The Springfield Museums present a free afternoon celebration of artist, educator, and onetime Springfield resident Nelson Stevens on Sunday, March 26, from 3-6 pm. Held in conjunction with the exhibit Nelson Stevens: Color Rapping, reservations are appreciated, but not required!
Attendees can tour the special exhibition that spans more than 50 years of the artist’s career, participate in a community drawing activity, and enjoy live music by Motown band Tymeless. Refreshments will be provided by local restaurants Granny’s Baking Table, Ziggy’s Jerk Chicken Center, and Crave Food truck; with White Lion Brewing providing a cash bar.
About the Exhibition
Nelson Stevens (American, 1938-2022), is renowned for creating powerful, rhythmic compositions that celebrate Black life and reveal his technical mastery of the figure. This remarkable exhibition, spanning the artist’s career, explores the political, cultural, and socioeconomic messages in Stevens’ art and style of painting. As an early member of AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) and professor at Northern Illinois University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Stevens spent decades alongside leading intellectuals of the Black Arts and Black Power movements. His experiences contributed to a legacy of vivid works that amplify African American culture and achievements. In the early 1970s, he initiated a groundbreaking public art project that resulted in the creation of over 30 murals throughout the city of Springfield. Like his colorful paintings, the murals brought the pride and activism associated with the Black Arts Movement to western Massachusetts. Fifty years later, Stevens’s message and artwork continue to be celebrated locally and nationally.
Nelson Stevens: Color Rapping was organized by the University of Maryland Global Campus.
Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Springfield Cultural Council which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Sponsored by MGM Springfield and Mara Sfara Fine Arts
