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Art Exhibit Curated by Afro Am Studies Alumna Kiara Hill Celebrates the Late Nelson Stevens

July 24, 2023 Arts

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Imani Impulse by Nelson Stevens
Imani Impulse by Nelson Stevens

To step into the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Mass., between March 4, 2023 and September 3, 2023, is to be surrounded by powerful, vibrant art created by famed American artist, educator, and UMass Amherst professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies Nelson Stevens.

Kiara Hill, Nelson Stevens
Afro-Am alumna Kiara Hill, at left, curated the exhibit "Nelson Stevens: Color Rapping." Nelson Stevens is pictured on the right.

"Nelson Stevens: Color Rapping," on view through the fall, was envisioned by alumna Kiara Hill, who recently completed her Ph.D. in Afro-American Studies and served as Curatorial and Interpretation Advisor for the exhibition. 

Hill, a professor of African American art history in the School of Art + Design at Portland State University, is a curator of Black visual art and culture and studies the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s with an emphasis on Black women visual artists, Black Feminist Art, and Black Contemporary Art. 

Booker T. in Tuskegee by Nelson Stevens
Booker T. in Tuskegee by Nelson Stevens

Of the exhibit, the Springfield Museums writes: 

Nelson Stevens (American, 1938-2022), an artist and educator, is renowned for creating powerful, rhythmic compositions that celebrate Black life and reveal his technical mastery of the figure. His works can be found in private collections and public museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

This remarkable exhibition, spanning more than 50 years of the artist’s career, explores the political, cultural, and socioeconomic messages in Stevens’s art and style of painting. An early member of AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), and a 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.

From 1972 through 2003, while teaching at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Stevens lived in Springfield. In the early 1970s, he initiated a groundbreaking public art project that resulted in the creation of over 30 murals throughout the city. Like Stevens’s colorful paintings, the murals promoted Black empowerment and brought the pride and activism associated with the Black Arts Movement to western Massachusetts. Fifty years later, his message, artwork, and influence continue to be celebrated locally and nationally.

Learn more about the exhibit or explore Nelson Steven's career and accomplishments.

Article posted in Arts for Faculty , Prospective students , Current students , and Alumni

Related programs

  • Afro-American Studies

Related departments

  • W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies

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