White walls, fluorescent lights, the occasional “keep your distance” line of tape on the floor: Most art galleries present one of life’s greatest pleasures – witnessing artistic creations up close – with a healthy dose of restrictions. Keep quiet, and keep your hands to yourself., you don’t tense up with that same anxiety. Hues of blue and red illuminate the East Sixth Street space. Luscious green plants decorate the walls not already adorned with art.
RichesArt offers a welcome change of pace. “It’s exactly what I would imagine an art gallery feeling like,” Blakley says.Cliff Bunn, 62, moved to Texas in 2014 after retiring from the Oakland Police Department. Living in Georgetown, he says, I don’t have a community of artists or a lot of other Black people. So I heard about RichesArt Gallery, I couldn’t wait to get there.” Upon his arrival, he introduced himself to Samuel, told him he was an artist, and hoped to submit his work to the gallery.
Christa’s support went beyond providing materials. During her son’s senior year of high school, she signed him up for a watercolor workshop led by Lian Quan Zhen, the esteemed Chinese artist who’s taught at the University of California, Berkeley and authored several books. Samuel missed a week of school to attend the class.
The athlete always expected to transition to coaching once he stepped off the field, so he accepted the offer and headed back to Germany. But “I was miserable,” he reveals. “I hated it.” Samuel was Austin’s first Black art gallery owner, but he wasn’t the first artist who resolved to diversify the city. Photographer Steve Hatchett moved here from Chicago in 2017 to become director of career services at Huston-Tillotson University. Upon his arrival, he noticed the city’s whitewashed art scene and foundedIn its infancy, the organization hosted pop-up events before moving on to curate days-long affairs like Black Art WKND and Latino Art WKND.
“The people we give honor to in the past and the flowers we give them – they were us at one time,” he explains. “We want to be the history that we want to create.”exhibit are united by a Black history theme, each artist’s work reflects their personal style.
Meanwhile, the men who view Gearo’s work are moved to share their own emotions. “They are so conditioned to not feel or be expressive of their feelings, especially things that are outside of anger, because anger seems to be the easiest or most acceptable form for so many men to feel,” the artist posits. “And so having these really vulnerable moments with them is always really beautiful and also very inspiring me to continue to put myself out there.