Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press

February 1 - March 29, 2025 

This exhibition features works by seventeen African American artists who have helped to shape the contemporary art conversation in the Bay Area and beyond. Works draw from history, traditional crafts, geography, and personal memory to show a variety and breadth of printmaking techniques. At the heart of this show is a Berkeley-based fine art print studio, Paulson Fontaine Press, who over the past two decades has developed an unparalleled roster of internationally celebrated artists, including Kerry James Marshall and the Gee’s Bend Quilters.

Three Pointer Art Talk

Wednesday, February 19, 12:20pm-1:20pm

Join us for a matchup unlike any other! In the Three-Pointer Art Talk, three beloved professors take on the arts as they relate one work from the exhibition, “Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of the Paulson Fontaine Press” to hot topics in their disciplines.

Allan Austin PhD, History, looks at “Sold Ya“ by Samuel Levi Jones, as a way to discuss Black activism and Japanese American activism in the 20th century. Richard Hancuff, PhD, English, considers “Vignette (Wishing Well”) by Kerry James Marshall as he discusses the Harlem Renaissance. Maureen Pascal, DPT, Physical Therapy, uses Lava Thomas’s “Fictitious Self-Portrait“ to talk about BIPOC representation in the health professions. Wednesday, February 19, 12:20 to 1:20. Light refreshments served. Free and open to the public.

 

Community-Created Installation

Friday, February 21, noon-6pm

Volunteers needed to help inflate and stack the 650 basketballs required to build David Huffman's social sculpture installation, "Basketball Pyramid." 

To Huffman, the basketball is a shifting symbol that can point to African American objectification and exploitation or toward dreams and aspirations.

 

All exhibits and programs are free and open to the public.

Gallery programs are supported in part by a 2025 Creative Sector Flex Fund Grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, administered in this region by the state’s PPA Partner, The Armature.