Past Solo Exhibition in the Small Space:
William Rhodes, Angela Davis Quilt, paint, pencil, pen and fabric, 65 x 50"
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William Rhodes
TRIBUTESeptember 19 - November 9, 2024 Artist's Reception October 12th from 1-4 pm Oakland Style Week Bus Tour Stop scheduled at 4 pm ____________________ Stop in any time throughout the afternoon to greet artist William Rhodes, along with designer Najee Strickland, who will be presenting his new clothing collection, Blue Gold. Najee Strickland and William Rhodes will discuss their work during the Oakland Style Week Bus Tour Stop scheduled for 4 pm. |
Transmission Gallery is pleased to present William Rhodes: Tribute, a solo exhibition of recent quilts and threaded drawings, on view in our Small Space from September 19th through November 9th, 2024.
Rhodes' work in the show pays tribute to his ancestors, both little known family and community members as well as publicly recognized leaders who have inspired him across the decades. Rhodes' father, William C. Rhodes, Jr., was the publisher of the Black Times Magazine from 1968-1978, a magazine that featured articles on Civil Rights activists and other Black heroes at a time their experience was largely minimized or excluded from main stream publications. Featuring a reproduction from the magazine as the centerpiece, the Angela Davis quilt honors both Davis and Rhodes' father as activists and leaders. Encircling the Angela Davis image are Rhodes' hand drawn and painted portraits of members of the community he serves as Intergenerational Community Arts Program Director at Bayview Services in San Francisco.
Also in the exhibition, Free the NY21, a quilt produced in collaboration with Emory Douglas, whose imagery is recreated in the central panel of the quilt with Rhodes' drawn and painted portraits of community members surrounding the image. Free the NY21 refers to the 21 Black Panther members who were arrested and accused of planned coordinated attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City in 1969. All were ultimately acquitted by a jury after revelations during the trial that police infiltrators played key organizing roles. As the former Minister of Culture and Revolutionary Artist for the Black Panther Party, Emory Douglas is well known for his work with the Party, providing nearly all the images for its publications. With a focus on simple, bold and clear images outlined in black, Douglas' work served as a beacon and call to arms for a community struggling under police brutality and oppression.
Taking center place in the quilts, these iconic images preserve and solidify the determination of the Black community to continue to address injustice, despite the painful setbacks of all-to-frequent incidents of brutality and death.
More about the collaboration between William Rhodes and Emory Douglas
A series of small portrait drawings embellished with hand stitched red thread accompany the quilts. Honoring the leadership and accomplishments of those who came before him, Rhodes ties the past to present and future through the sewing stitch taught to him by his grandmother.
Originally trained in traditional woodworking and furniture design at the Baltimore School of Fine Arts and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Rhodes work blends fine art, craft and design with meaning and function. His public art works include four Bayview history quilts (San Francsico Arts Commission) and his work is included in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Incorporating art in his role as a community activist, Rhodes co-founded the 3.9 Collective in San Francisco, and created an intergenerational art program in San Francisco’s Bayview. Recently he hosted a series of quilt workshops and interviews with seniors in Bayview/Hunters Point salvaging their stories and recognizing their contributions serving the country in the shipyards at Hunter's Point. The culmination of this yearlong project with Stacey Carter was on view through October 5th, 2024, in the African American Shipyard History Quilts exhibition at the Hunter's Point Shipyards. Also check out their radio interview on KQED:
https://omny.fm/.../bayview-hunters-point-exhibit...
Tribute will be on view in the Small Space at Transmission Gallery September 19th through November 9th, with the gallery open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from noon to 5pm.
Congrats to William Rhodes and designer Najee Strickland, who were on hand Saturday, October 12th to speak about their work during an Art + Style event coordinated in conjunction with Oakland Style Week. Strickland unveiled Blue Gold, a new collection of designs crafted from recycled denim. Inspired in part by Rhodes work, this collection aims to highlight the issue of overconsumption in fast fashion and the environmental impact reflected in the mountains of clothing found on the shores and in the oceans of Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Rhodes' work in the show pays tribute to his ancestors, both little known family and community members as well as publicly recognized leaders who have inspired him across the decades. Rhodes' father, William C. Rhodes, Jr., was the publisher of the Black Times Magazine from 1968-1978, a magazine that featured articles on Civil Rights activists and other Black heroes at a time their experience was largely minimized or excluded from main stream publications. Featuring a reproduction from the magazine as the centerpiece, the Angela Davis quilt honors both Davis and Rhodes' father as activists and leaders. Encircling the Angela Davis image are Rhodes' hand drawn and painted portraits of members of the community he serves as Intergenerational Community Arts Program Director at Bayview Services in San Francisco.
Also in the exhibition, Free the NY21, a quilt produced in collaboration with Emory Douglas, whose imagery is recreated in the central panel of the quilt with Rhodes' drawn and painted portraits of community members surrounding the image. Free the NY21 refers to the 21 Black Panther members who were arrested and accused of planned coordinated attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City in 1969. All were ultimately acquitted by a jury after revelations during the trial that police infiltrators played key organizing roles. As the former Minister of Culture and Revolutionary Artist for the Black Panther Party, Emory Douglas is well known for his work with the Party, providing nearly all the images for its publications. With a focus on simple, bold and clear images outlined in black, Douglas' work served as a beacon and call to arms for a community struggling under police brutality and oppression.
Taking center place in the quilts, these iconic images preserve and solidify the determination of the Black community to continue to address injustice, despite the painful setbacks of all-to-frequent incidents of brutality and death.
More about the collaboration between William Rhodes and Emory Douglas
A series of small portrait drawings embellished with hand stitched red thread accompany the quilts. Honoring the leadership and accomplishments of those who came before him, Rhodes ties the past to present and future through the sewing stitch taught to him by his grandmother.
Originally trained in traditional woodworking and furniture design at the Baltimore School of Fine Arts and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Rhodes work blends fine art, craft and design with meaning and function. His public art works include four Bayview history quilts (San Francsico Arts Commission) and his work is included in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Incorporating art in his role as a community activist, Rhodes co-founded the 3.9 Collective in San Francisco, and created an intergenerational art program in San Francisco’s Bayview. Recently he hosted a series of quilt workshops and interviews with seniors in Bayview/Hunters Point salvaging their stories and recognizing their contributions serving the country in the shipyards at Hunter's Point. The culmination of this yearlong project with Stacey Carter was on view through October 5th, 2024, in the African American Shipyard History Quilts exhibition at the Hunter's Point Shipyards. Also check out their radio interview on KQED:
https://omny.fm/.../bayview-hunters-point-exhibit...
Tribute will be on view in the Small Space at Transmission Gallery September 19th through November 9th, with the gallery open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from noon to 5pm.
Congrats to William Rhodes and designer Najee Strickland, who were on hand Saturday, October 12th to speak about their work during an Art + Style event coordinated in conjunction with Oakland Style Week. Strickland unveiled Blue Gold, a new collection of designs crafted from recycled denim. Inspired in part by Rhodes work, this collection aims to highlight the issue of overconsumption in fast fashion and the environmental impact reflected in the mountains of clothing found on the shores and in the oceans of Accra, the capital of Ghana.
