Students learn and unveil their art Thursday during Bison at Basel
By Damenica Ellis
Featured Image: Left to Right - Panlists Ieesha Naeema, Lindsay Adams, and Calvin Clausell, Jr. Photo by Kellen Thompson.
Students from the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts (CABCoFA) sit in rows of chairs alongside alumni and supporters. Some nod along as guest speakers talk; others jot down notes and questions for the Q&A portion of the panels.
On Tuesday, Dec. 4, Bison at Basel hosted events focused on these students. Three panels brought professionals to touch on how HBCUs, sports, and AI intersect with art.
“Today's events really give us an opportunity to provide experiential learning for our students,” said Dr. Raquel Monroe, Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. “... Being able to come here to Miami, surrounded by art and surrounded by the inside of the festival and be able to hear from panelists who are working in the field in different capacities is really significant.”
Dorian Langlais, co-founder and managing partner at Rally Point Public Relations in New York, has supported the university in building panels for Bison at Basel’s events for the last four years.
After topics are given to him by the university, there is scheduling and planning to ensure each conversation is valuable and applicable to college students studying fine arts.
Purpose and Passion: The Role of HBCUs in the Global Art Market
Moderated by Melissa Hunter Davis, founder of Sugarcane Magazine, the first panel gave insight into the importance of HBCUs, advocating for and giving back to the institutions.
“We tried to bring in journalists to moderate because journalists ask the best questions, [they’re] always well prepared, well researched,” Langlais said.
Lindsay Adams, a painter and writer from Washington, D.C., did not graduate from an HBCU but was greatly influenced by them, with many family members who attended.
Ieesha Naeema, a painter and visual designer, graduated from Florida A&M University.
Around two years ago, after a cross-country move from Chicago to Los Angeles, Naeema met with a former classmate visiting her new home. After hearing about her aspirations in art, he introduced her to his mentor. This mentor thought of Naeema when he heard the California Institute of the Arts was looking for an artist.
A month later, she created the first Black History Month mural for the arts school. She said this story spoke to the power of networking within HBCUs.
“I typically felt like I had to prove myself in other spaces, but with HBCUs, once you tell them you were an artist, they're going to be like, ‘I'm on board. I don't care, I don't need to hear anything else,” she said.
The conversations spanned a range of other topics, including the importance of Black art. Calvin Clausell Jr., a painter who recently created Gunna’s One of Wun album cover, does large-scale work, often portraying Black people with flowers and “doing absolutely nothing.” Black people don't need to do anything to be seen, he said.
“[There are] people who are not used to seeing us in that way, covered in flowers, happy and existing,” he added. “Our culture is so powerful, being able to put that out there for the world, in its of itself is the success.”
Dean Monroe said this panel was good for students to understand their role as artists from HBCUs.
The Art of an Athlete
Maxwell Pearce, award-winning mixed-media artist and Harlem Globetrotter, discussed his art and journey to art through basketball with Jasmine Styles, an anchor with 7News DC, and Pearce’s wife.
Art was his first passion, Pearce said, then he found basketball.
“Black people are not afforded the same space to be multidimensional as non-Black folks, and that is a really heavy perception and expectation in sports,” he said. “A lot of times society receives Black athletes in particular as people that only know how to put the ball in their basket or score a touchdown and that's it.”
Now, he lives in the intersectionality — his two passions intertwine.
“I have included a piece of athletic equipment that I have actually used in my journey as an athlete.”
Pearce brought a large canvas with him, a piece he created depicting his grandmother using a variety of materials, including a net from a basketball hoop he used to play on. He uses shoelaces in many of his pieces and has also worked with old shoes and basketballs.
Dean Monroe said this panel “allows students to understand how to integrate their entire selves into their practice.”
Pearce uses his work as a basketball player, she said. It informs his practice.
Phylicia Natane Robinson, a senior ceramics major, said she enjoyed hearing about how Pearce centers people from his life in his art. Pearce has collections dedicated to his grandmother, mother, and wife.
Robinson likes to do something similar with her family and cat, she said.
Jessica Whitaker, who received a doctorate in electrical engineering in 2023 from Howard and is now a professor in the Master of Applied Data Science analytics, said she took a lot from this panel.
“You can follow all of your passions,” she said. “You don't have to really limit it to the one that may be easier to accomplish or the one that's more financially lucrative.”
Cre.AI.tive Revolution: The Art of Change is Now
Kimberly Jones, dean of the Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture, spoke with Jacoby DuBose, Nicole Ralph, and Adriann Guy, who presented ways to use AI ethically and as a tool.
Artificial intelligence is a newer panel topic for Bison at Basel, according to Langlais.
“AI has become such a hot topic and piece of technology that everyone's using now and trying to figure out how to best use it,” he said. “But also, because we're seeing it come into the art space as well, and it's also raised a lot of ethical questions. So it was important that this year we really brought in that AI conversation.”
Dean Monroe said this panel was important as AI is transforming how everyone experiences the world and engages in their practices.
Ralph, who works in AI business solutions with Microsoft, said more people have access to AI, which is a tool.
“How you should be thinking about it is ‘how can I realize AI to be my personal assistant to be productive and creating things, creating less waste?’” she said.
DuBose, an art professor at Howard, director, composer, and creative engineer, said with AI, artists are able to ideate quickly.
“It's the world, though, thinking that the ideation is a finished product and the ideation is art,” he said. “That's where artists have to have a greater voice right now. That's our challenge right now. Dictating to the world that this is not finished art.”
Adriann Guy, executive director of CreateHER Fest, agrees. She added that the resource should amplify the organic, not replace it.
Panelists addressed concerns about how generative AI interacts with children and plagiarism. During the Q&A portion, students asked about its environmental implications specifically.
Guy answered that one thing users can do is host their open AI models on their own devices. This way, it is not using the resources polluting Black and brown communities; your information is also more secure, she added.
Brianna Johnson, a junior animation major from Tampa, Florida, thought the panel was very informative, she said.
“AI is not my favorite, but if I need to learn it to stay ahead in the industry, then it's just something that I have to do,” she said.
Howard University Student Art Exhibition
At 7 p.m., the student art gallery was complete.
Robinson stood by her art — a ceramic drum made with a risky Japanese pottery technique called Raku and two porcelain goblets.
Thursday’s exhibition was the first time her art has been featured this way.
“I feel really excited for the future and all the other exhibitions I'm going to be in because I say all the time, ‘I'm going to have my stuff Noma’ and ‘I'm going to have my pieces be like a million dollars’ and stuff like that,” Robinson said. “This is kind of literally the very first step.”
Asya Cara Pena, a lifetime creator from Los Angeles, said the students’ work was beautiful.
“I was really admiring some of the drums that really hint back towards our African heritage,” she said.
Bison at Basel also introduced Robinson to Miami.
“I'm wondering if I'll end up living here one day,” she said.
Johnson, who brought two digital art pieces of two characters she designed, inspired by Demon Slayer, felt similar to Robinson.
“I've never actually had my art viewed outside of school or friends,” she said. “The fact that other people are seeing it is just amazing to me. It's just surreal seeing my artwork on the wall.”
Pena said it was great to see emerging artists.
“Artists are changing every year, every moment, and so this is kind of representing the newest generation and to see what their perspective is, the things that they're focusing on, is really incredible.”
Whitaker also viewed the student’s work decorating the walls.
“I am always amazed by the talent of our student artists because, thinking about galleries ‘professionals,’ you really can’t tell the difference,’” she said. “Their artwork is truly on the level of someone who's been doing it for a very long time and doing it in a professional space.”
One goal of the exhibition is to give students the opportunity to gain experience in professional spaces.
“Every year we try to improve upon the experience to make sure that the students aren't just learning by being here, but they're able to go out and see what's actually happening in the rest of Miami during Miami Art Week,” Langlais said. “[To] get a nice feel and exposure and hopefully make some great connections with artists that they either really love and have followed or folks that can be a mentor and give advice.”
Monroe said she is proud of how the day's programming was student-centered.
“It's not only student-centered, but it's allowing students to engage with alumni to engage with professionals in the fields,” she continued. “It takes them outside of the classroom and allows them to put what they've learned in motion.”
The student’s gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Dec. 5-6.