PHILADELPHIA ART EXPO FEATURES BILLY DEE WILLIAMS & NCA CONFERENCE.
Article and photos © Kwame Brathwaite

Dateline Philadelphia:

The city of Philadelphia was the scene of the 21st annual Philadelphia International Art Expo and the National Conference of Artists Philadelphia educational mini-conference featuring art educators, artists and movers and shakers in the field of Black visual art and architecture. Among the more than 150 artists represented were noted artists there were Buchi Upjoh, Charles Bibbs, Frank Frazier, Larry Poncho Brown, Leroy Campbell, Paul Goodnight, Woodrow Nash, Cal Massey, and special featured artist actor Billy Dee Williams, who started out as an artists, before taking up acting because he couldn’t afford art supplies.

The expo, held annually at the Liacouras Center at Temple University is produced by husband and wife team of Evelyn G. Redcross and Mercer A. Redcross III, regularly draws 40,000 or more attendees each year. Explaining why they have been so successful with their expo and their October Gallery, their art gallery, the Redcross’ related:   “We connect people with art. We deliver magic and romance to the art experience because purchasing art should be an adventure, a satisfying and enjoyable process. The climate and environment of the expo is so exhibitor friendly and professionally developed, that the exhibitors form an emotional tie to the vision of the Philadelphia International Art Expo and contribute to its success.

“The Philadelphia International Art Expo is a community of social interaction. Expo has taken art and has woven romance and community around it. Expo has taken the mystery, ambiguity and contradiction of art and captivated people with an environment of sophistication and style.

“It’s not by accident that in late fall of every year the aisles of The Philadelphia International Art Expo are jammed with tens of thousands of individuals who come to market. Both artists and shoppers come to explore, to study, to prosper and to purchase. The aisles are full because The Philadelphia International Art Expo works.”

Billy Dee Williams’ booth displayed many of his excellent paintings. Many of his fans don’t know that he is also a storyteller, music enthusiast, and a visionary, adhering to his own individualistic painting style. He has been described as “an extraordinary colorist whose intense palette emphasizes the image and reinforces the composition.”

Billy Dee began his artistic career in New York City on a Hallgarten Award Art Scholarship. When events found him unable to afford canvas and paint, Billy turned to his second love, the performing arts, theater and film. He is an internationally recognized visual artist, whose work hangs in museums and in many private and public collections, including: The Smithsonian, Washington, DC; The Kansas City Jazz Museum, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, The Southeaster Center for Contemporary Art, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Nissan Motor Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Princess Cruise Line the Sears Corporation and the Thelonious Monk Institute. Among the private collectors that house his work art are, Berry Gordy, Aretha Franklin, musician Kenny G.

This year for the first time an educational component organized by Madame Justine Preshé DeVan (NCA national Board Secretary) and the National Conference of Artists Philadelphia chapter held a series of panel discussions on various topics including:  “Gullah Culture an artist’s experience” by Betty Leacraft based on her residency at St. Helena’s Island, S.C., “Personal Visions” by Percy Ricks of the NCA Delaware Chapter, and NCA and Art of the African Diaspora by Dr. James Newton, University of Delaware, (retired). Dr. Kenneth Dossar of Temple University’s program in Brazil, spoke on “Religion and Culture” in Brazil, as did John McDaniels – Artist Priest in Training at the Philadelphia Haitian Sanctuary LePeristye. Popular New Orleans artist Charles Sims gave a talk and demonstration using his large paintings, dealing with the Golden Age of African American Art in New Orleans history.

Famed architect Philipe Freelon of the Freelon Group of North Carolina, architects for some of the nation’s most beautiful institutions and museums including: The Reginal Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD, The Afro-American Cultural Center, Charlotte, NC, ASU –Turchin Visual Arts Center, Boone, NC, African American Cultural Center of Greater Pittsburgh, PA; The Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA., and many others, gave an exquisite visual presentation from his numerous portfolio.

Other NCA presentations were equally interesting, including those given by Rebecca Rhodes, Sidney Taylor, Richard Watson, on “Three Decades of African American Art”, Frank Smith on AFRICOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), on “Black Consciousness and Art Movements”, Kimberly Camp on “Museum Policies an Overview”, Prof. Lonnie Graham on Black Photography from an international perspective, and the conference closed with an African American Scholars Panel with NCA National Board members, Howard University’s Dr. Floyd Coleman (former chair of the art department, and the convener of the remarkable James A. Porter Colloquium, held annually at Howard), Dr. Rosalyn Jeffries, Prof. Bruno of the Ivory Coast and an inspiring closing from institution builder and NCA founder, Dr. Margaret Burroughs of Chicago, who also founded Chicago’s Southside Center and DuSable Museum, as well as the Association of African American Museums.