By Mariella Bishop
For Black History Month, Lovett celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Lovett Unity and Heritage Art Show with an exhibit of Jamaal Barber’s artwork. He visited printmaking classes in the Upper School, sharing his approach with students.
In a video accompanying the exhibit, Dr Alison Wynn, Lovett’s Director of Belonging, said, “This exhibit focuses on family and love, is a really powerful way to show black history month, it shows we can come together as a community and the impact of the black community.”
While he primarily focuses on printmaking, in one of his recent projects, he used acrylic paintings and mixed media.
He enjoys teaching others about printmaking, what it means to him, and how you can express so many things through the medium
”Part of being a teacher is knowing that this person has something able to say, if not you wouldn’t be in an art class,” he says in the video. “But nothing has given me the joy that I get from printmaking, so how do I give that to someone else? Part of that education is to reinforce that, support it.”
According to exhibit information, his story of printmaking began at a young age, when he was fascinated by the colorful illustrations in children’s books. When he was in high school, he decided to become an artist after reading about the life of Romare Bearden. He graduated with a BA in Communication Arts and won the 2002 JOSA award for drawing. He also won first place in Graphic Design for the Rebel Magazine. In 2004, he moved to Atlanta with his wife and two children. His fine art painting has been displayed at the Art on 5 and with the Mano-a-Mano art show. Things continued to progress in 2013 after he saw a screen printing demo at a local art store. After that, he started experimenting with printmaking, making it his primary focus.
Lovett was very fortunate to have him come in and teach the students the meaning of printmaking. He is very passionate about art and especially printmaking.
Senior Sloan Basley said she learned and felt inspired from Barber’s lesson. “I didn’t really know how he did his type of printmaking…so I learned that. And then also I really liked how there was a lot of contrast between the black and white and that was one that he made for us. So I thought that was really cool. “
Sloan’s art teacher Gina Reynoso shared some information about what Barber showed the class. From what she said, Barber is a very kind and considerate person who enjoys teaching. The students were excited to have a special guest teach and convey the message that there’s more to printmaking than meets the eye. Barber’s work has meaning, as most art pieces do; his pieces reflect on his childhood struggles with identity and race.
“He was able to talk to the kids more about printmaking and teaching. He teaches at Georgia State, and he also teaches at the Atlanta Printmaker Studio. What he brought in was just a portfolio of some of his work and then some of the students’ work,” she said.
Ms. Reynoso does printmaking herself in a studio where she met Barber. It was nice to get her take on seeing Barber come in and teach when she knows him personally.
“I remember seeing him in the studio when he first started working there. Jamal is somebody who really loves to share his knowledge, share his experience,” she said. “He’s very generous that way. And so I soon found out that all these other people that he was bringing into the studio were other artists, it might be painters, it might be sculptors, just somebody that he met who was curious about printmaking. So he would bring them into the studio to show them how to make prints and collaborate with other artists.”
While at Lovett, he not only showed the students his printmaking but also his technique. The students seemed interested in his work and how it was created.
“There were several works that were variations he would use, and the same thing with the students,” she said. “They would use the same image in different ways through multiple prints. So I think what was helpful for the students was just to see more how versatile printmaking could be.”
The students themselves weren’t the only ones who seemed to learn new things. Ms. Reynoso said she always learns from listening to other artists. “Sometimes it may not necessarily be like learning a new technique,” she said. “Sometimes it is. But in this instance, what I always appreciate is the fact I kind of learn new ways to think about the medium or different ways to explain things to my students.”
There were also a few lucky students who even got to keep his work. And he left an original print for the art classroom itself. So if you ever want to see a Jamaal Barber original design, you’ll find it in the art room.
“He brought a block to print and then he printed it,” Ms. Reynoso told me. ”I think that was really cool with the students. And then again, when you think about how generous he is with his knowledge and his work, there are two students that helped him print and he gave them those prints. They got to take them home.”
Jamaal Barber’s visit made a big impression on students like Sloan, who said she learned new printmaking techniques, expanding her knowledge. She thought it was cool to see the contrast that could be achieved just using one color. “And then how many prints that you can make with just one,” she said. “I thought that was cool as well. I mean he definitely showed me that printmaking had a bigger meaning.”
