DOYLESTOWN, PA - The James A. Michener Art Museum celebrates the African American experience through the work of emerging and established craft artists in the exhibition COLOR: Ten African American Artists. The project, organized by the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, is on view at the Museum’s Doylestown location, March 15 through July 6, 2008. Over 30 creations on display are inspired by African folklore, religious symbols, historic clothing, imagination and daydreams, representing a variety of diverse backgrounds and personal histories.

According to Kate Lydon, Director of Exhibitions at the Society for Contemporary Craft, “Color: Ten African American Artists provides audiences with an opportunity to appreciate African American identity reflected through a variety of craft media - clay, fiber, wood, glass and mixed materials. The works in the show, by both emerging and established artists from eight different states in the United States , combine indicators of past and present cultures from Africa and the Americas and offer a contemporary visual language that recounts personal histories.”

The show features artists from across the United States and includes such distinguished figures as Joyce Scott, Beverly Buchanan and Nick Cave. Scott, a graduate of the Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art in Baltimore and named Baltimorean of the Year in 2000 has works in such prestigious collections as The Baltimore Museum of Art, The National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington , D.C. and The American Craft Museum in New York City . Fellow female artist, Buchanan, a graduate of Colombia University in New York City , creates shacks in her artwork whether in the form of oil pastel drawings or three-dimensional sculpture which in her words, “recognize[s] the power of the shack and the vitality of the people who live in them.” Another artist featured in this exhibit is Nick Cave , whose work appears in collections at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago , the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago . His work references, in his words, “the world, environmental issues, light, energy and the power of one single voice united with others.”

Other featured artists include Tina Brewer, Robert E. Peppers, Michele Tejuola Turner, Cheryl Riley, Sharif Bey and June Gaddy. These artists work in a wide range of craft media including clay, glass, metal, wood and fiber. Their expressions are rooted in traditional processes and history, as well as an exploration of unexpected connections between craft and the more “mainstream” genres of painting, sculpture and conceptual/installation art.

Visit The Michener Art Museum at : www.michenerartmuseum.org .

Annual support for the Michener Art Museum is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Bucks County Commissioners and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.