Celebrating Black History Month
Black History Month celebrates the central role African Americans play in the fabric and culture of the United States. Honor the occasion by discovering three artists who are making some of the most exciting art today.
Sean Qualls
Sean Qualls is an award-winning, Brooklyn-based children’s book illustrator, author, and artist. He attended the Pratt Institute for a year and a half, then continued to educate himself while working full-time at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. In addition to his fine art painting, he has illustrated a number of highly acclaimed books for children. In his fine artworks, he often paints acrylic and tempera over old newsprint, and uses pencil to fill in details. Sean’s books and illustrations explore history and non-fiction subjects to reveal humanistic and universal experiences. Sean has exhibited his work at The Other Art Fair Brooklyn, The Original Art show at the Society of Illustrators in New York City, and the Facing Humanity show at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Barry Johnson
Seattle-based multimedia artist Barry Johnson graduated from Emporia State University in Kansas with a degree in Business Marketing. After working with the American Red Cross and within the tech industry, he decided to become a full-time artist. His work is spread across several mediums, including portraits, photography, installations, sculpture, and performance art. Barry paints purely with house paint and often incorporates 3D objects such as shards of a broken mirror and duct tape to add more grit, tactility, and personality to his work. He has shown works at the Seattle Art Fair, the Venice Experimental Video and Performance Art Festival in Italy, and has public works at the Museum of Flight and Pioneer Square Station in Seattle, Washington.
Ashley Buttercup
Based in Brooklyn, painter Ashley Buttercup makes a career out of studying textures and movement. She focuses on the relationships between unconsciousness, expression, and motion by allowing her brush strokes to be guided by music. She creates emotive abstract paintings using dense paint strokes and a textured surface. In her Warrior Queen Series, she builds up collages using clippings from popular magazines and newspapers. She received her BFA from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Studio Art and Graphic Design. Ashley has exhibited her works at The Other Art Fair Brooklyn, the Philly Art Collective in Pennsylvania, and the Brooklyn Art Cafe in New York.