FSU Alum Wants to Cultivate Art Spaces for the Youth in Fayetteville
posted by Tatiana Gantt | March 12, 2024 | In Arts and CultureAfter the closing weekend of the Arts Council of Fayetteville’s “Our People: The Black Influence in Contemporary Culture” exhibition (shortened to “Our People”), curator Collyn Strother discussed what his role is when an art exhibition ends, creating spaces for young artists, and what his next moves are.
According to Strother, artists submitted over 300 artworks for “Our People” through this process and a jury consisting of himself, Brandon Dean Johnson, Bryane Broadie, and Makayla Binter narrowed the submissions down to 72 pieces for the show.
“[I’m] trying to cultivate something here [in Fayetteville] so that down the road everybody doesn’t feel like they have to leave,” said Strother after being asked why he decided to stay in Fayetteville. “A lot of people give up too early. . . Especially in the art world. Especially for young artists.”
When discussing the art pieces, Strother talks about a noticeable theme: “You can even look over there at these few pieces [and see] a lot more faces,” he said. “And it all just comes back to what’s the topic right now.” He further explains that those faces are meant to symbolize self-reflection, self-healing, and things that Black people internally take care of.
Strother names current FSU Professor Dwight Smit, a curator for several previous Black History Month art exhibitions at the Arts Council of Fayetteville, as an inspiration. He compared the two different styles of both his and Smith’s curation styles. Strother’s style being more “youthful and forward looking” and Smith’s styles leaning more into “traditional and playing more into Black history”.
While simultaneously going through his schedule and preparing to wrap up a piece called “STORM ON THE HORIZON,” the artist of the painting Alonzo ‘Zo’ Crawford unintentionally joins the interview. This gives Strother an opportunity to praise Zo’s piece by saying, “It really just fit into the overwhelming sense of Black pride that we were trying to show with this show.”
Zo is one of many artists who submitted their work through CaFE: “an online application submission system designed for the arts sector to help organizations manage their call for entry processes” stated in their Media Kit.
Strother summed up his feelings about the show this way: “Yeah I mean, I was really pleased with the turnout for this show.”
We can look forward to Strother participating in an art walk for this upcoming Juneteenth, more
from his clothing brand WiseMindMovement, and a few art shows in between.
The Arts Council exhibition was shown during Black History Month from Jan. 26 to Mar. 2. After a quick turnaround, Strother set off to be in charge of in-person pickups for the 51 artists that were in the show on Mar. 5. Pieces that can’t be picked up this day or Mar. 7, have to be shipped off by Strother on Mar. 6. The exhibition curator says that he’s trying to have everything finalized by Mar. 8.
If you would like to view some of the art pieces that were shown in the “Our People: The Black Influence in Contemporary Culture” exhibition, you can visit wearethearts.com.
Photo Courtesy of Art Council of Fayetteville. Painting by Camisha McDaniel.
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