Mid-Michigan museum hosts world leading African-American art curator

Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. You can listen to this conversation by clicking the LISTEN button above. We note the Marshall M. Fredricks Sculpture Museum is a sponsor of WCMU. We report on them as we do with any other organization.

Tina Sawyer: David C Driskell is considered one of the world's leading authorities on African-American art. And now one mid-Michigan museum is highlighting his work for Black History Month. I recently talked about the exhibit with Ashley Ross from the Marshall M. Fredericks Museum at Saginaw Valley State University. Ashley started the discussion by sharing a little known fact about the artist.

Ashley Ross: In 1949, he enrolled at Howard University in history. He was by James Porter to study art and was told basically at the time, "You just can't afford to be an artist, you must also show the world what our people have contributed." And I think he really took that to heart. While Driscoll was an artist himself, I think what this exhibition that we have here on view at the museum really highlights is his connectivity to other African Americans artists. So, he studied under Louis Meili Jones, but he also has worked in this exhibition of people that he was friends with — Aaron Douglas, Charles White, Carol Walker. I mean, the list goes on and on about people that he would know and connect with. He would travel around the country, whether they were students or colleagues, to help support other African American artists, and so, this exhibition that we have on view... Almost 80 works of art, about half of them are by his friends, by his colleagues, and the other half are by him. Put them side by side and they really have a conversation with each other.

TS: That was going to be my next question being a collaboration, is there a theme or a story between the artists? Do they play along with each other as people walk along and look at them?

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SVSU

AR: Absolutely. That's a really great question. So I think Driskell as an artist was very adaptive... So you're going to walk into the exhibition and you're going to see artists like Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Charles White, and they really have their own styles of art. Driscoll, I think would actually talk back to them. And while he did have his own style of art, I think he was maybe a little bit more adaptive than some of the other artists who fell more into a style.

TS: You said he studied under someone else. Was he one of the first African American artists really, who got a lot of recognition?

AR: He has been cited quite frequently for his art. He's received so many accolades from the president, to having awards named after him, but I don't necessarily know if he has the same name recognition as some of the others. I think that's part of what makes him so, I guess authentic in who he is. I don't think he was ever doing it for the accolades.

TS: Who started this exhibit and why?

AR: This was created by the University of Maryland, so the David C Driscoll Center at the University of Maryland. He was a teacher there and so upon his passing in 2020, they were able to curate this exhibition and travel it around the country and we are, I want to say the second or third stop on this exhibition path as a travels around the United States.

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SVSU

TS: Why is it important to bring this specific exhibit to SVSU?

AR: This exhibition for us coincides with Black History Month, but it's important for us, for our region, in the Great Lakes Bay Area and beyond, to be able to bring in artwork that we don't have in our permanent collection. So when it comes to the museum, we have a permanent collection of sculptures by Marshall Fredericks. But to be able to have this exhibition here at this time of year is telling a story. It's things that we wouldn't normally get to see in this space and we can not just appreciate art, but appreciate black history, really, diving in deeper and you're able to have a real conversation both with the artwork and just in as an experience.

TS: And Ashley, is there a particular piece that you love that you could recommend?

AR: Oh my goodness, you're putting me on the spot! My favorite is Charles White, his wanted poster series, but I really cannot say, you know. We have debates here at the museum with students. Everyone has their own favorite. You'll have to come and pick your own favorite out of the the many works of art that are here.

TS: That was Ashley Ross from the Marshall M. Fredericks Museum at SVSU talking with me. And we note the museum is a sponsor of WCMU. We report on them as we do with any other organization. The film Black Art in the Absence of Light will be shown tomorrow (2/8/25) at 1 p.m. to provide more context for the exhibit, which is on display through February 22 at Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum