February is Black History Month, and Westbury Arts is celebrating through the visual arts.
The exhibition, “The Essence of Soul,” opened on Feb. 2 and features the work of 21 artists, including four vintage photographs by a world-renowned photographer and historian, Anthony Barboza, who is also an artist, painter, and writer. The prints on display are included in his series “Black Borders,” published in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Barboza began his work during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, and his photographs have been on the cover of influential magazines and in the collections of many major museums. His presence at the reception not only made appreciating his work meaningful but also enhanced the spirit of community among the artists and their guests.
The exhibition also showcased the creative work of our artist community, which included paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and sculptures. Those who visit the gallery can see the interactions of colors, overlapping geometric shapes, aspects of nature, and the transparency of Marcia Odle McNair’s abstracts, as well as view the window into the soul represented in Stanley Cadet’s photographs.
Viewers enjoy the positive images displayed in the portraits of everyday people in the paintings of Sheniqua Young and the photographs of Mary Rano in her effort to look beyond what our limited minds define and see with our souls.
The Westbury Arts Gallery, at 255 Schrenk Ave, Westbury, is open Thursdays 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., Fridays 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Feb. 6 to March 14.
