Romare Bearden Exhibit at the Lewis Museum

A small watercolor portrait of the artist Romare Bearden inspired by his earlier works.

"Most artists take some place, and like a flower, they sink roots looking for universal implications."

This week I had the opportunity to first the Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore Md for the first time.  As part of my school's Harlem Renaissance Teaching Team.  This course is our school's first class to be developed to be taken entirely on line. Divided into four sections: Literature, History, Music and Visual Arts, it has been incredible fun learning had a single subject through the different lenses for my colleagues.  
At the museum we were given a tour of the current Romare Bearden exhibit by the museum director, Ms. Jaqueline Copeland, who is a Harlem Renaissance expert and teaches a comprehensive college course on the subject

Link to Exhibit Information

It was an amazingly informative afternoon with regards to developing my visual arts curriculum. But, as an artist myself, and new to printmaking I was amazed at his interest in so many subjects from the religious, to classic literature themes, to poignant domestic scenes, all framed within the African American experience.  I was also stuck at how he was constantly looking at art and experimenting with his own work.  He was amazingly productive and often his techniques highly complex requiring a great deal of technical skill.  It was inspiring too to discover that he never quit his day job being a social worker.  I think my biggest take aways were the gestures of his figures as well as the use of line and planes of color.  I know I'll be digesting what I saw and heard for many days to come!  My favorite images from the exhibit, all screen prints, are below: