Over centuries artistic communities have fostered a camaraderie where an exchange of ideas and networking take place. The Art Students League, a community established in 1875, is recognizing Cinque Gallery, an African American run space founded in 1969 to exhibit African American artists, with the exhibition, “Creating Community: Cinque Gallery Artists”. This exhibition which is celebrating Cinque Gallery’s 35 years, will open May 3rd and run to July 4th.
The panel covers how this exhibition came to life. It will also touch on the origins of Cinque Gallery, founded by three artists: Norman Lewis, Ernie Crichlow and Romare Bearden. There will also be information on the origins of the Art Students League. On the panel is Diedra Harris-Kelly, the Co-Director of the Romare Bearden Foundation; Genevieve Martin, the former Director of External Affairs at the Art Students League; Susan Stedman, the Curator for “Creating Community: Cinque Gallery Artists” and Nanette Carter, artist and Program Curator for this exhibition.
SUSAN STEDMAN , Guest Exhibition Curator, is an arts administrator, grantmaker, and advisor to museums, arts, and social justice organizations. She also is an independent curator and manager for artists’ estates and collections. She recently contributed to the catalog and exhibition “Procession. The Art of Norman Lewis” at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
NANETTE CARTER , Guest Program Curator, is an artist who presently teaches art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Her paintings and drawings can be found in the collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba; The Newark Museum; The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and many others. Carter had a solo exhibition at Cinque Gallery and served on its artistic advisory committee, 1988-1994, and on the board of the Harlem School of the Arts, 2002 – 2006.
GENEVIEVE MARTIN is an arts administrator specializing in institutional partnerships. She was the Director of External Affairs at The Art Students League of New York from 2018-2020 and is now the Managing Director of the Center for Italian Modern Art in SoHo. A native New Yorker, Genevieve did her MA work in Arts Administration at Baruch College and graduated from The Cooper Union and The Horace Mann School with honors. She previously worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Morgan Library & Museum, The Moving Museum, and Christie’s.
DIEDRA HARRIS-KELLEY is a Co-Director of the Romare Bearden Foundation. She has been part of the team celebrating the artistic and intellectual legacies of Romare Bearden for over 30 years. She teaches a seminar course on Bearden as part of the Harlem College of Arts Semester. Diedra is also a painter and independent curator living in NYC.
THE ROMARE BEARDEN FOUNDATION, institutional partner of “Creating Community”, was established in 1990 as a non-profit organization by the estate of Romare Bearden (1911-1988) to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of the preeminent American artist. After Cinque Gallery closed, the Foundation created the Cinque Artists Program to perpetuate Bearden’s legacy of support by providing a platform for artists and curators to present their work. This contemporary program celebrates the vision of the founders and artists who were a part of its history.
Thank you to NYC Cultural Affairs for their support.