Betty Turney-Turner's fascination with stained glass dates back to when she was a little girl attending church. She admits that plenty of times she paid more attention to the stained glass windows than to the message being delivered."I loved the way the sun would make the colors land on the pews," she says. "It was alive. There was movement in it."
Today Turney-Turner is one of a small handful of artists in the United States who depict African-American experiences in stained glass. Her images range from soulful jazz bassists to African women balancing baskets of fruit on their heads.
Her work, along with 11 other local artists, will be on display Saturday at the Ha Factory Gallery & Lounge downtown as part of the inaugural Rebirth of Black artist showcase. The event, which will coincide with the First Saturday Art Crawl, is being organized by the Nashville Black Artists Renaissance 12, a cooperative that aims to showcase the talents of area African-American artists.
jeff obafemi carr, a commissioner with the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission, says it's difficult to find large collections of African-American art in Nashville, and he says he hopes this show will help fill that void.
"To my knowledge, there hasn't been a coming-together of this level in a couple of decades," says carr, who isn't involved with the show. "There is a whole lot of talent here. It's operated off of the radar of the mainstream. I've seen some of the artists' work, and it will make you angry if you don't have money to buy it."
The artist showcase will feature 36 pieces, in mediums ranging from watercolor, oil, acrylic and airbrush painting to stained glass and photography.
