The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery continues its fall
season with an exhibition highlighting works by members of The Nashville
African-American Arts Association.
"N4Art: Work by Members of the African-American Arts Association"
features paintings, mixed-media works and drawings by Noris Binet, Samuel
L. Dunson Jr., Henry L. Jones, Mary Elizabeth Townsel and Carlton F. Wilkinson.
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"Visitation," a mixed-media on paper work
by Noris Binet is part of the N4Art exhibit on display at the FIne Arts
Gallery Nov. 7-Dec. 12. The featured artists in this exhibition were chosen
by Fine Arts Gallery Curator Joseph S. Mella. |
Noris Binet is an artist, sociologist, author and founding director
of Women on the Inner Journey, a non-profit organization focused on cultural,
racial, and social healing. Born in the Dominican Republic in 1956 and
a resident of Mexico for 13 years, she moved to Nashville in 1989 where
she now works in the development of multicultural and interdisciplinary
models of building bridges between body, mind, emotion and spirit in the
individual. Binet paints in a symbolic language of color and shape, reflecting
an exploration of natural and universal forces and a human ecological vision.
Samuel L. Dunson Jr. is an artist trained in the areas of graphic design
and illustration, photography and painting. The selected work of Dunson
showcased in the N4Art exhibition ranges from depictions of day-to-day life
to his pride in his African-American heritage and strays from his earlier
tendencies toward illustrations emphasizing jazz and blues music. Dunson
has been influenced by Europe's Cubist masters (Picasso, Braque and Leger),
as well as such African-American styles as that of Impressionist Paul Goodnight,
the narrative style of Jacob Lawrence and the modern silhouette style of
Aaron Douglas.
Henry L. Jones debuted professionally in 1991 at Nashville's In the
Gallery and will return to Nashville from Chicago to once again exhibit
his translation of Abstract Expressionism. The density of medium and raw
elemental quality of Jones' art hark back to the "art brut" of
French painter Jean Dubuffet. As a self-taught artist and a writer, Jones
has achieved national acclaim and has been a recipient of numerous awards
and grants from such organizations as the Tennessee Arts Commission and
the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Mary Elizabeth Townsel began her formal training in art in 1979 in Chicago
and has continued her work as an artist, establishing membership at such
organizations as the Tennessee Art League, Visual Arts Alliance of Nashville
and Nashville African-American Artists Association. Her most recent studies
at Watkins Institute in Nashville under the tutelage of Anton Weiss and
Wattanna Watanapu, have culminated in the creation of the works included
in the N4Art exhibition. She describes her painting process as one of experimentation,
allowing the shapes, forms and media to mingle and sometimes collide to
create a visual conundrum, which she then must solve as if unraveling a
knot.
Lecturer in Fine Arts at Vanderbilt, Carlton F. Wilkinson is an artist,
teacher, entrepreneur and former president of the Nashville African-American
Arts Association. As proprietor of the Arts Works Photography/In the Gallery
in Nashville, his passion for art in all forms of media is constantly reinforced.
His photographs convey his understanding of the complex relationship between
humanity and creativity. They speak to such sensitive social issues as
race and gender, addressing spirituality and one's existence in the universe.
Wilkinson's work has been featured at the Tennessee State Museum, the National
Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, The Memphis Arts Festival and the Cheekwood
Museum of Art.
The Nashville African-American Arts Association is an organization which
centers its objective upon providing strong support to those individuals
in the African-American art community who seek such guidance.
On Saturday, Nov. 15, from 2-3:30 p.m., the participation artists will
conduct an informal gallery talk. | 
