In honor of Black History Month, local artist Leeza Dukes seeks to recognize the talents of artists of color through her community-wide “My Heritage: The Beauty of Color” art exhibition at her facility in Owensboro and beyond. is.
Throughout February, community members and visitors can see artwork on display at the Independence Bank and Fetta Specialty Pizza & Spirits at 2425 Frederica St.
Artwork will also be displayed outside the county and state lines at the Franklin Street Pizza Factory in Evansville and Field & Main Bank at 140 North Main Street in Henderson.
Exhibitions include paintings and fashion design by Dukes, 3D artist Mattie Jones, barbed wire creative Sean Wallace, photographer Percy Golson, painters Zion Riley, Kevin Smith and Halini Cardwell. .
There will also be an ongoing art show at the Daviess County Public Library beginning February 1st. It was created by Dukes in collaboration with Lisa Maiden, her programming coordinator for Adults at the library, which debuted last year. We are currently accepting submissions and artwork from artists until February 1st.
Library events include a closing ceremony on Thursday, February 23 at 5:00 PM. The ceremony will allow the public to celebrate the artists and their work, along with a speech by Mayor Pam Smith of his Mayor Wright, a fashion show of Duke’s designs. such as food.
Dukes will also teach art classes at the library, including a Pore Painting class on Thursday, February 9 at 6:00 pm and a Dip and Dove Painting class on Thursday, February 16 at 6:00 pm.
Dukes said the idea to launch the initiative was born last year and he was happy to see it take off.
“This is the second time I’ve been asked to do this again through the venue,” she said. “They felt it was a very successful show and that artists of color wanted to be part of it.
“What I’m trying to do is allow young and talented artists, or artists of color in general, to exhibit their artwork in a variety of places they might not have the opportunity to do so.”
Dorothy Reid, visual display coordinator at Independence Bank, enjoys showcasing other people’s talents.
“I’m happy to support the artists here,” she said. “This is a good way. People love this exhibit. We’ve had a lot of good comments about it.”
Dukes feels the community embraces diversity in art and wants to help artists find ways to get their art seen by audiences.
“On my Facebook, I see a lot of young artists trying to make it, but they don’t know what their next steps are, where they should go, they don’t just show up in these different places, they sell them. I don’t know how,” she said.
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“Once you start selling artwork, you kind of made it,” she said.
