Blog.
Who Owns Color?
Every tube of paint has a history—but whose history gets printed on the label? From West African indigo makers and enslaved specialists to George Washington Carver, Amanda Williams, and today’s Black-owned paint companies, Who Owns Color? uncovers the hidden story of knowledge, exploitation, invention, and ownership behind the artist’s palette—and asks a question you may never look at your paint box quite the same way after considering: Who owns color?
The Inhabited Studio: Confronting the Spirits Making Art
For centuries, artists and thinkers have struggled with a mysterious question: Where does creative inspiration come from? From the ancient daimon to divine inspiration, genius, psychology, and the artist as vessel, The Inhabited Studio explores the shifting boundary between conscious creation and the unseen.
Mapping the World of Art: Part VIII — The Great Unraveling
For centuries, Western art was governed by rules that seemed permanent. Then, one movement after another began challenging those assumptions, creating a chain reaction that transformed the entire landscape of art. In this installment of Mapping the World of Art, we explore how Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Cubism fit together as part of a larger story—the gradual unraveling of a visual order that had dominated for centuries and the opening of new possibilities for artists around the world.
Mapping the World of Art: Part V — The Constructed World
The Renaissance didn’t just improve realism—it constructed a system for organizing space. This post explores how perspective shaped the way we see the world.
Mapping the World of Art: Part III — Art and Power
What if art wasn’t just something to look at—but something designed to control how the world is understood? In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, images followed strict rules. What emerged was a system—one that organized experience and sanctioned power.
Interracial Collaborations That Changed Art History
A look at three groundbreaking collaborations between Black artists and non-Black artists—partnerships that expanded artistic possibility, reshaped modern art, and deepened cross-cultural dialogue.
What Was the Bauhaus?
A brief introduction to the Bauhaus movement, its global significance, and how its ideas helped shape modern art and artists who influenced African-American creativity.