Black History Month Showcase 2021

The CRHS Art Program is showcasing work by students to celebrate personal and historical experiences in the context of Black History Month. The works presented here come from student artists in the Art I, II, III, and AP Art and Design courses, and represent their personal voices and visions in the pursuit of art.

“Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach, Augusta Fells Savage’s The Harp, Ellis Wilson’s Funeral Procession (featured on the Cosby Show in 1986). These are just a few of the pieces that influenced my early understanding of Black Art. Today, Kehinde Wiley (one of my new favs) and Jean-Michel Basquiat continue to pave the road for young rising artists. The visual arts are vulnerable yet, at the same time, provide a voice to speak, inspire, and challenge. As you enjoy this show, allow yourself to be challenged, inspired and provoked to think. Kudos to these young artists. Thank you for sharing a part of yourself, a glimpse into your world, and a snapshot of your experience. We see you! We celebrate you! We honor you!”

Larry Friend

Assistant Principal and Supervisor of Fine Arts

Caesar Rodney High School

Trinity Phillips, Pursuit of Happiness, Marker, Art III. "This piece was made to symbolize life. In the background there's smile and frowns which show the ups and downs of the world. The women is still smiling because she knows that everything wi

Trinity Phillips, Pursuit of Happiness, Marker, Art III. "This piece was made to symbolize life. In the background there's smile and frowns which show the ups and downs of the world. The women is still smiling because she knows that everything will be ok as long as she is positive."

Trinity Phillips, Shango, Marker, Art III. "This art piece is in honor of my Grandma Francilia. She was a black woman from Trinidad. She worked hard for everything she had and never took no for an answer. Although I never got a chance to meet her

Trinity Phillips, Shango, Marker, Art III. "This art piece is in honor of my Grandma Francilia. She was a black woman from Trinidad. She worked hard for everything she had and never took no for an answer. Although I never got a chance to meet her, Grandma Francilia is a huge role model for me."

Trinity Phillips, Majestic, Marker and Watercolor, Art III. "This art piece was made to represent how striking elephants are. Unfortunately, African elephants are on their way to extinction because hunters kill for their ivory tusks. The ivory tu

Trinity Phillips, Majestic, Marker and Watercolor, Art III. "This art piece was made to represent how striking elephants are. Unfortunately, African elephants are on their way to extinction because hunters kill for their ivory tusks. The ivory tusks cost about $20,000, which varies depending on what stage the ivory is in."

Trinity Phillips, Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder, Marker, Art III.

Trinity Phillips, Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder, Marker, Art III.

Trinity Phillips, Mother Nature, Marker, Art III. "This drawing was made to show the way I perceive Mother Nature. She's a strong beautiful black women."

Trinity Phillips, Mother Nature, Marker, Art III. "This drawing was made to show the way I perceive Mother Nature. She's a strong beautiful black women."

Iyanna Register, Gold, Digital, Art II. " To me, art is a way for me to not only express myself, but to also depict characters that I create or think about a lot. I also use art as a way to distract myself, de-stress, and execute ideas in my head.

Iyanna Register, Gold, Digital, Art II. " To me, art is a way for me to not only express myself, but to also depict characters that I create or think about a lot. I also use art as a way to distract myself, de-stress, and execute ideas in my head. This piece away actually a re-draw of another piece I created. I was thinking about how nice the color that I used was, as well as headshots of models on magazines and portrait photography."

Jalen Conway, Louis Farrakhan Graphite, Art III.

Jalen Conway, Louis Farrakhan Graphite, Art III.

Jalen Conway, Barack Obama, Graphite, Art III.

Jalen Conway, Barack Obama, Graphite, Art III.

Gabbie Frasier, The World We See, Acrylic and Marker, Art III.

Gabbie Frasier, The World We See, Acrylic and Marker, Art III.

Zakiya Hallman, Zakiya, Graphite, Art III. "I can't remember the exact moment I got into drawing, though I can remember my love for art sprouted from a young age. I've always loved looking at all types of art and seeing how artists showed themselves

Zakiya Hallman, Zakiya, Graphite, Art III. "I can't remember the exact moment I got into drawing, though I can remember my love for art sprouted from a young age. I've always loved looking at all types of art and seeing how artists showed themselves through their work. I feel like a big reason why I pursue art is because it's the one way I feel I can express myself."

Jacob Mackey, Mow Hot, Color Pencil, AP Art and Design. "Hello there, my name is Jacob Mackey and I am a 12th grade student in AP Art. This field that I’m pursuing is very important to me because I get to express my imagination through the work that

Jacob Mackey, Mow Hot, Color Pencil, AP Art and Design. "Hello there, my name is Jacob Mackey and I am a 12th grade student in AP Art. This field that I’m pursuing is very important to me because I get to express my imagination through the work that I do. To add on, art is something that I find a lot of pleasure and fun in doing even though there can be hardships from time to time and it is always showing me new techniques on how I can improve." "MowHot is one of my villainous original characters that has really grown me personally. This is due to how the designs were supposed to look since at first he was just going to be a random fire type character but I wanted to make him chef based to give him some variety. In the drawing you can see how I gave him oven mitts, and shoes to enhance that style as well as a skirt that would also represent that type of design of a chef."

Jacob Mackey, Bug Gang Brigade, Color Pencil, AP Art and Design. "Another one of my original characters that involves anthropomorphic bugs. The hardest part(other than their names) was how they would be positioned on the page and how their designs w

Jacob Mackey, Bug Gang Brigade, Color Pencil, AP Art and Design. "Another one of my original characters that involves anthropomorphic bugs. The hardest part(other than their names) was how they would be positioned on the page and how their designs would match their overall personality as a whole and this was the time when I was still having trouble with blending certain colors."

Jacob Mackey, Yoshi, Color Pencil, AP Art and Design. "Surprisingly this was a bit more difficult than I anticipated since when I was doing I had to take a fictional character from a video game and incorporate it into my style of artwork. I found my

Jacob Mackey, Yoshi, Color Pencil, AP Art and Design. "Surprisingly this was a bit more difficult than I anticipated since when I was doing I had to take a fictional character from a video game and incorporate it into my style of artwork. I found my way around it and tried to give Yoshi a bit more of a lazy/chill kind of personality in the drawing. I also blended colors around the eyes and enhanced the shadows in order to establish value in the piece."

Jasmyne Kinslow, Trip, wood pulp, watercolor, oil pastel, Art II. "Art is the only medium that allows me to transfer what I see in my head, to the real world. Art is also a form of communication; a communication of thought, of emotion, and of self.

Jasmyne Kinslow, Trip, wood pulp, watercolor, oil pastel, Art II. "Art is the only medium that allows me to transfer what I see in my head, to the real world. Art is also a form of communication; a communication of thought, of emotion, and of self. I pursue art for the connection of me and others. I like to see what others see in their heads and how they choose to create what they see on their paper. I am interested in art because it is the base for all of my life goals. I am a photographer, and I want to be an architect / interior designer when I grow up, so it's safe to say that art will be around me for the rest of my life." "Sometimes I have a whole bunch of energy and I just need to get it out. I like to experiment with many different types of media on one piece. I had an unopened box of oil pastels that I had not used yet, so why not? I chose to use greens and blues because they contrast slightly but they blend well together. I like the messiness of this piece because it keeps it raw and natural, which is what I wanted to convey: raw and natural emotion. There was a reference image for the first part of this process, but soon I started to pay less and less attention to accuracy and started to have fun."

Jasmyne Kinslow, Just You and I, Gouache, Art II. "At the time that I made this piece I was really struggling with school, I had no outlet that I could effectively express my thoughts and emotions without bias, so I decided to paint them out. Somet

Jasmyne Kinslow, Just You and I, Gouache, Art II. "At the time that I made this piece I was really struggling with school, I had no outlet that I could effectively express my thoughts and emotions without bias, so I decided to paint them out. Sometimes when I think about it, my emotions become personified, and I see them and I as fish. We're always swimming together, not knowing where we're going, so whether I like it or not, we're always going to be together. I tried to keep my fish rough around the edges for the feeling of it being unfinished. My emotions and I will never know where we're going, so it's just them and I, unfinished."

Jasmyne Kinslow, Analogous Fish, Acrylic, Art II. "I made this piece for my mom, because I try to dedicate all of my artwork to her. One day I asked her if I could make something for her. She said "Of course!" and I decided to make her a fish becaus

Jasmyne Kinslow, Analogous Fish, Acrylic, Art II. "I made this piece for my mom, because I try to dedicate all of my artwork to her. One day I asked her if I could make something for her. She said "Of course!" and I decided to make her a fish because she's a Pisces, and her favorite color is purple so I made the main color purple. At the time I was not a big fan of contrast, so I tried to stick with analogous colors."

Jasmyne Kinslow, black__man, Wood Pulp Paper and Watercolor, Art II. "Identity is something that I really struggle with. The way that I perceive myself versus what is perceived of me by the public, I feel like is two different people. I like to call

Jasmyne Kinslow, black__man, Wood Pulp Paper and Watercolor, Art II. "Identity is something that I really struggle with. The way that I perceive myself versus what is perceived of me by the public, I feel like is two different people. I like to call myself androgynous for the way I present myself, however a lot of people struggle to understand what that means and how it feels. So to express that feeling I created this piece. Is this a black man or a black woman? It could be a black man because they have short hair or it could be a black woman because there are feminine features. The world may never know. That is identity."

Kaniece Smith, Our Story, Mixed Media, Art II. "Art means visual expression and to create with whatever is around,to me. I pursue art because I really like to draw and would like to get better at it and learn new art skills. I am interested in it be

Kaniece Smith, Our Story, Mixed Media, Art II. "Art means visual expression and to create with whatever is around,to me. I pursue art because I really like to draw and would like to get better at it and learn new art skills. I am interested in it because it is hard and fun at the same time." "My artwork relates to Black History because the river and the light of the north star was how slaves found their way to freedom. Some music that was developed by black people are Jazz, Blues, and Rap."

Kaniece Smith, Emerald Sahvanna, Mixed Media, Art II. "Emerald Sahvanna is a character that I made up two years ago."

Kaniece Smith, Emerald Sahvanna, Mixed Media, Art II. "Emerald Sahvanna is a character that I made up two years ago."

Nikajah Teachey, Ethereal, Graphite, Art II. "The reason I'm so devoted to art is because it allows me to escape reality. I put my perspective all out on the paper, with no regrets, in hope of telling a story. It's been a coping mechanism for me n

Nikajah Teachey, Ethereal, Graphite, Art II. "The reason I'm so devoted to art is because it allows me to escape reality. I put my perspective all out on the paper, with no regrets, in hope of telling a story. It's been a coping mechanism for me now more than ever because of the pandemic, and Art has become my happiness. I love the different styles and ways artist can convey different pieces based off of their own internalization. It allows me to show a sense of myself that others may not know, and I'm happy to share it with you." "This pieces shows the sun and the moon which goes hand in hand but, you can’t tell the real from fantasy in which both come to life in this piece. Very whimsical and charismatic like my personality and just the way I view the world."

Nikajah Teachey, Empty, Graphite, Art II. "She has a blank stare on her face as if she is hollow and is looking for a void to fill her in hopes of happiness."

Nikajah Teachey, Empty, Graphite, Art II. "She has a blank stare on her face as if she is hollow and is looking for a void to fill her in hopes of happiness."

Nikajah Teachey, One Sided, Graphite, Art II. "The woman gives off the emotion of despair and hopelessness as if her life is one sided."

Nikajah Teachey, One Sided, Graphite, Art II. "The woman gives off the emotion of despair and hopelessness as if her life is one sided."

Annelise Campino, Roots, Acrylic and Color Pencil, Art I. "In this work, I wanted to show how important hair is to Black History and Culture. The hair is made up of hand and finger prints to express how hair is an identifying part the Black People

Annelise Campino, Roots, Acrylic and Color Pencil, Art I. "In this work, I wanted to show how important hair is to Black History and Culture. The hair is made up of hand and finger prints to express how hair is an identifying part the Black People and People of Color."