Sunday in the Art Room SITAR

 Welcome To

SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography, the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration. 

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

 

sited:

The Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art

SWANN Auction Gallery 

Wikipedia 

Oregon Humanities 

   

I wasn't sure what I was going to share for today, until I came across

Thelma Johnson Streat

My new favorite artist.

Thelma was born August 29, 1912.

 (Although some records read 1911.)  

In Yakima Wa. Her family moved to Boise, Id., then Pendleton, OR. before finally settling in Portland, OR. Where she graduated from Washington High School in 1932. She drew and painted since she was 7 years old and received community support for her talent.

One of her first major supporters was Portland civil rights advocate and cofounder of the Oregon Chapter of the NAACP Beatrice Morrow Cannady. It was Cannady who recommended Streat for what was to become her first major accomplishment as an artist, an honorable mention at the Harmon Foundation Exhibition. This wasn’t the last time Streat received encouragement and support from Cannady. Cannady also hosted an exhibit of Streat’s early works at one of her interracial teas at the Portland YWCA. 

Early support from those in the community, including the congregation at Portland’s Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, would be an early foundation and sign of Streat’s later success.

Rabbit Man, 1941 gouache on board, 6 5/8 in. × 4 7/8 in

 

1942-1944 Tempera and oil on paper mounting board

15 9/16 x 15 3/16 

Two African Kings  1935 Oil on paper

14x10.5" 

Girl With Flower year unknown

 Oil on board 20.5x 13.5"

signed 

 

Boy with Bird year  unkown

Oil on board 21x15"  

Signed 

 

1911-1959 The Negro In Professional Life (Mural study featureing Women in the Workplace.) Ink, crayon and watercolor on cardstock. 1945 10x20" signed and dated.

 

Her paintings have appeared in exhibits and museums across the country. You can still see collections of her art at the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Museum of Art, Portland, OR. and the National Museum of African American History of Culture WA. DC.

 

Along with art, Thelma was a dancer. 

Similar to her contemporary and acquaintance Katherine Dunham, ( Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. One of the most renowned modern dance artists of the 20th century, she has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance.")  Streat traveled to Haiti between 1946 and 1951 to study dance, which she saw as an important inspiration of social change and a catalyst for challenging societal norms.  She also visited Mexico and Canada. Streat debuted her new choreography, inspired by her travels, in a performance at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1946, which combined African, Haitian, Hawaiian, Native American, Portuguese and other indigenous dance forms.

I wish I had found this video sooner. 

 Streat realized that prejudice and bigotry are learned, usually during childhood. In order to combat the development of bigotry, throughout the 1940s and 50s, Streat performed dances, songs, and folk tales from many cultures to thousands of children across Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United States in an effort to introduce them to the beauty and value of all cultures.

 I hope you enjoyed meeting 

Thelma Johnson Streat.

Nicole  

Joining Gellena today with Happy Sunday