The theme of this year’s Black History Month in February is “African Americans and the Arts.” The theme within that theme in a free major art exhibition organized by the Worcester Black History Project in the Krikorian Gallery at the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, is “Catch the Fire.”
Deborah Hall, founder of the Worcester Black History Project and the exhibition curator, said that as she was thinking about African Americans and the arts, the words and title of the poem “Catch the Fire” by poet, activist, and educator Sonia Sanchez kept recurring to her.
“I’m a Sonia Sanchez lover. It (“Catch the Fire”) just spoke to me, just thinking about what art does,” Hall said.
Black artists who have been invited to feature their work in the “Catch the Fire” exhibition include Nicole Brathwaite-Hunt, Debra Britt, Jennessa Burks, Jen Carey,Emmanuel Manu Opoku , James Maurelle,Abu Mwenye,Savonne Pickett, Toby Sisson, Sisters in Stitches Joined by the Cloth and Belinda Lyons Zucker. All are from or work in Worcester and the Worcester area or have strong regional ties. More than 50 artworks will be on display.
The exhibition runs Feb. 1 to 29. An opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Worcester Center for Crafts will include a talk by Toby Sisson, who is also associate professor and program director of the Studio Art, Visual & Performing Arts Department at Clark University. Light refreshment will be provided. “It should be lots of fun,” Hall said. The reception is free. Register at eventbrite.com.
‘Where is our beautiful fire?’
According to the Worcester Black History Project, in the poem “Catch the Fire,” Sanchez seeks to inspire Black people to remember their history and the historical injustices they experienced — ”I say where is your fire? Can’t you smell it coming out of your past” — while reminding them to reclaim their beauty …”Where is our beautiful fire that gave light to the world? The fire of pyramids; The fire that burned through the holes of slaveships and made us breathe …” Ultimately, the poem encourages hope and living and loving joyously — “Catch the fire and burn with eyes that see our souls: WALKING. Hey. Brother/Brotha. Sister/Sista. Here is my hand. Catch the fire … and live.”
The “Catch the Fire” exhibition “interprets hope, passion and purpose through a variety of mediums,” Hall said. “It offers viewers the opportunity to reflect on the theme of Black History Month 2024 (African Americans and the Arts), and the mediums used by Black people to resist oppression while simultaneously producing beautiful art.”
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Hall is also CEO of the YWCA of Central Massachusetts as well as an avid art collector who has identified emerging talent and has a passion for celebrating the work of underrepresented artists. “Catch the Fire” is Hall’s second curated show featuring Black artists from New England. In 2023, she curated an exhibit for Worcester Regional Airport.
The idea for what would become “Catch the Fire” gradually evolved last year, Hall said. “It started out as an idea to feature Black artists we don’t often see in Worcester.”
‘Embrace the theme’
She started talking with members of Sisters in Stitches Joined by the Cloth, which describes itself as “joined together by our shared experience in quilting which focuses on the African American group’s perspective.” The group meets in Arlington but has members ranging from the Boston area to Worcester and Springfield.
“A few more conversations” led to other artists being included. Then for the upcoming Black History Month in February, “the theme just happened to be African Americans and the Arts,” Hall said.
The theme is determined each year by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
“So we expanded this,” Hall said.
Some artists have created works specifically for “Catch the Fire,” while others have works that may have exhibited before but “embrace the theme,” she said.
“It’s connected to liberation and beauty and joy all at once. Look back to all the great things we have done that would give hope.”
‘An incredible experience’
Hall said Worcester experienced that sort of hope and joy in the aftermath of the terrible George Floyd murder and tragedy in 2020 when artists converged to paint a Black Lives Matter mural at Major Taylor Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard outside the DCU Center. “It all came together that summer,” she said.
Artist Jennessa Burks was also there.
“I was there from 6:30 in the morning to the very end,” she said. “It was an incredible experience for me. I had never been part of a community that came together in honor of Black lives and it was something I didn’t think I would see in the Worcester community. “
Burks will have four works at the “Catch the Fire” exhibition — two portraits and two abstract pieces.
“They actually are works I already had, but I feel that they fit the theme perfectly,” she said.
One portrait, “Fire in her Eyes,” is on the flyer for the “Catch the Fire” exhibition.
The eyes are her daughter’s eyes. The painting is taken from a photograph of her daughter that Burks took when they had been outside and discussing issues.
Burks said about the portrait, “Over the past two years she has asked an increasing amount of difficult questions regarding the treatment of others, especially oppressed groups. Each time we dive into deep discussions about equity I feel as though another sliver of innocence is lost. Her face reflects discontentment, not the joy I have come to know. Each discussion we have highlights her same grapple with society; Why are certain groups treated less fairly, less appreciated, less humane? As she sits in silence I often wonder what worries loom in her mind. She has the heart of a social justice activist and I’m unsure where that will take her in life. All I know for sure is there’s a fire in her eyes.”
‘Something missing in my experiences’
Burks is an educator, activist and self-taught artist who lives in West Boylston. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Worcester State University in 2015 and later her master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2019. Her work includes acrylic paintings and mixed-media pieces, and she has painted multiple murals across Worcester neighborhoods reflecting the values and vision of the people who live there.
When Burks went to exhibitions and galleries while she was younger, “I always felt there was something missing in my experiences,” she said.
She subsequently realized, “What I was missing was representation of people like me.” Black and brown people were missing from art spaces, “reflective of their stories and truths being selectively muted throughout history.”
More recently, “while we’re getting better there’s still a lot of work that we need to do,” she said.
“Artists need to feel like they’re welcome to be part of the community they’re creating.”
Burks, who teaches fourth grade in Cambridge, was named the Community Art Educator of the Year for 2024 by the Massachusetts Art Educators Association.
However, she feels some of work might still not be welcome in certain particular spaces such as her painting based on the 13th Amendment that about mass incarceration of Black males.
On the other hand, she feels like Hall that working on the Black Lives Matter mural outside the DCU Center was a time of creative joy. She credits that day with her excitement for public art and painting murals in the Worcester community.
She said she’s also excited about “‘Catch the Fire.”
Connected and empowered
“I hope that we feel connected to each other and empowered by our work, and I hope we feel supported at the end of this.”
Sisson was a bartender for 30 years but wanted to be an artist all her life. According to her website, “One day in midlife, she took a leap of faith toward her dream — cut back to part-time, withdrew her savings, and entered art school.” She received her MFA from the University of Minnesota and in 2009 joined the faculty of Clark University.
For “Catch the Fire” Sisson said she has submitted works from her ongoing series, “An American Journey.”
“I’m exhibiting mixed-media collages composed of photographs, maps, prints and fragments of text. The images were gathered during and after an artist residency I had in the Mississippi Delta last year. I am exploring my father’s journey along the Mississippi River Valley from the rural south to the urban north in the early 20th century,” she said. “He was part of the Great Migration, the movement of 60 million Black Americans that shaped the cultural, social, political and economic landscape of America.”
Sisson said “Catch the Fire” is “wonderfully inspired by the Sonia Sanchez poem which celebrates the strength and perseverance of Black people. I’m honored to be invited by Deborah Hall to participate in this recognition of Black History Month.”
‘Catch the Fire’ — Worcester Black History Project
When: Feb. 1 to 29. Opening reception, 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 3
Where: Krikorian Gallery, Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, Worcester. Galley hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; closed Sunday and Monday. worcestercraftcenter.org
How much: Free. Register for opening reception at eventbrite.com