisher for a line of best-selling fine art reproductions.
A daughter of the South, Harrison lives and works in Greenville, SC.
PRINTS BY APRIL HARRISON
ORIGINAL ART BY APRIL HARRISON
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Joseph Holston
 Joseph Holston was born in Washington, D.C. in 1944. He studied and pursued
a career in advertising art before committing himself fully to painting and printmaking. Years of self-study were augmented by study with renowned
artists Marcos Blahove and Richard Goetz. He also attended Howard University and Montgomery College in Maryland.
A critically acclaimed artist, he has exhibited widely in gallery and museum
shows which include the Washington County Museum of Fine Art in Hagerstown, Md; the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Oh; the Smithsonian
Institution’s Anacostia Museum, Washington, D. C.; the Fort Worth Museum of Fine Art, Tx. and the Afro-American Museum, Philadelphia.
His work is included in numerous museum, institution and private collections. Among these are the permanent collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Washington County Museum of Fine Art;
Butler Institute of American Art; the Yale University Art Gallery; the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design; the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Annapolis, Md; the King-Tisdell Cottage
Museum, Savannah, Ga; the Lyndon B. Johnson Library at the University of Texas.
WORKS BY JOSEPH HOLSTON
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John Holyfield
 Born and raised in West Virginia, John Holyfield was orphaned and raised by his
grandmothers. Early in childhood, his interest in art was evident. Encouraged by teachers, family, and friends, he studied art throughout school and went on to
Howard University and the University of D.C. to major in Graphic Design. John’s interest, however, switched from the graphic arts to the fine arts and
printmaking. In 1991 he submitted photos of black and white drawings that he kept in his sketch book to an art publisher to see if his work was marketable.
Two weeks later John signed a publishing deal with that company and hasn’t looked back since.
Holyfield’s work has a strong southern feel and captures the essence of African
American life. He paints with the maturity of a much older artist, particularly because he uses imagery from an era past to convey his timeless message. The
themes that dominate his work are themes of family, religion and culture. He draws on his own family, childhood memories and stories told to him by his grandmothers for inspiration and his grandmothers
have shaped his positive view, and the recurring theme in his work, of women.
Among his major stylistic influences are the artists Ernie Barnes, John Rockwell and Frederic Leighton.
WORKS BY JOHN HOLYFIELD
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George Hunt
 Memphis artist George Hunt was born in rural Louisiana, near Lake Charles, and his
grandmother noted early in life that he had a special power to "see things." He spent his childhood in Texas and Arkansas, then, on a football scholarship, he
attended the University of Arkansas where he was encouraged to study art as a career. He taught art education and coached High School football in Memphis
before devoting himself to painting full-time. He now works in a studio overlooking world-famous Beale Street.
Much of the artist’s work draws upon the Southern African-American experience,
especially the folk tradition, the civil rights movement, the mythic heroism of Black manhood and, of course, the blues.
Hunt has won a number of significant commissions. In 1996 he was commissioned to paint 24 portraits for the Blues & Legends Hall of Fame Museum in Robinsonville, Mississippi. He was selected
as the featured artist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum’s American Music Master’s annual conference in 1998 and again in 2000. In 1997 he was commissioned to create an original painting
commemorating the 40th anniversary of the "Little Rock Nine" at Central High School in Arkansas. The painting, which will ultimately hang in a museum being built to showcase this pivotal civil rights
act, was hanging for four years in a conference room in the White House in Washington, D.C.
The artist’s work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions nationally, and is part of the permanent
collections of museums as well private collectors such as Anthony Quinn and Eddie Murphy.
WORKS BY GEORGE HUNT
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Gerald Ivey
 Gerald Ivey is a native of Florida. He exhibited a deep interest in art and
exceptional talent very early in life. In elementary and high school, his teachers and schoolmates relied upon him to create graphics and promotional material like banners and bulletin boards. This encouraged him
to devote a lot of his time and energy practicing and developing his techniques.
Ivey studied at the Atlanta College of Art and has also pursued private art
studies. In addition to working full-time as an artist, he finds time to volunteer as a mentor to many of Georgia’s public school children and frequently donates scholarship funds to aspiring young artists.
Ivey favors themes that are inspirational or culturally uplifting. He has traditionally worked in a figurative mode, but is equally adept at working in an abstract mode.
The artist has won a number of awards and citations for his art and his work with young people. He lives with his family in Atlanta, GA.
WORKS BY GERALD IVEY
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John W. Jones
 John W. Jones was born in 1950 in Columbia, S.C. He began drawing early in
his childhood. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1970 and while in the military, he served in the Vietnam War and also took illustration classes in
military School. He worked as a freelance artist and illustrator for more than 20 years with a client list that include Time Life Books, IBM, Westinghouse,
Rubbermaid, NASA, Gadded Space and Flight Center, and the U.S. Postal Service.
Jones’ goal as a fine artist is to paint the African American experience
starting with the slave trade in Africa, through the Middle Passage and pre-civil war era, and contrast it with African Americans today. His most
acclaimed work was the “Confederate Currency: The Color of Money” series which investigates the importance of slavery in the economy of the South. He has painted a series on the Buffalo Soldiers and the 54th Massachusetts regiments and is currently working on two projects that focus on the
story of the historic Penn School and the Gullah people in South Carolina and African Americans in the Military.
His work is in several private and public collections including the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, the City of Charleston, and the College of Charleston.
WORKS BY JOHN W. JONES
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Kerream Jones
 Kerream Jones was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. His first interest was
illustration and he spent his younger years creating and emulating cartoon and comic book characters. His interest in painting first took hold during his first
year in high school, ispired by a very enthusiastic art instructor.
With the support and direction of his art instructor, he began to explore
various types of techniques and materials and soon recognized his great potential. He entered art contests in which he would either be first place, or a
runner up. He later entered the Art Institute of Atlanta to study graphic design. After two years at the Art Institute he transferred to American Intercontinental University in Atlanta to further his art education.
Today the youg artist has already enjoyed a great measure of success, opening his own publsihing business and marketing his work around the country at art fairs. His paintings have appeared in
publications, such as Upscale, Pepsi Black History Calendar, Decor Magazine, and Dallas News.
WORKS BY KERREAM JONES
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Shan Kelly
 Born on the Caribbean island of Nassau, Bahamas, Kelly grew up sketching
charcoal and pencil portraits. She admits to having had to overcome a fear of colors, being humbled and awe-struck by the abundance of colors in
everything around her. Her first tools were popsicle sticks and match sticks for applying paint and she used the white card in pantyhose packages as paper.
Later, when she got her first brush, she discovered the joy of watercolor painting.
Kelly’s work is magic, poetry, fantasy and realism. Her watercolors, unique in
their translucent layering of color, are marvelously complex and detailed creations that evoke the wonder, myths, rituals and everyday struggles of her
native Caribbean island. The presence of women - iron strong Caribbean women - predominate in her work. For her they represent the power of the matriarchy in cultures like
hers and she attempts to portray strength as beauty and create imagery that give voice to their perception of the world and its imaginative truth. The artist maintains vibrancy, introspection and a
deep feeling of spirituality in her work.
She pursued formal art training at the Tennessee Williams Fine Art Center in Key West, Florida. She
has had one woman shows in Florida, the Bahamas, and San Jose, California and she has participated in a number of group shows. Shan Kelly currently resides in San Jose, California.
WORKS BY SHAN KELLY
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Annie Lee
 Annie Lee was born in Gadsen, Alabama and lived for a number of years in
Chicago. She has recently resettled in Las Vegas.
Lee began painting at the age of ten, winning her first competition shortly
after. In high school she won a four-year scholarship to Northwestern University which she declined. She returned to school at the age of forty after
two marriages and two children. She did undergraduate work at Mundelein College, Chicago and the American Academy of Art, and she earned her master’s degree in Education from Loyola University. As the demand for her
work grew, she left her then current job as a railroad clerk to paint full-time.
Annie Lee’s art reflects her remarkable ability to observe life as she sees it,
combining the elements of humor, satire and realism to share those observations with her audience. Her paintings are popular throughout the U.S. and well beyond. She enjoys considerable recognition
in the Caribbean, Europe and Japan. Her work has been featured in film such as Eddie Murphy’s “Coming to America” and “Boomerang”; and on television shows including “ER”, “Hanging with Mr.
Cooper”, “A Different World”, “227” and “Amen”.
Today her work can be found in a variety of media and on a number of merchandise such as
collectibles, figurines and kitchenware.
WORKS BY ANNIE LEE
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Terry & Jerry Lynn (“Twin”)
 Terry and Jerry Lynn are identical twin brothers who paint collaboratively
under the pseudonym “Twin”. What is remarkable in their collaboration,
however, is the that they often work on a piece at the same time, seamlessly merging their styles techniques and contribution to create a fully realized work that bears no evidence of having been the work of two
artist.
The artists were born and still live in a suburb outside of Memphis, Tn.
They were encouraged and supported early on in their love of art by their parents and later attended the University of Memphis.
They acknowledge various influences on their work but a dominant one is the vibrant blues and jazz
scene of Beale Street in their native Memphis. A southern flavor flows through much of their work, yet their abstract paintings have a markedly modern and cosmopolitan flair. The twins and their work
have been featured in publications and on television and they have exhibited in galleries across the
U.S. Other credits include official artist of the 1988 Essence Music Awards in New York City, and
artist for the official poster for the 1997 Philadelphia Art Expo.
WORKS BY JERRY & TERRY LYNN
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Edwin Lester
 Edwin Lester was born in Philadelphia, PA. He is a self-taught artist who brings
a very sophisticated and technically advanced style of realism to his figurative and atmospheric paintings. His work centers on themes that are important and
personal to him: the central role of God in the union between man and woman; biblical creationism; and family and children.
For the thirty-four year old artist, art and life are one, and life and his belief in the teachings of the Bible are inseparable. He brings the joy he has found in his
religious to the act of making art. "I just love what I do”, he says in his artist statement, “and when I walk out into the world each day, there is so much to
see, so much to paint. For tomorrow is not promised. So today I will say what I can, do as I must and paint what I can even if it's just one stroke."
The popular artist has produced a successful line of best-selling limited edition and open edition prints and has exhibited at artist’s fairs and shows that include the Philadelphia Art
Expo. His work is widely collected.
WORKS BY EDWIN LESTER
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Keith Mallett
 Keith Mallett has been creating paintings for the fine art print market for over 20
years. A prolific artist, his subject matter ranges from still life to abstract. In recent years he has devoted his talents to themes that portray the love and strength that exists within the African American family.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1948, Mallett studied painting at the Arts Students
League and Hunter College in New York City, and at the Los Angeles Valley College in Los Angeles. His work has been exhibited in many countries and can be
found in corporate and private collections. His work has also been featured on a number of television shows and feature films. They include Woody Allen’s
“Celebrity”, the Showtime series “Soul Food”, and TNT’s “Second String”. His work has also graced the covers of books by the writers Maya Angelou, Terry McMillan, and others. He was honored with
a commission tp paint the official limited edition print to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breakthrough into baseball’s major league.
About his life’s work, Mallett says, “It is my desire, through my artwork to depict the positive
aspects of the African American experience. If I can show but one child the strength and beauty of her past or the bright hope of the future, then I feel I have accomplished my goal.”
WORKS BY KEITH MALLETT
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Frank Morrison
 Frank Morrison was born in Boston in 1971 and moved with his
family to New Jersey in 1980. A self-taught artist, he began his career as a pre-adolocent graffiti artist. As a member of a break-dancing crew, while touring Europe, he visited the Louvre museum
in Paris and was inspired to choose painting as a career.
His work is steeped in old world values of family, community and religion though typically rendered with mirth and high-spiritedness.
The artist feels, he says, “tremendously blessed by the gifts of talent and family”, and the artist consistently acknowledges this by registering his “Thanks to God”
with his trademark inscription “TTG” found in each of his work.
The artist, who often paints in small formats, has an enthusiastic following and has become very
popular with young collectors. Among the collectors of his work are Bill Cosby and New Orleans Senator, Gregory Tarver. Recent commissions include Essence Communication’s Music Festival Poster.
The artist and father lives in New Jersey with his family.
WORKS BY FRANK MORRISON
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Kadir Nelson
 Kadir Nelson began drawing at the age of three, displaying artistic
acumen before he could write or spell. “I have always been an artist,” Nelson explains. “It’s part of my DNA.” At age eleven, Nelson was apprenticed by his uncle Michael Morris, an artist and art instructor. “My
uncle gave me my foundation in art,” says the artist. Nelson experimented with several different media and later began painting in oils at the age of sixteen under the encouragement and tutelage of both his
uncle and high school art teacher. He began entering his paintings in art competitions and ultimately won an art scholarship to study at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Upon graduating with honors, Nelson began his
professional career as an artist, publishing his work and receiving commissions from publishers and production studios such as Dreamworks, Sports Illustrated, Coca-Cola, The New York Times and
Major League Baseball, among others. Nelson also exhibited his work in galleries and museums throughout the country and abroad including the Simon Weisenthal Center, Museum of Tolerance and
the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences in Los Angeles, The Museum of African American History in Detroit, The Smithsonian Anacostia Museum in Washington DC, The Society of Illustrators
and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, The Bristol Museum in England, The Citizen's Gallery of Yokohama, Japan and the Center for Culture of Tijuana, Mexico.
Many of his paintings can be found in the private collections of actors, professional athletes and musicians including Debbie Allen, Denzel Washington, Will and Jada Smith, Ananda Lewis, Jalen Rose,
Spike and Tonya Lee, Terry Lewis, Ray Allen, Venus Williams, Queen Latifah and Ice Cube. His paintings have also decorated the sets of television sitcoms "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "The
Jamie Foxx Show," as well as feature films "Friday,” "Set it Off" and “Beauty Shop.” Most notably,
Nelson was the "Conceptual Artist" for Steven Spielberg's feature film, "Amistad," and the Oscar nominated animated feature "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."
Among Nelson’s most recent works are the epic paintings, “The Life of Marvin Gaye,” “Marvin Gaye,” “Swizz Beatz: Ghetto Stories” and “Angel,” none of which are smaller than six feet high or wide.
Nelson has also collaborated with several notable authors on a series of picture books. Presently, ten children's books are in print including Debbie Allen's “Dancing in the Wings”, Jerdine Nolen’s Coretta
Scott King Honor Book, “Thunder Rose”, Deloris and Roslyn Jordan's best-seller “Salt in his Shoes”, “Please, Baby, Please”, by Spike and Tonya Lee and Will Smith's “Just the Two of Us”, for which
Nelson won an NAACP Image Award. Currently, Nelson is planning a tribute book about the Negro Baseball Leagues which he is both authoring and illustrating.
Although Nelson works in a variety of styles, he always retains a sense of identity and focus in his work. Nelson’s works are instantly recognizable by the emotion and strength of his varied subject
matter. “My work is all about healing and giving people a sense of hope and nobility. I want to show the strength and integrity of the human being and the human spirit.” That is exactly the feeling one
walks away with after viewing one of Nelson’s paintings--a feeling that runs all the way down to your DNA.
WORKS BY KADIR NELSON
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Charly Palmer
 Charly Palmer was born in 1960 in Fayette, Alabama and raised in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. A successful graphic designer and illustrator with his own design studio and Fortune 500 clientele, Palmer devotes much of his life to pursuing his
fine art dreams and is well on his way to establishing himself as a fine artist of note.
He remembers being fascinated by illustrations in Ezra Jack Keats’ “The Snowy
Day” around the age of five. “I could never get enough of the imagery in the book”, he says, “This planted a seed in my young heart. Keats’ works were
magical to me”. He would later realize that what appealed to him most were the random geometric shapes, the simplicity of the layered textures and patterns, along with the mix of bold colors.
Palmer has brought to his complex pictorial compositions a technique and style that is unique and readily identifiable. He has in the recent past created work under the assumed name “Carlos”, his
alter ego. This allowed him, he says, the freedom to experiment, be spontaneous, and have fun with his art. The result is a body of work that is less controlled and more abstract and primal. Constantly
evolving and growing as an artist, Palmer has over time fused the two artistic styles to the degree that he found the perfect stylistic voice with which to express himself in the powerful “Civil Rights” series.
Charly Palmer studied art and design at the American Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute, both in Chicago, and has taught design and illustration at the college level. His work is in
private and public collections which include Atlanta Life Insurance, McDonald’s Corporation, Miller Brewing Company, the Coca Cola Company and Vanderbuilt University. He has had a number of one
man shows in galleries in the United States. The artist has been the recipient of significant commisions including an official poster for the 1996 Olympics and the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. He currently lives and works in Atlanta.
PRINTS BY CHARLY PALMER
ORIGINAL ART BY CHARLY PALMER
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Henry C. Porter
 Henry Porter’s second career as a fine artist began in the late sixties after a
successful first career as a commercial artist in New York City that lasted twenty years. A native of High Point, North Carolina, he attended Morgan State
University on a football scholarship and later studied Painting at the Academy of Arts in Newark, N.J. and Graphic Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
The artist moves with equal facility between figurative and abstract modes of expression. His figurative work presents his vision of Black history, faith and
Black achievement, while his abstract creations give free reign to his imagination and his love of color and design.
Over the course of a distinguished career Porter has had a number of gallery, institution and museum shows. They include the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Harriet Tubman Museum, Macon, GA;
Kennesaw State University , Kennesaw, GA; and the Georgia State Building. He has won over two hundred awards in competitive exhibitions and executed a variety of commissions. Among his notable
commissions are an eight foot by thirty two foot abstract piece for the Knoxville World’s Fair and an eight foot mural for City Beverage Company of Atlanta.
The artist and his work have appeared in publications like Black Enterprise and US Art. His work can be found in public and private collections which include Mobil Oil, Sears Roebuck, H.J. Reynolds, Bill
and Camille Cosby, Melvin Van Peebles, the model Iman and the late Sammy Davis, Jr.
PRINTS BY HENRY C. PORTER
ORIGINAL ART BY HENRY C. PORTER
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Deborah Shedrick
 Deborah has been passionate about art since childhood. After receiving a
Master of Science degree in Psychology, she turned once more to her first love, art. Essentially a self-taught artist, she has been painting professionally
since 1986, sharpening her skill through workshops and tutelage under prominent artists.
Her work is vibrant, colorful and full of texture. Utilizing a palette knife, rollers
and assorted objects, she shapes color and builds texture in rhythmic patterns and brilliant eruptions. Stylistically she combines realism and
abstraction as she forges a unique and distinctive expression that has found tremendous resonance with her audience.
WORKS BY DEBORAH SHEDRICK
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Cedric Smith
 Cedric Smith was born in Philadelphia in 1970. He grew up in Thomaston,
Georgia, where he moved with his family when he was a young boy. He currently resides in Atlanta, Ga.
Smith is a self taught artist who while eschewing the “so-called rules of art”,
has created a personal genre of work. He draws on a wide range of influences and sources, both traditional and contemporary, and which include landscape art, pop art, brand advertising and photography to express his
poignant observations of life in the rural south. A prolific artist, Smith works with a honed discipline on his compositions, seamlessly morphing
photographic images into his richly textured pieces, applying and removing layers and lettering.
Much of his current work is devoted to redressing an observation that dogged him as a child - the
absence of Blacks in advertising and on the labels of popular brands.
Smith has had a number of solo exhibitions since 1998. They include Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta,
GA; Beverly Libby Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Thelma Harris Gallery, Oakland, CA; Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC, and AT&T, Atlanta, GA. His work has also been shown in numerous
group exhibitions. Public collections in which his work can be found include The Francis Walker Museum in Thomaston, Ga; The Tubman Museum in Macon, GA, and Morris Brown College, Atlanta, GA.
The artist and his work have been the subject of several articles, reviews and television programs.
PRINTS BY CEDRIC SMITH
ORIGINAL ART BY CEDRIC SMITH
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Phyllis Stephens
 Phyllis Stephens was born in Georgia and graduated from Boston
University. She is a respected quilt-maker who uses her art both as a reflection of who she is, and an expression of our rich cultural heritage. Although she considers the source of her talent to be god-given, her
ability to connect with her audience derives from her uncanny ability to select the right colors and fabrics and breathe life into each one of her creations.
She utilizes fabrics and textiles from across the globe as well as America. "When I think of the quintessential fabrics and textiles of the
world, I look primarily to Africa for her abundant diversity", she says, “fabrics made from indigenous materials that are spun, woven and dyed
by hand produce a wealth of creative expression. The character of the fabrics I select possess spirit, personality and passion.”
Her tapestries and story quilts have been shown in galleries throughout the United States and are widely collected.
WORKS BY PHYLLIS STEPHENS
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Monica Stewart
 From the age of 4, Monica Stewart’s parents encouraged her artistic pursuits.
While growing up in Oakland, California, this early parental patronage, as well as support throughout her school years, helped nurture her talent enough to
get a four year scholarship to the San Francisco Art Academy. She later transferred to California State University at Hayward, where she majored in
Art. One of the artists she studied under was Raymond Saunders, a very influential figure in her education.
Instead of getting her degree, she cut her studies short to become a flight
attendant, and eventually raise a son. This left no time for painting, so her talent remained dormant. Some fifteen years later in 1990, with some time off from work, she had
the freedom to get back into painting. Her renewed interest in art coincided with meeting a new friend and neighbor, best-selling novelist Terry McMillan. As Stewart recalls, “She’d come by and
we’d talk about what’s going on with her. We’re around the same age, and I saw how she was taking what was a natural gift for her and making it work. She was the first one to see my pieces and say, ‘I’ll buy that!’”
Stewart’s preferred medium is pastels, as she explains, “I love the brilliance of the colors and the way you can manipulate them.” Of her work, and the predominance of women in her paintings, she
says, “I have a good understanding of myself as a woman, so I do tend to paint a lot of women. I have a lot of girlfriends, and we talk a lot. So in my work you’ll see a lot of women interchanging,
talking, doing whatever.”
WORKS BY MONICA STEWART
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William Tolliver (1951-2000)
 In the ten years since he first came to the attention of the art establishment
until his untimely death at age 49, William Tolliver rose to meteoric heights as an artist and art entrepeneur. Tolliver was widely considered something of a
prodigy. He had no formal training, but seemed to have come into the world with a natural artistic genius, the ability to recall the past almost in
photographic details, an a discipline and determination to master his craft. His informal training started at an early age in his native Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The second child in a family of fourteen children, his mother worked in the cottonfields by day and found the energy in her spare time to rear, educate, and entertain her children. She held drawing
contests at home between herself, Tolliver, and his older brother as a way of motivating them. His brother eventually lost interest, but Tolliver’s enthusiasm only grew. He would soon be devouring
books on art from the library, studying the works of the great European masters and copying many of the elaborate works he saw in the books.
Tolliver left Mississippi when he was fourteen for Los Angeles where he joined the Job Corps. He continued his informal study of art and found a mentor at the trade school where he was studying.
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Alonzo Adams was born on Christmas Eve 1961 in Harlem, New York. He grew
up in Plainfield, New Jersey where he still lives and works. From an early age he had wanted to be an artist and in 1984 he received a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree from Rutgers University. In 1987 the artist came to the attention of Bill Cosby who recognized his talent and praised his “wholesome realism”.
Cosby offered the artist a fellowship that enabled him to pursue graduate studied and in 1991 Adams received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the university of Pennsylvania.
Anthony Armstrong was born in Sanford, Florida. He joined the United States
Navy after high school and during his 18 years service had the opportunity to travel to places like Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. He often visited museums
that housed works by many of the great masters who would become major influences on his art. 
Ernest Eugene Barnes was born on July 15, 1938 in Durham, N.C. His early
interest in art was stoked by the wealthy attorney for whom his mother worked. On the occasions when the seven-year old Barnes would accompany his mother to work, the employer talked to the youngster about art and
museums and introduced him, through books, to the works of the great masters.
Justin Bua was born in 1968 in New York City. The only child to a single mother,
the young spent most of his time in the streets and became very familiar with the characters that populated the neighborhood - characters that would later
find their way into his paintings. At age thirteen he was accepted into the High School of Music and Performing Arts on a scholarship. While he studied visual art
there, his “education” on streets continued with his involvement in graffiti-writing and breakdancing. At sixteen, Bua took time off from school to perform
with a breakdancing troupe in over a hundred shows all over the world.
Essud Fungcap was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He began painting as a child
and at the age of five was accepted to the highly regarded “Foyer des Arts Plastiques” in Haiti. He fell under the tutelage of such well-known artists as
Cedor, Nehemy Jean, Lazard, and Gourgues. He went on to attend the “Academie des Beaux Arts” in Port-au-Prince. Several years later he opened his
own studio in partnership with two renowned Haitian artists, Carol Theart and Edward Wah. In 1970, Fungcap migrated to the United States where he studied
at the SOHO Art Center in New York City and later, at the Coral Gables Museum of Art. Further studies include Visual Communication and Graphic Design at the Houston Art Institute of Texas.
Bernard Stanley Hoyes was born in Kingston, Jamaica. From the early age of nine
his mother sold his wood carvings and watercolors to visitors to the Tourist Board in Kingston to help maintain the household and support his creative efforts.