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This piece is by Judy Bowman, a mixed-media collage artist born and raised in Detroit. Her work aims to inspire and uplift Black culture.
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
SOUTHFIELD — The works of several artists will be on display until Jan. 30 in the lobby of Southfield City Hall, 26000 Evergreen Road, as part of the “From These Hands” art exhibition.
Habacuc Bessiake, Judy Bowman, Jonathan Harris, Carole Morisseau, Carol Cook Reid and Reggie Singleton are featured for the exhibition.
The Southfield Public Arts Commission features the works of local artists in its quarterly displays in City Hall. Delores Flagg, the chairwoman for the commission and a former Southfield Public Schools art instructor, explained that every three months, a new set of artists’ work is displayed, with exhibit themes sometimes overlapping with heritage months such as Black History Month in February or Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May.
As a nonprofit, the Public Arts Commission aims to celebrate diversity through different art mediums and artists’ backgrounds to uplift and inspire the community through art. Flagg said the goal is to provide artists with a platform to display their work. No commission is collected when a piece is sold — the artist keeps all the profits.
“Southfield is beginning to build a reputation of a center that supports artists,” Flagg said. “And like I say, the beautiful thing about it is we don’t charge them anything. Whatever they sell is 100% theirs.”
Since the first artist exhibit took place at the beginning of 2022, Flagg’s list of interested artists went from one to 70.
“We can’t do it fast enough,” she joked. “I can’t keep up because we can only do six at a time.”
Flagg said she is eager to unveil the latest exhibit to the public. “I’m excited because of the cadre of artists that we have. Their work is just outstanding.”
All the six artists featured are members of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club and have had their artwork previously showcased. One of the artists, Bessiake, a mixed-media artist and muralist originally from Côté d’Ivoire, stated in a press release that they “decided on the title From These Hands for this series of artwork. ... We thought it would be fitting, as none of this artwork would be possible without the gift of these hands!”
For more information on the Southfield Public Arts Commission, visit their Facebook page or contact Delores Flagg at daf4now@aol.com.
