The Other Room  Curated by Robert Powell, Independent Art Contractor and Artist of St. Louis, MO

Curator’s statement:

I am pleased to be at the Quincy Art Center and to present “The Other Room”, the art of artist that mainstream publications have often overlooked. Throughout my thirty-one years of presenting art in an effort to foster a greater awareness of art created by African American artist, I have asked exhibit viewers to name five nationally known African American visual artist, living or dead that are as common as Picasso, Warhol, Dali, Koon and Monet. Most cannot!

“The Other Room” features artists that I believe you should know and collect. They have all received national and in some cases, international recognition. African American art is “The New Frontiers” of 21st century art and beyond, that will showcase the art that comes from a people seeking to tell their stories and share memories of their journey through this time and space. Presented for your viewing pleasure and purchase, I present Stanwyck Cromwell, Anthony High, Ed Johnetta Miller, Dean Mitchell, Lonnie Powell, and Sandra Smith! Enjoy!

Cover photo: Allegories of Time by Stanwyck E. Cromwell

This exhibit will be on display at the Quincy Art Center & online at quincyartcenter.org from May 21 – July 23, 2021. Public Hours will be 9 AM – 4 Pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is subject to change based on Coivd-19 Guidelines from local and state agencies.

The health and safety of our community is a priority. The Art Center is following Restore Illinois Guidelines and requires all visitors to adhere to current guidelines when in the Art Center building. Masks are available for those without face coverings. Call us to schedule a free private exhibit viewing. Private viewing is available to everyone and specially created for those that are autoimmune compromised.

Generous sponsorship for Spring 2021 Exhibitions and Educational Programs is provided by Quincy Medical Group, Ameren Illinois, Arts Quincy, Bo & Erin Knapheide, Fatbacks BBQ, For Home & Her, Mark Twain Casino, Jim, Ann, & Avery Titus, Signe Oakley, Laura & Mandar Dighe, Susan & John Kissick, Moore’s Floors, Steve & Judy Siebers, Rebecca Butler, Bruce & Lori Kruse, Darlene Stevenson, Tim & Karen Sedovic, Jeff McClean, Earl Bricker, Josh & Tieraney Craig 

Grant support was provided by Tracy Family Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Gardner Denver Education Fund through the Community Foundation, The Michelmann Foundation, Quincy Noon Kiwanis, Gem City Breakfast Kiwanis, and Adams Electric Cooperative Penny Power Ameren Illinois

Artist Bios/Artist Statements:

Stanwyck E. Cromwell is a Guyanese-born, second generation visual artist and a retired Adjunct Art professor, who has spent the vast majority of his adult life in the United States of America and currently resides in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Despite his lengthy absence from his country of origin, his memories of Guyana are rich and abundant. He uses a rich colorful palette, that is reminiscent of his cultural identity. The mixtures of cultures in American society, have played a very important role in his ability to create art that speaks to not only to the eyes, but most important, the soul. Stanwyck is a current member of some visual arts organizations, including, WEUS1 Artists Collective, Harlem, NY, Black Dimensions in Art, Inc., Albany, NY and others.
Stanwyck is constantly exploring new artistic horizons, in search of knowledge and innovation. He is comfortable with almost any medium and frequently fuses paintings of his drawings and drawings of his paintings. This practice allows him to direct his creative energy in various directions, as opposed to focusing on one particular piece of art. In so doing he has devised ways and means of manipulating certain mediums based on their applications and drying time. His art is visually and spiritually stimulating and can be viewed on his website: www.stancromwell.com

Anthony High is a Kansas City native, international artist, and educator. High received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Arts Education from Lincoln University and a Studio Art Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). He also teaches at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. High taught art education for the Kansas City Missouri School District for 29 years and is an adjunct professor at UMKC and the Metropolitan Community Colleges of Kansas City

Ed Johnetta Miller is an author, fiber artist, quilter, teacher, independent curator, former Arts Management Envoy from the US to Cote D’Ivoire, Ivory Coast. Widely exhibited in the US and internationally, her quilts can be found in numerous important museums, corporate and private collections such as the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., The Contemporary Quilt Museum, Golden Colorado, The Wadsworth Museum of Art, Harford, Ct., Nelson Mandela’s National Museum, Cape Town, South Africa, Safeco Corporation, Johnson and Johnson Corporation, Hartford Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, Michigan State University, Yale New Haven Children‘s Hospital, US Embassy in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa, US Embassy, Chad, Central Africa. In 2019, she was commissioned by The West Hartford Art League/Roberts Foundation to design several large quilts for a mural project on the grounds of the Art League. The Sunday New York Times featured Ed Johnetta in the Best of the Best series and she has received many awards for her role as an artist, teacher, community leader, including Connecticut’s most prestigious artistic award, The Governor’s Art Award. Ed Johnetta has been featured on HGTV, Home and Garden Station’s Simply Quilts, Modern Master’s Holiday Show, Debbie Allen’s series, “Cool Women” – Ordinary Women, Doing Extraordinary Things, award-winning documentary – Visionaries, WGBH-Boston; and her art can found in many books, magazines throughout the world.

Dean L. Mitchell was born 1957, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and reared in Quincy, Florida. He is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio. Mitchell is well known for his figurative works, landscapes and still life’s. In addition to watercolors, he is accomplished in other mediums, including egg temperas, oils and pastels.
Mitchell has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, American Artist, Artist Magazine, Fine Art International and Art News.  His art can be found in corporate and museum collections across the country, including: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi; Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, Kansas; The Autry National Center, Los Angeles; The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas; Gadsden Art Center Quincy, Florida; Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio and the Library of Congress.  He has received the American Watercolor Society Gold Medal, Allied Artist of American Gold Medal in Watercolor and Oil, Thomas Moran Award from the Salmagundi Club in New York, Remington Professional League, and for three years in a row the Best in Show Award from the Mississippi Watercolor Society Grand National Competition. In 2004 and 2007, he received the Autry National Center Award for Watercolor at the Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and sale. Mitchell is a member of several professional societies, including the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.

Lonnie Powell is a graduate of Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri where he was privileged to
study under the guidance of the late James Dallas Parks whose influence spread well beyond the sphere of art. Powell’s occupations have ranged from dishwasher at the Villa Capri Restaurant to Xerox Executive Sales Representative, but the vast majority of his career was as an art teacher in the Kansas City, Missouri School District. Though he is not presently a member, Powell is a charter board member and a past board president of The Black Archives of Mid-America and a co-founder of Euphrates Gallery. He is a past president of the Friends of Bruce R. Watkins Culture Heritage Center. Powell is the founder and past president of The Light in the Other Room, a collaborative of African-American Kansas City-based artists. Powell has shown in and around his beloved city of Kansas City, Missouri in many venues including solo and group exhibits at Ethnic Art Gallery, The Central Exchange, Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and Museum, American Jazz Museum’s Changing Gallery, The Vine Street Studio, The 18th
Street Studio, The Review Studios and many others. He has exhibited at a number of area colleges and universities including Park University, Parkville, Missouri, Western Missouri University, St. Joseph, Missouri, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri where he spent a year (1969-1970) as artist in residence, The University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri, Avila College, Kansas City, Missouri, William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, and Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas. Powell has had art accepted in competitions at The Portfolio Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri, The Atlanta Life Insurance Company’s African-American National Art Competition and Exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia, The Black Arts Festival, Dayton, Ohio, The Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City, Missouri, The National Watercolor Society, Brea, California, and The St. Louis Art Fair, Clayton, Missouri. Powell’s art is in numerous private collections as well as corporate and museum collections including: Sprint Corporation, H & R Block Corporation, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Fishnet Corporation, Andrews/McMeel Universal, Sports Association Management, Inc., Truman Medical Center, Kansas City Chiefs Arrowhead Art Collection, The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, American Jazz Museum, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and Mulvane Art Museum. He has art in The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s traveling exhibition, Shades of Greatness, which
toured galleries and museums across the country. Powell is a Signature Member of The National Watercolor Society and his award-winning watercolor, South Sun, toured the country in 2006 with The National Watercolor Society’s 85th Annual Traveling Exhibition. Lonnie Powell was named one of the “Ones to Watch” by Watercolor Magic Magazine in the December 2006 issue. In December of 2007, Powell traveled with members of Change the Truth to Kajjansi, Uganda to give a series of art workshops for children of St. Mary Kevin’s Orphanage. Powell won “Best of Show” in Harlem X-Hibit on Black Art in America in October 2013.
Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II and his wife, Dianne Cleaver, honored Powell with a Congressional Record Statement for his artistic contributions to the community and country in April of 2015. In February 2016, Powell was the recipient of the Portrait of a Black Man award presented during the Annual Black Men and Women of Distinction Award ceremony hosted by the Friends of Yates, Inc. The award is given to celebrate the accomplishments of an influential African American male community leader.

Sandra Smith Statement: 
My interest in sewing started when I was a child. I made clothes for my Barbie doll and then for myself. I made my first quilt in the early ‘80s. After I made quilts for everyone in the family, my work transitioned from being functional to being decorative. These days all my quilts are art quilt wall hangings. Every piece is unique. Sometimes I use the same fabrics in more than one quilt but none of my quilts are alike. My favorite techniques include working with fabric to create transparencies and designing without templates. The variety keeps the opposite sides of my brain busy and that helps to keep life balanced. One is very detailed and requires a lot of concentration while the other just happens. I use quilting as an escape from my daily routines even though it has become part of my everyday life. If I’m not making a quilt, teaching someone else, or lecturing about quilt making, I’m creating new designs.
http://www.sandrasmithquilts.com/