Black Beyond Belonging is a multi-space group art exhibition exploring the power of Black Art as a transformative agent in academic spaces. Last year, digital NFTs (non-fungible tokens) exploded onto the current art market with the $69.3 million auction of the artist, Beeple’s Everyday: The First 5000 Days at Christie’s. As a result, the art world has been abuzz with the NFTs potential to revolutionize the digital art and commerce landscape (NFTs are non-interchangeable, and are registered on a decentralized blockchain.)

Students affiliated with Cal Poly’s Black Academic Excellence Center (BAEC) are among the vanguard of academic visionaries who believe that this digital form of cultural production can be a dynamic catalyst for change, access, and inclusion.  description

Black Beyond Belonging
On view: February 17 - June 30 2022
Black Academic Excellence Center (BAEC) and the Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Reproductions on metal of each artist’s work will be on display.  As part of our mission and commitment to elevating blackness and Black imagery on campus, each artist’s contribution will permanently reside on campus as a gift to BAEC.

In each presentation, the art will illuminate Black cultural narratives derived from social spaces where compassion and humankind are being overshadowed by systemic racial paradigms that lend themselves to precarious societal imbalances.  On Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s campus for instance, there are 22,000 students with only 189 Black students. 

The exhibition is a call-to-action in response to the question posed by BAEC Lead Coordinator Anya Booker, who asks, “How far does a Black student on this campus have to walk to see representations of themselves?”  Black Beyond Belonging is an invitation, or offering for all students to appreciate and connect with the aesthetics of blackness from a creative lens. The exhibition also serves as a nascent way to elicit a collective interest in Black artists working in the NFT space, (where race is tertiary to creativity and communion) while propelling a deeper dialogue between the students on Cal Poly’s campus.

Black Beyond Belonging
Opening night June 3, 6-9pm. 
On view: June 3 - June 26, 2022

Milk Room
982 Monterey Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Digital works exhibition and NFT sale of selected works will open at Milk Room A Black co-owned luxury vintage streetwear and art boutique in the heart of downtown SLO. 

April Banks is an artist, educated as an architect with a creative career that straddles visual art, social practice and exhibition design. Her art practice sits intentionally between image, space, and experiences. April’s recent work time travels through historical archives and memories, questioning what we think we know of the past and how it informs our cultural positioning systems. She is interested in amplifying lesser known stories, challenging the gaze, and giving narrative to the erased and intentionally forgotten.

Chelle Barbour is a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist best recognized for her diverse Afro-Futurist and Afro-Surrealist collages. Barbour's mixed media work explores the notion of beauty, resilience, and examines the Black female as an interlocutor and cipher (one who holds the codes. Influenced by Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, Barbour’s characters cast a broad net in their interpretation. From vibrant chameleons, goddesses, and agent provocateurs to commanding warriors and impassive spies, Barbour’s compelling collage portraiture conveys allegory, conviction, fantasy, femininity, and all that is inherently complex in the black global imaginary.

Chantal Barlow is an interdisciplinary artist working in Los Angeles. She has been a working artist for over ten years, beginning her practice in abstract painting and since expanding to comprise several mediums including drawing, sound, sculpture, photography, and installations. In 2014, Barlow concurrently began developing a project focused practice, which is conceptual in nature and the catalyst for her interdisciplinary shift. In all mediums, she focuses on labor as the operator that activates her work as she considers her position to material, audience and subject matter.

Sharon Louise Barnes is an interdisciplinary visual artist who explores the possibilities for abstraction to serve as both an expressive and communicative medium. Barnes’ haptic paintings, sculptures and installations investigate a broad range of cut, collaged, and assembled processes that evoke fracture, reparation, and resilience against the backdrop of race, gender, and power in America.

Anya Booker is the former lead coordinator for the Black Academic Excellence Center at Cal Poly. She conceived and developed the concept for Black Beyond Belonging. She has devoted her life to the excellence and growth of black students in higher education.

Aise Born [''Ace-born''] developed as an illustrator, graffiti writer, and fine painter in Los Angeles. His work defies physical boundaries, illuminating the essence of One. Known for his murals, Aise creates geometric illusions that propagate at rhythms intrinsic to nature. His circular framework replicates the ingenuity of world symbols such as the Adinkranhene, Mandala, Flower-of-Life, Dream Catcher, etc.

Andreas Branch currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. He specializes in portraiture and documentary photography. He holds a B.A. in Photojournalism from Norfolk State University. Andreas has shot for Vanity Fair, Sony Entertainment, Prada, Chanel, Attain Design, Variety Magazine, Haute Living Magazine, Oprah Winfrey Network, 4WT Media, NETFLIX, REX Features and Shutterstock Entertainment among others.When he’s not shooting you can find him likely playing guitar, browsing at vintage shops for cool finds or headed somewhere on a California highway blasting Van Halen and avoiding the highway patrol.

Charles Dickson’s obsession with finding the truth of a form has been documented in his 50 year homage to the African American Woman. His work with Black Nudes was the precursor for a much larger artistic dialogue on the politics of beauty and how the consequences of slavery reverberated in contemporary society. His work has been commissioned for public installations too numerous to name, including The Martin Luther King Memorial Pulpit, Manifestation of the Soaring Spirit for Los Angeles Metro (A complete metro station stop), and Wishing On A Star metal sculpture for The California African American Museum.

Maurice Evans’ creative focus was first realized through the lens of music. Born in Smyrna, TN. His mother, a teacher, supported and reinforced his creative ability by allowing him to help design her classroom bulletin boards each year. In 1986, he was accepted to the Art Institute of Atlanta where he studied Fashion Illustration to intentionally advance his painting and drawing skills.

Dr. Samela Lewis was an American visual artist and art historian. She was the first female African American to earn a doctorate in fine art and art history. She was a prolific artist, educator, writer, and a pioneer in critically writing about African American art and artists. Among her many accomplishments are the creation of numerous inclusive art spaces including the Museum of African American Art, the publication of scholarly books and journals on Black art, and of course her amazing body of work.

When you look at the art of Tamara Madden, you see the synthesis of expression informed by her love for her Jamaican homeland. This Jamaican heritage was a source of inspiration throughout her work. Simply stated, Tamara's work is about being human. The integrity and dignity of the everyday man and woman elevated to icons and heroes, which express their spirit, force of the strength and determination that is evident in the life of us all.

Michael Massenburg was born in the city of San Diego and raised in Los Angeles, California. Michael pursued his studies at California State University, Long Beach and Otis School of Art and Design. Massenburg has exhibited in galleries and museums, completed private commissions and worked on public art projects throughout the country and abroad.

Rosalind McGary has been a working artist for over 25 years. In addition to painting and drawing, she is dedicated to creating opportunities for artist engagement in our communities. She is Founder of Los Angeles based Sēpia Artist Collective, through which she has produced ICONIC: Black Panther, which is a multi city series of exhibitions interpreting 50+ years of the Black Panther Party. Rosalind is creative director of The Compton Arts Project, which produces a series of workshops, panels and events highlighting Compton’s impact on art and culture, and explores the arts as a tool for healing and community development. She is co-founder of Cakecutter Institute, a non profit that centers the stories and practice of artists of color.

Rosalyn Myles: Using various forms of artistic expression, my work explores social, ethical and political issues originating in the discourse of modern American culture. Uncovering underserved concerns that plague women, excluded communities and the disenfranchised, I use traces of history, found materials, film , fabric, wood ,paint ,line and language to effectively tell stories that inform these narratives. Discarded objects from the past become modern sculptures. Historical residue weaves images and textures that tell complex stories that hopefully inspire thought in the viewer.

Charly Palmer was born in 1960 in Fayette, Alabama and raised in Milwaukee. He relocated to Chicago to study Art and Design at the American Academy of Art and School of the Art Institute. As a graphic designer and illustrator, he has run a successful design studio with a Fortune 500 clientele. As an instructor, he teaches design and illustration and painting at the post-secondary level—most recently—Spelman College. Currently, Palmer devotes his life to his creative goals and has established himself as a fine artist of note.

Miles Regis: My artistic goal is to continue to serve the community as an artist and activist. As a socially conscious artist, I believe it is important to serve the community by creating a body of work that addresses subject matter that is relevant to the marginalized, with poignant messages that are positive and encourage conversations based on love, unity and healing. I continually strive for artistic excellence with the creation of innovative and interactive artwork.

Kayla Salisbury’s work introduces a dance between conceptual art, scattered but intricate line work, lively realism portraits and folk art style caricatures based on and inspired by stories, themes, conversations, neighborhood icons, culture, words and painted figures found in the heart of South Central. With a B.F.A in Illustration with a minor in Social Impact Design from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and a MAED in Art from University of Phoenix, Kayla uses her community work, adoration of Black culture and experience and time teaching in the classroom, fused with studying the stories of the locals, highlighting issues and necessary social conversations in every aspect of her artwork.

Michon Sanders is a contemporary fine artist based in Oakland, California with a primary focus in figurative oil painting. She makes work surrounding themes of blackness, joy, and community with an emphasis on the often ignored humanity of black people.

Shannon Scates was born in Washington, D.C., in 1986, and raised in Prince George’s (P.G.) County, MD. She has always found the ability to create something new and very magical. In addition to being a creative inspiration, Shannon’s family culture also provided the foundation for the artist she has become.

Anna B Scott: With a doctorate in Performance Studies from Northwestern and extensive training in traditional, collaborative performance from the African Diaspora, Anna Beatrice Scott practices performance at the intersection of dance, digital devices and text, on stages, in blogs, books and through strategic marketing plans. She has been fortunate to collaborate with Jessica Emmanuel, Wilfried Souly, Thomas DeFrantz, Pat Payne, Ulysses Jenkins, Sheron Wray, Meg Wolfe, Najité, Brian Getnik, and Ritsu Katsumata on an array of performance work.

Jamaal Hasef Tolbert’s work introduces viewers to a world of conceptual art often avoided by society. He earned his B.A. in Sociology & Art California State University, Bakersfield, completed his certification in Art & Marketing from Sotheby’s in London, and continued his studies at Claremont Graduate University where he received his MFA in Studio Art.

Lead Curator: Chelle Barbour | Los Angeles
Curatorial Consultant: Mark Dabney | New York
Student Curator: Chineme Maduno | San Luis Obispo
Produced by: Rosalind McGary for Sēpia Collective, an artist collective based in Compton, CA
In partnership with: Anya Booker, Lead Coordinator of BAEC and Catherine Trujillo, Curator, Creative Works, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo