Expressing Blackness w/ artist Jamaal Barber
It’s a special episode of Studio Noize with guest host Lauren Jackson Harris, co-founder of Black Women in Visual Art, talking to your boy, JBarber, about his MFA thesis show FULLNESS. Jamaal recently finished his three-year program in printmaking at Georgia State University. His thesis show is a collection of paintings produced during the quarantine and reflects a new mindstate in how he approaches art. Lauren and Jamaal talk about the difference in the work from his first solo show, Bright Black, to this body of work after grad school, how the pandemic affected Jamaal’s art practice, the personal healing that happened during this journey, and much more.
Episode 112 topics include:
academia versus the art market
going back to school
ways of visualizing Blackness
father and son relationships
growing as an artist
artistic influences
examining your art practice
teaching art
overcoming artistic insecurities
how the pandemic affected creativity
Jamaal Barber is a creative imaginative soul who was born in Virginia and raised in North Carolina. In 2013, after seeing a screen printing demo at a local art store, Jamaal started experimenting with printmaking and made it his primary focus. His woodcuts and mixed media prints can be seen on display at ZuCot Gallery. They have also been included in the Decatur Arts Festival, Atlanta Print Biennial Show and at various art shows around the Metro Atlanta area. Additionally, Jamaal has done work for Twitter, the New York Times, Penguin Random House, Black Art in America and Emory University.
Read Jamaal’s Thesis: "Fullness" by Jamaal Barber
See More Jamaal: www.jbarberstudio.com + @jbarberstudio
See More Lauren: www.blackwomeninvisualart.com + @ljacksonharris
Follow us:
Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio
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