By Fern Gillespie
It was 1971, the height of the Black Arts Movement, and the progressive voices of Black writers, poets, playwrights, actors, musicians, scholars and artists were being seen and heard.
However, Harlem Black women artists Dindga McCannon, Faith Ringgold and Kay Brown were frustrated. “We were having difficulty in securing exhibitions, and also being considered serious artists because we were Black, and because we were women,” Dindga McCannon told Our Time Press. “The three of us decided that there were other Black women artists out there and why don’t we get together and talk about difficulty of getting their art in collections and galleries.” This became the collective Where We At, Black Women Artists.

The Where We At, Black Women Artists collective had their first group show in 1971 at the Acts of Art Gallery in the West Village. “The exhibit was an eyeopener for a lot of people.” McCannon recalled. “There were 10 or 14 Black women who exhibited at that first show. Their work was powerful.”

By the 1980s, Where We At, Black Women Artists collective moved to Brooklyn, but disbanded in 1999. The Weeksville Heritage Center has revived the pivotal arts organization with the exhibition Forward Ever: Celebrating Where We At Black Women Artists (1971-Now) on view through October 25. The artists exhibiting were all Where We At members: Claudia Aziza Gibson-Hunter, Sadikisha Collier, Jerrolyn Crooks deGracia, Charlotte Ka, Ann Tanksley, Joyce Wellman, Viola Burley Leak and Dindga McCannon.

“I thought it would be a great idea, if as many members of Where We At, who are still living, would be in an exhibition,” said McCannon. “The themes in the exhibit are all very women orientated — very Black, cultural orientated. The same issues that we dealt with back in the day.”

Artwork by McCannon spans painting, printmaking, murals, mixed-media, quilts and illustrations. She is also known for her wearable art—painted hats, scarfs, dashikis from African fabrics, and Africana symbols. “I’ve had an approximately 60-year career as an artist,” she said. “The type of artist I am is always exploring new media. I am fascinated by taking traditional media and putting new twist on it. Also, by combining different media, like printmaking and quilt making.”

Storytelling is part of her art. She’s written and illustrated two children’s books about young Black girls growing up in Harlem – Peaches and Wilhemina Jones, Future Star. McCannon’s vivid story quilts commissions include: Althea Gibson for Disney’s ESPN; Suffragettes for Scholastic Magazine and Zora Neale Hurston for Columbia University. Her artwork is in prestigious permanent collections: Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, The Phillips Collection and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

“When an artist work is put in a collection like the National Gallery of Art, that means that the art will be taken care of and on exhibition from here until eternity,” she said. “That’s a good place to be.”

A good place to be also was in the collection of Ebony Magazine owner John H. Johnson. Johnson Publishing sold their Black art collection at Swann Galleries Auction in 2020 and McCannon’s 1970 oil on canvas The Last Farewell sold for $161,000. “I almost fell on the floor, but I’m a lady so I kept my composure,” she laughed. “A lot of friends of mine thought I won the lotto. They didn’t realize that the artist does not get a dime from the auction.”
That record sale made the art world pay more attention. “It opened a lot of doors because the painting sold at such a great price,” she said. “I secured a gallery after all these years, which will definitely make my life a lot better and easier. I’m more financially stable than I’ve ever been in my lifetime.”

Today, the art world is embracing more Black women artists. “There’s a number of young black women artists under 50 who have sustainable careers. Some of them don’t have to teach and they are really sustaining themselves and their families on the money that comes in from artwork,” she said. “However, there will always be a lot of artists and women who must have some other kind of income coming in.”

The exhibition Forward Ever: Celebrating Where We At Black Women Artists (1971-Now) at Weeksville will be featuring some panel discussions and workshops before it closes on October 25.

“The show at Weeksville is amazing. When I walk through there and saw it hung, I was breathless,” said McCannon. “The work has so many different mediums, but somehow it all works together beautifully.”

For more information, contact: www.weeksvillesociety.org