Former NFL Football linebacker Keith Rivers has put down his helmet and taken up the mantle of art curator. A collector since 2010, Rivers recently curated a show at the New York Flag Art Foundation Chelsea Arts Tower, open now through June 4th, titled Courage Before Expectation. " This exhibition is an extension of my interest in having conversations with artists, and sharing, through my eyes and theirs, how talent, perseverance, and trusting the process will get you where

Oregon has a fraught history as it relates to Black Americans. Known today as America’s whitest city with a white population of 72.2%, and Blacks making up only 6.3% of the population, the state of Oregon, upon entering the union in 1859, explicitly forbade Black people from living within its borders. Decimating small Black communities has been a repeated refrain in Portland, with so-called Urban Renewal projects (we know them as Urban Removal), and today, a drive through the

Owning the narrative of Black history can be a complex struggle. The threat of erasure always looms large, as ownership and documentation have largely been outside of Black control. That script is being re-written as two archival projects are underway to secure our history, particularly that of Black creatives. In the annals of Black history, Baltimore, Maryland holds a high place. Both Frederick Douglas and Thurgood Marshall hailed from Baltimore. It is the birthplace of jaz

Francis Kéré's inspiration for architecture began at home. Growing up in Burkina Faso, his village of Gando had no school and so he found himself leaving home at seven years old to seek out an education. He initially studied carpentry and then went on to study architecture at the Technical University of Berlin, always with the dream of returning to Gando to build a school. In 2001 his dreams were realized when Kéré designed, raised funds for, and subsequently built Gando Pri

ACES returns in April! The Artists of Color Expo & Symposium (ACES) is a BIPOC-led, community-curated program featuring art exhibits , live performances , presentations , workshops , film screenings , artist talks , and artist opportunity tables . The event offers space to come together with intentionality to value each other's work and see one another as resources while focusing on the challenges and solutions artists of color face in the Pacific Northwest. The 2022 line-up

Unprecedented for her time, in the late 1800s, Edmonia Lewis was the first sculptor of African American and Native American descent to achieve recognition both at home and abroad. Born to a Haitian father and Chippewa mother, Edmonia was orphaned at a young age and spent her childhood living with her mother's tribe. In her early twenties, she made her way to Massachusetts and came to meet the renowned sculptor Edward Brackett, with whom she eventually began studying sculptur

Opens at the Mississippi Museum of Art on April 9th Being of African descent and descendants of stolen Africans, the quest to find ‘home’ is often a lifelong journey. A more attainable journey, however, is one that grants us the opportunity to trace our family’s migration within the continental United States. What is known as The Great Migration occurred in two phases between the 1910s and the 1970s and saw approximately six million Black people move from the American South

This month, the spotlight is on the Black Future Co-op Fund and their support of Black-woman-led organizations throughout Washington state that are serving their communities through arts, culture, restorative healing, educational innovation, policy development, and more. ARTE NOIR is pleased to announce that we are among the 21 recent grant recipients. The latest round of We See You grants was created by the Fund in celebration of Black-woman-led organizations and in acknow

The son of Ghanaian immigrants, Virgil Abloh was a trailblazing artist, architect, engineer, designer, DJ, husband, and father, as well as Louis Vuitton Men's Artistic Director, up until his untimely passing at the age of 41 in November 2021. He continued to work even while privately battling an aggressive form of cancer, including taking on a project to design Nike Air Force 1s for Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer 2022 collection. The design was also in celebration of the icon

If you have not yet seen the first season of the Netflix series Made By Design , it’s not too late. The series shines a light on thirteen architects and designers who live and work in Nigeria. The 13-part series was created and co-produced by Design Week Lagos founder Titi Ogufere and co-produced by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Abiola Matesun. Lagos has long held a prominent place in creativity among African countries including the fame of being home to the Kalakuta Republi

Fate and destiny have a means of beautifully colliding in ways that can make one’s head spin. As this publication is the result of years-long contemplation, the fate of having this come to fruition, is as majestic as the destiny that is resulting in a dream space to bring physical resonance to our goal of spotlighting Black art and culture! Our vision for a physical space at Midtown, in the heart of Seattle’s historic Black community, draws near fruition and is set for openin

Profile of Harlem Arts Salon founders Margaret Porter Troupe and Quincy Troup

Tedde Gibson, the Mighty Wurlitzer Organist

“Once I found myself on the other side of the ocean, I could see where I came from very clear…You can never escape that. I am the grandson of a slave, and I am a writer. I must deal with both.” - James Baldwin Thanks to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, their Chez Baldwin virtual exhibit allows a deeper glimpse into James Baldwin, the person. The exhibit is an exploration of Baldwin’s life and works through the lens of his house in St

In 1959, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry became the first African American woman to have a Broadway production of her work. A Raisin in the Sun, named for a line in the Langston Hughes poem Harlem , debuted on Broadway in 1959, just six years before her death in 1965 at the age of 34. An artist/activist, Hansberry’s life and body of work served as the inspiration for The Hansberry Project, a professional Black theatre company dedicated to the artistic exploration of African Americ

Attention is being given to Black visual artists more than ever before in the midst of the current social justice movement. But as many of us already know, Black artists have been using their work to portray experiences of the African diaspora, to critique colonialism, and to celebrate Black culture long before the movement started. Beginning in the late 19th century and moving into modern day, Artland takes readers on a brief journey through "some of the most powerful and m

Fate and destiny have a means of beautifully colliding in ways that can make one’s head spin. As this publication is the result of years-long contemplation, the fate of having this come to fruition, is as majestic as the destiny that is resulting in a dream space to bring physical resonance to our goal of spotlighting Black art and culture! Our vision for a physical space at Midtown, in the heart of Seattle’s historic Black community, draws near fruition and is set for openin

Profile of Harlem Arts Salon founders Margaret Porter Troupe and Quincy Troup

Tedde Gibson, the Mighty Wurlitzer Organist

“Once I found myself on the other side of the ocean, I could see where I came from very clear…You can never escape that. I am the grandson of a slave, and I am a writer. I must deal with both.” - James Baldwin Thanks to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, their Chez Baldwin virtual exhibit allows a deeper glimpse into James Baldwin, the person. The exhibit is an exploration of Baldwin’s life and works through the lens of his house in St