By Tamara Shiloh

Thornton Dial, a pioneering American artist, left an indelible mark on the art world with his expressive and monumental works. Born on Sept. 10, 1928, in Emelle, Alabama, Dial’s artistic journey began in the late 1980s when he gained prominence for his assemblages of found materials, executed on a grand scale. His works encompass a wide range of subjects, from human rights to natural disasters and current events, reflecting a deep engagement with history and social issues.

Growing up in poverty on a former cotton plantation, Dial was raised by his teenage mother, Mattie Bell. It was his time spent with his second cousin, Buddy Jake Dial, a farmer and sculptor, that ignited his passion for art. Dial’s early experiences of witnessing the art created from everyday objects in people’s yards during his move to Bessemer, Alabama, fascinated him and instilled in him a deep appreciation for craft and creativity.

For many years, Dial worked as a metalworker at the Pullman Standard Plant in Bessemer, Alabama, until its closure in 1981. It was after this that he dedicated himself to his art, creating works for his own pleasure and self-expression.

He encountered Lonnie Holley, an artist who introduced Dial to Atlanta collector and art historian William Arnett. Arnett played a pivotal role in bringing Dial’s work to national prominence, along with other African American vernacular artists, through his efforts as an art historian and the founder of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.

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Dial’s work gained recognition in major cultural institutions and exhibitions, including the 2000 Whitney Biennial. His art resonated with viewers, addressing American sociopolitical issues such as war, racism, bigotry, and homelessness.

Through his assemblages, Dial incorporated a wide array of found materials, creating layered and textured compositions. His use of objects like bones, rope, and scrap metal added depth and symbolism to his works, reflecting the history and struggles of the rural South.

The tiger motif became a prominent symbol in Dial’s art, representing survival and the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Over time, Dial’s work began to be acknowledged as “first-rate, powerful Art” by critics such as Karen Wilkin of The Wall Street Journal. Dial’s unique artistic vision and his ability to merge materials into captivating and meaningful compositions led to his recognition as a contemporary artist.

Dial’s work can be found in notable collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where ten of his works were acquired in 2014. He passed away in 2016, but his legacy lives on, inspiring artists and viewers alike to explore the transformative power of art.

Thornton Dial’s contributions to the art world, his commitment to expressing social issues, and his ability to create captivating compositions from found materials cement his position as a visionary artist ahead of his time.

Source:  https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dial-thornton-1928-2016/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Dial

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By copyright Jerry Siegel – Original publication: Garden & GunImmediate source: http://gardenandgun.com/article/thornton-dial, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49514861

By Nina Sazevich

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco has recently been awarded one of 34 Museum Grants for African American History and Culture from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and was one of only two organizations to receive the full $500,000 award amount this year.

The two-year grant will support the expansion of the Museum’s acclaimed MoAD in the Classroom (MIC) educational outreach program, an arts-based, visual literacy, and cultural studies program for underserved third and fourth-grade public school students and their teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As one of the only museums in the world that exclusively celebrates the art and history of the African Diaspora, MoAD is uniquely positioned to respond to the San Francisco Unified School District’s expected 2023-2024 roll out of a newly-created and pioneering Black Studies Curriculum as well as new mandates from the California Department of Education that require classroom teachers to incorporate art into core subjects, part of an effort to use a variety of approaches to make instruction individually and culturally relevant to all students.

In the majority of school districts across the state of California, only 10% to 25% of students engage in some form of arts education, which research has shown significantly supports student academic achievement and student success toward high school graduation. Without dedicated art teachers on staff however, many educators are without the training and resources to teach the arts.

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The IMLS grant allows MoAD to rapidly create and expand high quality digital content to expand the program beyond the Museum’s local geographic area while continuing to support and serve the approximately 1,500 students and teachers currently participating each year.

These digital assets, accessed through a portal on the Museum’s website, will support teachers with extensive lesson plans, instructional videos, and virtual 360-degree exhibition tours, potentially reaching thousands of additional students in California and beyond each year.

The funding also allows the Museum to pilot an expansion to support students and teachers in grades 5-10 and extend its reach through a partnership with the San Francisco Public Library.

“Art education provides a means for self-expression, cultivates cultural pride, and unleashes the creative potential within every child,” says Demetri Broxton, senior director of education at MoAD. “Yet, students of color in lower-income neighborhoods have the least access to it. MoAD in the Classroom and the grant from IMLS addresses this disparity, ensuring that the arts flourish as an integral part of education, enabling every student to thrive and help shape a brighter future for all.”

“IMLS is proud to support museums and cultural organizations doing important work to increase access to the stories of inspiring people, events, and experiences, at the center of African American history,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. “Our Museum Grants for African American History and Culture demonstrate the commitment to preservation and promoting education of the rich cultural heritage across this country.”

Nina Sazevich is the media relations director for MoAD.

MoAD’s most recent Emerging Artists Program exhibition is now up through Aug. 20 and features the work of Oakland-based artist Nimah Gobir.

Titled “Holding Space,” the solo exhibition unveils a collection of intimate paintings that consider home, interiority, and belonging in the context of diasporic narratives. Through depictions of her family members and loved ones in everyday situations, “Holding Space” pauses for a poetic reflection on placemaking. ‍

Embroidery, pattern, and textile motifs convey the layered expressive textures inherent to family homes. This exhibition is a meditation on how homes are places that hold secrets, histories, and vestiges of loved ones.

The artist’s eloquent statement about the exhibition and specific works is below my signature on this email so you can read more from her directly.

Gobir, born in Los Angeles, California in 1993, is the daughter of two Nigerian immigrants. Raised by a single mother and a textbook middle child, she creates art that explores her identity as a Black woman.

Through paintings and installations, her work teases out both the nuances and shared experiences of being Black. Gobir has mounted recent solo exhibitions at MoAD and The Growlery, San Francisco; Johansson Projects, FM Oakland in Oakland and the Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, California.

She has been included in group exhibitions at Root Division and SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco.

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Gobir completed her BFA in Studio Art and her BA in Peace Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, and earned her MEd from Harvard Graduate School of Education with a focus on Arts in Education. She lives and works in Oakland, California.

On Saturday, July 15, Gobir will be in conversation with Kija Lucas for an in-person artist talk at MoAD from 3-4:30 pm. More about that event at: https://www.moadsf.org/event/artist-talk-eap-presents-nimah-gobir-in-conversation-with-kija-lucas

A portion of Gobir’s artist statement is below:

“Holding Space” unveils a suite of paintings featuring figurative portraits, embroidery, and textiles. These works uplift home and belonging in the context of immigrant narratives. Displaying a range of small- and large-scale works, this exhibition highlights paintings of my family, including me, my siblings, relatives, and Nigerian-born parents. As a result, the work is autobiographical in nature, drawing from my history as well as memories from those I hold dear.

“Through depictions of my family members and loved ones in everyday situations, I humanize the Black experience and pay homage to Black families. This body of work examines how generations of family members have immigrated to create homes where they have settled, and how my relations, while scattered across the world far from their origins, carry the stories of those who came before them.

“In this exhibition, I invite viewers to grapple with the intimacy of being in someone’s home and entering a space that holds the residue of a family’s presence and everyday habits. The clutter, mix-matched patterns, and textures that make up a home are on display in paintings that show interior spaces.

A couple of images of work on the exhibition page at:

https://www.moadsf.org/exhibitions/holding-space-by-nimah-gobir

Source from MoAD’s media relations office