NEW YORK (PIX11) – It’s the first day of a month-long celebration of Black History in this country. There’s an art gallery in Harlem making a difference in the lives of artists of color.
The Heath Gallery is celebrating 23 years of highlighting diverse artistic voices on the first floor of a Harlem brownstone on West 120th Street, on the edge of Marcus Garvey Park.
Artist Thomas Heath and his wife Saundra cofounded this gallery in 2002 when Thomas could not get his work shown in galleries downtown.
“I was down in SoHo, and they wouldn’t open up the door,” Thomas Heath, the artist, told PIX11 News. “My wife and I decided to open up our own doors since we had a brownstone, and that was the beginning.”
“We don’t know anything about running a gallery,” Saundra Heath, Thomas’ wife and the cofounder of the gallery, told PIX11 News. “But we have walls, and we believe we can get people inside, and we can hang paintings, and that will be a gallery for my husband and others.”
Both of the Heaths’ daughters are continuing their parents’ mission.
Kai Heath founded HangNight.
“HangNight is similar to an open mic where artists can come and hang their work, and it also gives them an opportunity to speak about their work,” Kai Heath told PIX11 News.
Hollis Heath focuses on Black storytelling.
“I know that spaces like ours bring people together,” Hollis Heath told PIX11 News. “Art is so healing, and particularly black artists are the fabric of this country,” she added.
This exhibit is called Boys Don’t Cry: Growing Pains and features 11 artists of color.
Lamar Robillard created an installation called bad black blues brothers, bouncing boarded bottles beyond boundless blocks.
“I was reflecting on the playground,” Lamar Robillard, artist, told PIX11 News. “And the inclusive things you see in the playground, sometimes like a memorial of someone who passed by.”
Visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to write on the wall.
Colin Pieters, an actor, wrote: “Love art in yourself, not yourself in art,” he told PIX11 News.
The exhibit Boys Don’t Cry: Growing Pains will be open to the public until March 15th.
English (US) ·