American Artist Appreciation Month
By Tania Qurashi
August is recognized as American Artist Appreciation Month when artists are celebrated and recognized for their contributions to art, culture, and history. Art is a creative expression that enriches the lives of people and helps foster cultural understanding and communication. Art reflects human conditions, emotions, and ambitions when words or actions are deemed insufficient.
The United States has a complex art history that begins with multiple Indigenous arts and traditional crafts throughout the country. After European colonization in the Americas, artists imitated European styles of portraiture and landscape. It was only until after World War II that American artists initiated their own movement known as Abstract Expressionism followed by Minimalism and Pop-art movements that were led by prominent American artists.
Number 28, Jackson Pollock, 1950
You can celebrate American Artists Appreciation Month by visiting local art exhibits, galleries, and museums. Another wonderful way is to share the work of emerging artists and collect pieces from local artists by inquiring directly from the artist, gallery, or art fair. Appreciating art comes from exposure to the arts and the history that artists are informed by.
Virginia’s Lynch Mob, Kara Walker, 1998
During the month of August, the South Jersey Cultural Alliance is excited to highlight the work of Kimisha Turner during Artist Appreciation Month for her interests in Blackness, identity, heritage, and mental health awareness. Turner is an interdisciplinary artist working in various mediums and styles including painting and sculpture. Her work is influenced by American artists such as Kara Walker, a major contemporary woman artist whose work explores the history of slavery in the United States. Turner states, “I love the way Kara makes work that is beautiful but unsettling and uncomfortable. I like incorporating that notion in a lot of my art.” Like Walker, Turner is informed by politics and history. Pieces of Me uses symbols and colors from Turner’s Nigerian and Korean heritage. Artist Appreciation Month is a valuable time to recognize the practices and processes in which artists visually represent the way we see the world.
Pieces of Me, Kimisha Turner, 2020
