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

By Daisha Williams

The Black Woman is God (TBWIG) opened its yearly art exhibit with a reception in downtown San Francisco on June 29.

The event featured food, music, and community, and plenty of space to admire the art on display. This year’s theme is Motherhood and the pieces exploring the ways Black mothers show up, as well as the ways they don’t, but honoring it all.

In line with the theme, mothers were encouraged to bring their children to the event, emphasizing that this space was for everyone. One of the artists, Marissa Atterberry, said, “It felt amazing to create with motherhood in mind and create something that was inclusive of myself as a whole person and inclusive of my children and then to step into a space that was inclusive of children. But for Karen Seneferu [the founder] to say ‘bring the children, honor the children,’ it felt really good.”

Seneferu, the founder of TBWIG had also ensured that the event was spiritual in nature, with attendees performing a ritual and stating intentions upon entering, and opened with a prayer and a blessing, setting up positive energy that lasted the whole evening.

Entry to The Black Woman Is God exhibit in downtown San Francisco on June 29. Photo by Daisha Williams.

TBWIG celebrates Black women and their art through this annual exhibit. The intent of these events is to show that they are moving past embattled ideologies and reclaiming the legacy of Black women artists.

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Black women have contributed so much to society, yet they are often not celebrated openly, which is why events like this, seeing them as art and artists, celebrating their beauty, grace, and influence, is so important.

The venue at 231 Grant St. was smaller than in previous years — this is the event’s second year since the pandemic — which made the environment cozy and welcoming, like a family atmosphere.

This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a good turnout though, as the room filled up within an hour after opening. Zoe Jung talked about the strong sense of community he felt as an attendee. “There was a sense of camaraderie between the musicians and the artists and even the people walking through.”

Seneferu is an artist herself. She says she hopes that she can transform the meaning of space for Black women by creating one that belongs to them.

She intentionally puts artists of different experience levels in the exhibit to show the historical legacy of Black women artists. “I just felt so deeply honored and humbled, and I have a lot of family photos in the altar that I created, and I just loved seeing people go up and see my family and hopefully see some of their own family in my family.”

The reception was a lively space. From the minute of opening, people mingled while still taking the time and space to appreciate the art.

The art, the people and the music together made for a beautiful experience.

Harpist Destiny Muhammad and violinist Tarika Lewis played duets shifting the focus and spotlight away from the walls.