The reaction to the postcards I’ve sent out has been positive, so I’ve decided to make more. As I make an abstract version of a portrait I am putting it on two postcards. One is sent to the subject and one stays with me to display in my office.
Yesterday I sent this postcard to Morris Howard, one of my favorite Dayton artists. Morris paints people, and as I look at his paintings I see more than just what the people look like. There’s also something about the essence of the person captured in the painting.
Before sending Morris his postcard I contacted him to see what he’s been doing. He said he just created a painting for an event called “Unity: Creating a Better Tomorrow.” It is sponsored by the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area and highlights the talent of local African American artists. The community will have a chance to bid on the artwork online. Then the art will be exhibited at Ebonia Gallery / Bing Davis Studio.
“The piece I’m painting for the exhibition is from the funeral of John Lewis,” Morris told me. “As part of the ceremony, his casket was taken on a horse-drawn carriage across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In my painting, the bridge is renamed as the John Robert Lewis Bridge. Artists get to do things like that.”
Morris gave me a list of the artists who will be exhibiting. I’ll try to get some photos of the artists and/or their artwork and post it before the online bidding opens.
