#Black Art Matters

[nyc-looks]

Mae, 23

“I’m wearing a top I got in Mexico City, a scarf I thrifted as a skirt, and shoes I thrifted as well. The earrings are from a vendor at a Black Art Matterss event and the rest of the jewelry is from Harlem. My style is inspired by the 60s and 70s and West African funk artists of that time. I’m Cameroonian myself and my dad was wearing outfits you’d see on Soul Train or at the Summer of Soul during that time period but in Cameroon.”

Aug 27, 2023 ∙ Bed-Stuy

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Kadir Nelson (American, b. 1974) • New Yorker cover • February/March, 2015

Celebrated illustrator Kadir Nelson began his career as the lead conceptual artist for Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated 1997 feature, “Amistad.” His works are usually figurative paintings that focus on historical narrative and heroic subjects in American culture. Nelson’s art is often informed by the Old Masters like Henry O. Tanner and displays a realistic technique that incorporates modern urban realism and masterly works of turn-of-the-century American painters.

“ There are hundreds of artists, but my style has been heavily influenced by Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Ernie Barnes, Dean Cornwell, Charles White,”explained Nelson, 44. “I like the style, I like their technique, the emotion that comes through their work, the light and shadow, the drama, the use of color and storytelling. ”

— Kadir Nelson

[jeremyfuscaldo]

Because Craig of the Creek announced they've finished recording their final episode, I decided to share MFA sketch I made during the last year of my MFA: Craig, his friends, family and communitiy members in a Black Lives Matter March.

[eleanorcrane]

Fabiola Jean-Louis, "Rewriting History." Left, Marie Antoinette is Dead. Right, Madame Leroy.

Haitian sculptor, painter, and photographer Fabiola Jean-Louis uses various techniques to imitate classical paintings, but with black women as the subject. Her work is exceptionally intricate, involving dresses entirely made of paper (see Marie Antoinette is Dead) and hand-crafted props and backdrops.

[reasoningdaily]

Basquiat's Defacement: Racist Police Brutality and Property Damage

We're looking at the relationship between police brutality and property damage through Jean-Michel Basquiat's Defacement, a painting made to commemorate the murder, by the police, of the artist Michael Stewart. 

Basquiat and Stewart shared many things in common which made Basquiat even more sensitive to the tragedy. 

Learn more about racism, police brutality, private property through Basquiat's Defacement.

 Split a donation between 70+ community bail funds, mutual aid funds, and racial justice organizers: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bai... 

Basquiat's "Defacement": Trauma, Majesty & State Violence:

• Basquiat's "Defacement": Trauma, Maje...   "Defacement:" Ambivalence, Identity, and Black Lives Matter: 

 • "Defacement:" Ambivalence, Identity, ...  

 Jean Michel Basquiat Documentary The Radiant Child:   • Video  

[everynowndthen]

“Yoo Cute" by Brittnee Lavender

Mixed paper x conversation hearts

[sisterhoodswebtoon]

Meet Savannah Taylor, the series protagonist, hot headed and kind hearted. Not much more to say.

[wondermutt20]

"You can do anything that you want to do. You can be anything that you want to be. However, you must be determined. You must work hard. You must not let anyone define who you are and what you can do."

Gloria Long Anderson - American Chemist and Educator

[kingtwolf-fang]

Thank you to the Cincinnati Art Museum for the free horderves, and wine! Thank you for letting me use your establishment as inspiration for my own art! Thank you for always making me feel so welcomed even though lately it seems as if I live there. We are on a first name basis now I’ll be back next week! Lol now off to Music Hall for the Last Jedi orchestra concert! 🎻🎶🎵

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

How to draw Black characters. Because it's way too obvious when you drew a white person and gave them Black skin.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRg6YsKN/

-fae

[wtfforged]

my campaign hiatus has gone on for too long so to cope ive combined my interests at their maximum potency and had some dnd-strawhats thoughts

thoughts in depth under read more... :)!

this is SO self indulgent. their designs literally did not change. but i am a firm believer that dnd doesnt have to be european high fantasy. and also one piece literally IS fantasy. no changes are necessary to fit into dnd. ive already imagined plenty of campaign/oneshot ideas inspired by one piece. so this was basically just an exercise of trying to replicate their canon abilities in dnd 5e as much as possible without totally homebrewing everything. well. aside from luffy. you just cant take away or change his stretching.

LUFFY: (human monk. drunken master subclass. outlander)

the only plain human of the crew to balance out with the fact that he still has rubber powers. obviously a monk. but drunken master subclass specifically because i think the flavor(not the fact that its about being a drunkard) and abilities both fit him really well. this line in the subclass' flavortext especially fits him: "A drunken master often enjoys playing the fool to bring gladness to the despondent or to demonstrate humility to the arrogant, but when battle is joined, the drunken master can be a maddening, masterful foe."

ZORO: (tiefling fighter. samurai subclass. bounty hunter)

a fighter with the samurai subclass is so very incredibly obvious... but i actually had a lot of fun geeking out while comparing the abilities to what he can do in canon; Fighting Spirit, Rapid Strike, and Strength Before Death especially! tiefling is also pretty on the nose for his demon pirate hunter shtick and asura form, but i thought he'd be really human-passing for a tiefling and theorized about his tail getting cut off at some point or another before joining the strawhats. initially wasnt gonna give him a feat, but i gave sanji a feat so i thought itd be unfair to not give him one as well, so sentinel fits the bill pretty well i think!

NAMI: (tabaxi rogue. arcane trickster subclass. criminal)

cat burglar -> full grown literal humanoid cat. this one is INCREDIBLY self indulgent... i love... cats... theres nothing deeper to this and no other reasoning. i took cat burglar and ran with it. can you tell that i love izutsumi dungeon meshi? rogue for the aforementioned burglar-ing as well, and the arcane trickster subclass for when she picks up climatact! the mage hand will be very useful for her pickpocketing. in the future as she levels up with timeskip, i can totally see her multiclassing into wizard as well! weather wizard!

USOPP: (lightfoot halfling artificer. artillerist subclass. urchin)

I HAD SO MUCH FUN THINKING ABOUT HIS CHARACTER SHEET. halfling's Naturally Stealthy ability lets him hide behind his crewmates since theyre (almost) all bigger than him, so its perfect for hiding behind zoro or sanji all the time. Lucky is also perfect for him, and I think Brave fits pretty well too when he puts on the sogeking mask. artillerist artificer is also very fun! tinkering and making magic items for his crew, and i think Eldritch Canon or Arcane Firearm could both be easily reflavored as kabuto or any of his inventions. for emphasizing his sniper-ness, the spell sniper feat was also necessary. i think hes my favorite of all the concepts. big ears and long nose combo is so cute to me.

SANJI: (half-elf monk. drunken master subclass. guild artisan (cook!))

race was mostly based on vibes i wont lie. squints. and that vinsmoke balogna or whatever too ig. but mostly vibes. along with the idea that i think a dwarf zeff raising him would be really funny and cute. monk is also obvious, and same subclass as luffy for mostly the same reasons. though the flavor fits him much less, i think the abilities still fit him perfectly, and this blurb specifically; "Your martial arts technique mixes combat training with the precision of a dancer." i really wanted to give him a different subclass from luffy, but i dislike all the other monk subclasses a lot and i found none of them fit him as well anyways, so to try and give them SOME differences, i gave him the crusher feat.

CHOPPER: (awakened deer(shifter statblock) cleric. life subclass. hermit)

this ones definitely a mouthful im sorry. awakened deer for obvious reasons, but due to magic instead of devil fruit stuff. when i was struggling with his race, i looked a lot at shifter because of his forms, but it occurred to me that itd be super cool if he could shift between all of the different shifter options instead of being stuck with just one to replicate his rumble balls. something like heavy point/guard point=beasthide, horn point/arm point(?maybe?)=longtooth, walk point/jumping point=swiftstride, and brain point=wildhunt. hed definitely need some kind of nerf though to balance out that homebrew... and cleric for class. duh.

ROBIN: (high elf wizard. order of scribes subclass. criminal)

robin is definitely the one i struggled the most with just because of her class. elf came pretty easily- shes very elegant and i think shed look cute with super long ears- and i landed on high elf instead of wood elf for the int-based abilities. i was really on the fence between sorcerer and wizard for her because i knew shed be a full spellcaster, but i didnt feel that any of the subclasses really fit her. i ended up going with wizard for order of the scribes since it focuses on texts and knowing everything. but also because robin with a flying talking sentient book would be crazy cool. it could also be similar to how she spawns mouths and eyes places to talk to or watch people. my "fuck it, why not. this would be rad. its my house" mindset kicked in with her i will admit. also the One with the Word ability made me cackle out loud when i read it. thats the funniest ability ever. anyways, i cant really think of a way to replicate her powers, but maybe we could just reflavor a bunch of spells to be her limbs or clutch; hold person, maximillian's earthen grasp, or evard's black tentacles. thatd probably work okay, and theres a handful of spells to replicate her ability to spawn eyes or mouths. unrelated, but i imagine nico olvia to be a drow. why? her hair is white. i am a simple man!

[http-wolfstar]

Moony got a widdle flustered

[bossymarmalade]

Installation view of Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar at the Chicago Cultural Center

The exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center opens with the installation “Homegoing.” The work is a suspended image depicting a screenshot from Ma’Khia Bryant’s personal TikTok. In the photo she’s laying her edges, her jet-black hair shining, her baby face clean and free of makeup. Below the printed photo is a collection of candles, stuffed animals, and a bouquet. On April 20, 2021, Ma’Khia was killed by an Ohio police officer in what was later determined a justifiable homicide. She was 16 years old. 

In the gallery titled Rest and Recess: The Courtyard, the exhibition transports the viewer to the Caribbean where Black girls play together unburdened and hopeful. A tree, sculpted by Robert Narciso and made from branches from Rekia Boyd’s family home, sits in the center of the room casting a protective shadow over everything. From its branches hang yellow paper hearts scribed with the hopes and dreams of little Black girls. The sound of their joyful cacophony activates the space.

[ x ]

[jeremyfuscaldo]

Because of the situation surrounding Warner Bros Discovery and how it was effecting Cartoon Network Studios, I felt compelled to draw a Craig of the Creek tribute drawing to honor the staff that was working on the 5th season. Over the past year, I really wanted to work for the show because I loved it so much, but after what happened, the staff already employed is needed now more than ever. Here's hoping that everything will be alright for the Creek crew.

[eleanorcrane]

Gordon Parks, American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1942.

One of the first parodies of Grant Woods's now famous painting American Gothic, this time depicting black working-class American Ella Watson. This is the most famous piece of a photographic series focusing on Watson's life.

[everynowndthen]

“Valued” by Brittnee Lavender

www.cityandflowercollage.com

cityandflowercollage.etsy.com