Black Artists Exhibition

Semenia Black

Semenia Black (they/she) is a multidisciplinary artist, abolitionist, and sister of the yam. Their visionary works have centered on aberrant narratives of recovery, inspired by the hauntings of the soul. They are currently working on the Virgin Mary (VM) collection: sites of remembrance, reclamation, and rebirth; a collection of multimedia works that explore the splinters of assault and survivorship. A descendant of African people, Semenia, is a multiethnic, queer, fem-fluid person first named Necashaw on the Gabrielino/Tongva ancestral lands called Long Beach, CA and currently resides on unceded lands of the Coast Salish people, the spuyalepabš (Puyallup), called Tacoma, WA.

Sandra Bocas

Sandra Bocas is from Trinidad and Tobago but has lived in the PNW over a decade, calling it her home. Sandra has always been fascinated by the character behind the mask, which is revealed in her startling array of portraits. Self-taught, but guided by some considerable mentors: Bosco Holder (Trinidad), Patrick Betaudier (Paris), Andy Warhol (The Factory) and more recently Rafael Calzada (Mexico), Sandra’s style could be described as a blend of emotion and soul expressionism. Indeed the memories of the light and colors of Trinidad and Tobago, her mother’s birth place, can be seen as THE influence in her play with color.

Jasmine Iona Brown

Jasmine Iona Brown was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and traveled to five continents before moving to Washington and settling in Tacoma. She earned her B.F.A. in Design at Howard University and her M.A. in International Studies from UCLA. Brown was the recipient of a 2011 & 2017 Puffin Foundation Grant and an Artist Trust GAP Award.

In 2017, she also expanded her studio practice into public art. She has shown her temporary public art installation “Black Teen Wearing Hoodie” photo mural series in various locations in Seattle and Tacoma, including Photo Center Northwest, Africatown, Pratt Art Center, Frye Museum of Art, and Amazon headquarters. Her work is in the collections of the Wing Luke Museum, the Trayvon Martin Foundation, and the portable art collections of both Seattle and Tacoma.

Her first permanent bronze sculpture was unveiled at Tacoma’s Eastside Community Center in fall of 2021. Her upcoming installations include permanent public art projects for Spokane Libraries, Sound Transit, Evergreen Tacoma and Africatown Community Land Trust.

Valencia Carroll

Valencia is an enthusiastic teaching artist specializing in classical oil painting. With a passion for sharing visual art, she has participated in numerous art exhibitions, presentations, and teaching artist engagements at museums, community centers, schools, and public spaces throughout western Washington. Valencia’s dedication to art accessibility is seen in her persistent efforts to create inclusive art making experiences for all. In her personal painting practice, Valencia embraces exploration, pushing boundaries with lighting, color harmony, and composition. Her current work delves into American history, using realism to bring historical narratives to life.

Cennady Coleman

Cennady Coleman is a film photographer who began practicing the media after inheriting a film camera from their late great-grandparents, Ozella and Odell Lewis.

From Tacoma, WA, Cennady is inspired by nature, relationships, and the simple moments we often take for granted.

Charles Conner

Charles Conner aka The Original Spur has been an artist since the age of four. Years would pass and he would continue his love of art all the way up into college, but life has a way taking your so called plans and flipping them on its head.

Joining the military at the age of 17, he would eventually be called into active duty forcing him to drop out of college. PTSD formed a mental block between his creativity and himself which hindered him for over a decade from producing even the simplest of art forms.

After a lengthy struggle, he now uses his creativity and imagination to create one of a kind abstract pieces filled with vibrant colors and a semi realistic interpretation of his surroundings from the Black man’s perspective.

Creativity, Positivity, and Individuality. Welcome to the journey of The Original Spur!

Sabreehna Essien

Born and raised on the Hilltop in Tacoma, Washington, Sabreehna is a first-generation Kenyan and Black American.

The gift of Art and Creativity runs in her family on both sides. Sabreehna is inspired by the art of her Grandfather, well-known Puget Sound artist Harry Kanchoo Thurman, as well as her father, Keith Thurman, who works in sculpture and photography; her mother, Gertrude Thurman, who sews; and her Aunty Samba, a Kenyan-American fashion designer. Sabreehna also draws inspiration from her Blackness, nature, everyday life scenes, architecture, science, and cloud formations. As a winter-born child her favorite colors to work with are black, white, and gray. She is a storyteller sharing her story, heritage, culture, struggle, triumph, joy, and happiness while simultaneously being a voice to the voiceless.

Evan Gregory

Evan Gregory is an artist from Tacoma. These days he mainly likes to make music, but he grew up focusing on drawing, animation, painting and sculpting.

Most of his art deals with his forced religious upbringing, grief, and individuality. Evan does not consider himself to be a professional artist, and this is his first exhibition.

Kaela Harmon

Kaela Harmon is a twenty-six-year-old multi-media artist from Tacoma, Washington. She would play with ketchup as a kid. She always found a way to paint, even with her food! Her favorite art medium is painting. However, she finds many ways to create, learning new skills to represent her creative vision. Kaela earned a BA from The Evergreen State College in 2019, with credits in figure drawing, ceramics, writing and dance classes. Post college she has spent significant time painting, drawing, creating clothes, baking, cooking, and making pinatas! While she has never had an art exhibit outside of college, she is ready to share the several large paintings while living alone during COVID. These paintings were a positive way to spend her time, and a way to express her feelings about growing up in poverty, love, and relationships. In addition, Kaela uses abstract shapes that just feel good to look at.

JW Harrington

JW Harrington is a painter, social-science professor, and trained baritone based in Tacoma, Washington. His art practice embraces all genres and both acrylic and oil mediums.

Harrington was raised in South Carolina, educated at Harvard University and the University of Washington, and has worked on east and west coasts of the U.S. After a 37-year career of teaching, research and administration, he is now Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma. He’s studied painting and drawing with Sandy Bricel Miller in Seattle. He’s affiliated with Gallery 110 in Seattle and Ryan James Fine Arts in Kirkland. His work is in corporate and institutional collections in Olympia, Seattle, and Tacoma.

Lorra Jackson

Lorra Jackson is a classically trained painter who earned her Master’s degree from New York Academy of Art in New York City. Her work contains central themes of memory, racial and gender identity. She has exhibited in New York, her work is in collections in New York and China,
and she has completed a residency in St. Barth’s. Much of Jackson’s work is an exploration of the legacy of her biracial identity and Korean and African American heritage. The idea of legacy is further expanded in her portraits of her young daughter.

Lourdes Jackson

Artist and designer Lourdes Jackson has always created, as a child drawing cartoon characters to a man doing portraiture for friends and family. With no formal training he honed his skills during incarceration throughout his 20s.

Born in Portland, OR, Lourdes lives in Tacoma, WA. In 2018, Lourdes created and exhibited work in American art capitals Los Angeles, New York and Miami, where he gained creative control of a wall within the World Famous Wynwood Arts District. Since 2019 he has focused on large scale works, installations and murals. In 2021 he spent three months creating art in Mombasa, Kenya. Most recently, Lourdes is the designer of the 11th & L development with Tacoma Housing Authority in the hilltop area. Find work @lourdesenfleur and www.lourdesenfleur.com.

Marquis Johnson

From the Eastside of Tacoma, Washington, Marquis Johnson is a self-taught photographer with more than a decade of experience. Growing up, he always tried to see the beauty in the gritty landscape he was raised in. His surroundings influenced his unique eye for color and shadow within his photographs. Though he initially attended school for broadcast journalism, Marquis chose to switch to business administration while continuing with photography in his spare time. He currently owns a photography company called Telvanni Visuals, which focuses on highlighting the extreme beauty and simplicity of the areas around us.  

TyResha Jones-Smith

Born and raised in the rainy city, TyResha Jones-Smith has always been involved with the art community. A self-taught artist, TyResha began entering her work in art shows at the age of 13. As a creative, she’s always strived to never limit herself on how far her gift and her passion takes her. Her style is constantly evolving, as she loves exploring vast ideas and techniques when working with mixed media. TyResha, who was a selected artist at the Onyx Fine Arts Collective 18th Annual Juried Exhibit in Seattle in 2023, has made a name for herself within the art community, showcasing numerous works of art and signature personal collections in galleries throughout the Seattle area.  

Carlos Khali

Carlos Khali is a multimedia artist based in Seattle, WA. He fuses classical training and raw talent to create gritty yet vibrant pieces that speak both to the individual and the world at large.

His work is meant to evoke emotion, thought, and to convey the weight of civilization on society, self, and soul.

Edimbo Lekea

Edimbo Lekea is a “Franco-Congolais” artist painter born in the small town of Creil, France. At the early age of 5-6 years old, Edimbo got to develop his creative skill through various sketches. From there, it would be an on-and-off relationship. After moving to Kent, WA in 2003, Edimbo was exposed to many different cultures. In 2015, Edimbo started to create a visual sanctuary for Afrodiaspora across the globe.

Through Edimbo’s work, you will be able to visit how our people live their lives from the cultural practices, everyday life, ideas, empowerment, and Monumental Events. The goal is to rewrite our TRUstory.

Emily Martin

Born and raised in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington, Emily Martin is a multicultural glass artist. Serendipitously, living in the Hilltop afforded Emily the privilege of exposure to glass at the young age of eleven. Emily spent her youth learning how to create glass art with the Hilltop Artist Program, a local organization co-founded by Dale Chihuly and dedicated to enriching the lives of youth through glass art. Since then, Emily has worked in varying capacities at the Museum of Glass in the education department. Emily finds joy in impacting others’ lives through glass art.

Kcie Monk

Kristen “Kcie” Monk, based in Tacoma, Washington, is an artist and illustrator who specializes in all things fantasy and whimsy. She loves drawing mermaids, witches and fairies among other mythical creatures. Her medium of choice is primarily digital art but she is also very passionate about traditional techniques. Kcie is ambitious and always willing to experiment with mixed media. Her drawings are highly detailed, vibrantly colorful and picturesque.

Dre Pierre

Born and raised in Miami, Dre Pierre discovered a love for the natural world, particularly the ocean, right in her own backyard. She attended Pomona College and got a bachelors in Biology, followed by a graduate certificate in Scientific Illustrations from California State in Monterey Bay.

A tutor who teaches with Brock’s Academy, Dre also teaches traditional and digital art to beginners while hosting workshops in nature journaling for people of all ages. The workshops include a nature walk and introduce different media and techniques for capturing discoveries.

Shirley Ann Simmons

Shirley Ann Simmons (March 19, 1932 – May 16, 2022) was a proud graduate of the historically renowned Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., who followed her dream of majoring in art at prestigious Howard University, which is also located in Washington, D.C., and pursued a career in Elementary Education. She spent her life creating pieces of artwork using the medium of pastels and graphite. For an extended period, her work was associated with, and displayed at, several local art galleries in St. Louis, Missouri. Her work was also featured at Truman State University, The 1992 Olympic Art Competition and Litho’s Gallery

ARTISTS SON’S STATEMENT

Stephen H. Simmons is the artists’s eldest son. A former instructor in North Seattle College’s Technical Drafting Program, Stephen is an architect and educator. His mother inspired him to be creative and to explore all graphic ideologies and designs, and he has dreamed of showing her artwork at colleges and venues around the country.

Jonarra Swanson

Jonarra Swanson is a Seattle based artist inspired by the connection between positive conversation and human nature. Her main medium is acrylic and broken glass on canvas, foil and metallic oil paints.

She started NARR LLC to share artwork that empowers the community. This art encapsulates intentional messages of affirmational positivity to invoke the spirit of inspired and uplifted energy on the road to success.

Exhibition history: onyx gallery, black arts love, slip gallery, Condé Nast, legion restaurant, intentions juice bar, etc.

Michael Travis

Michael has worked in visual arts all his life. He studied for three years at Tacoma’s School of the Arts and for two years at TCC. He has paused his educational pursuit to work on his mental health and fine-tune his skill set.

Michael is ready to showcase his art and network with the Black artist community. He works primarily in pen-and-ink illustration. Michael won the 2021 Pride logo contest, and his entry won a cash prize.